He probably means lately, as in the last couple of weeks--because before that bitcoin was stuck in one of its trading ranges that it tends to stall out in from time to time, but I understood your point completely.  Those stall-outs are just periods of stability in what is otherwise a very volatile asset.

If you're giving bitcoin until 2021 to hit $25k, I would say it's certainly possible and perhaps even desirable.  If it was to hit that level in a couple months from now, the market might be in danger of a crash.  But if bitcoin saw slow gains instead of major spikes, it would probably be sustainable.  It took 10 years for bitcoin to comfortably be able to hold a price in the $8000s with seemingly no danger of crashing.  That's the way I see it anyway.  When bitcoin goes crazy to the upside, there's always been a heavy correction that follows.

In any case, even if $25k isn't reached within a year I'd be more than happy if it got to $10k-15k in that same time frame.