Southeast Asia erupts in war! Thailand and Cambodia shockingly report "border clashes", a new round of international conflict is unfavorable for BTC to reach new highs.

Clashes occurred today (24th) at the border between Thailand and Cambodia. According to Thai media reports, the Royal Thai Army stated that the Cambodian side opened fire suddenly. A spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident but stated that the Thai military fired first at the Cambodian military, which acted in self-defense according to the law. With a new round of international conflicts emerging, this may negatively affect Bitcoin (BTC), which is highly correlated with risky assets.

Today in the Asian afternoon trading, Bitcoin continues to pull back from its high, currently reported at around 117,400 USD.

Thai media "The Reporters" pointed out that at 7:35 AM local time on July 24, the task force responsible for the border area reported hearing the sound of a Cambodian drone flying in the airspace in front of Ta Muen Thom Temple. Although the drone could not be visually detected, the sound was clearly audible.

Subsequently, the Cambodian side carried weapons into the wire fence forward position, with 6 Cambodian soldiers fully armed, walking along the wire fence of the Thai base. Thailand took the approach of shouting negotiations to avoid escalation of conflict, and remained vigilant at the border, preparing for response.

At around 8:20 AM local time, Cambodia opened fire approximately 200 meters away from the base east of Prasat Ta Muen, with reports stating that "the relevant departments of the Royal Thai Army are closely monitoring the situation."

The spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the firefight incident is true, stating that the Thai military fired first at the Cambodian military. The Cambodian military exercised its right to self-defense according to the law.

Reviewing the origin of this conflict, from May 28th of this year, Cambodia and Thailand experienced a brief conflict due to border territory disputes. On May 28th, Cambodian and Thai soldiers exchanged fire briefly, resulting in the death of a Cambodian soldier. Both countries accused each other of provoking this conflict; from June 7th to June 8th, the border crossings between Cambodia and Thailand were temporarily closed, but later reopened.

Currently, Cambodia has decided to submit four disputed areas to the International Court for resolution: the Emerald Triangle region (Mom Bei) on the border of the two countries, Ta Moan Thom Temple, Ta Moan Tauch Temple, and Ta Krabei Temple.

Following the conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine, the war that has erupted in Southeast Asia has raised concerns, and a new round of international conflicts is likely to negatively impact the rise of risk assets such as Bitcoin and altcoins.

Bitcoin Technical Analysis: Will the Uptrend Continue?

FXEmpire analyst Ang Kar Yong stated that, given many favorable factors for Bitcoin, it seems reasonable to deduce that its price may continue to rise in the long term. Although this may be true, it is still important to emphasize the major risks that exist in the future.

He commented: "From a technical perspective, Bitcoin seems to be preparing for a significant downward correction. BTC/USD failed to hold the 0.618 extension of the bullish trend that started in early April. The price has formed a long shadow on the daily chart, indicating that the bullish trend has been exhausted. Currently, Bitcoin could potentially drop towards the $120,000 level and may have opened the path to the $105,000 level."

In fact, the failure to hold the level of 121,500 points on July 14, and the subsequent pullback on July 15, occurred under very strong trading volume, which indicates that traders are uncertain about the next round of significant upward movement and doubt whether the bullish trend can be sustained in the short term. Additionally, the fundamentals have also worsened recently. Following a 0.1% increase in May, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.3% in June, with an annual rate of about 3.5%, which is disturbingly above the Federal Reserve's target rate.

The re-emergence of inflationary pressures has reduced the likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September, which may exert bearish pressure on stock and cryptocurrency valuations. Other major economies have also experienced similar situations. For example, the UK's CPI rose from 3.4% in May to 3.6% in June, weakening the general expectation of a rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE). In other words, global monetary policy may not be as accommodative as investors had previously anticipated, leading to their reluctance to purchase risk assets.

(Source: Trading View)