Bitcoin hits $39K highs as SEC Chair comments give BTC price 2% boost

Bitcoin (BTC) hit 24-hour highs later on Wednesday as fresh comments from the United States regulatory sphere boosted flagging price action.

Gensler bullish on Bitcoin’s “potential”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed local highs above $39,000 on Bitstamp, with BTC/USD jumping more than 2% in an hour.

The move, which ended a descending channel in place overnight, followed a mainstream media appearance by Gary Gensler, the new Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

A seasoned lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on cryptocurrency, among other topics, Gensler had been welcomed by the industry as a potential catalyst toward favorable regulation by Washington.

A speech Tuesday had gone some way to reassuring markets, while Wednesday’s CNBC stint reinforced Gensler’s desire to iron out fraud while allowing investors access to what he called “speculative” assets — Bitcoin and altcoins.

“This innovation — Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation — if it is going to meet its potential, needs to come within public policy frameworks,” he told the network, notably singling out Bitcoin in particular over other cryptocurrencies.

Gensler’s comments had been a potential source of concern for traders as the week began, this due at a timely juncture, as Bitcoin was already coming down from a rapid ascent to multi-week highs above $42,500.

Solid support remained at $36,000 on major exchange Binance on the day — this level yet to see a true test after Wednesday’s sudden turnaround.

Moving averages are trader’s “biggest concern”

Nonetheless, it was clear that price action on the day was attracting attention.

Related: 3 reasons why Bitcoin can suddenly explode to a new $50K–$65K range

For trader and analyst Rekt Capital, potential strength here could allay fears that Bitcoin will end up flipping its 200-day exponential moving average to resistance for the long term.

The 200EMA, currently at around $38,300, lay below spot price after the Gensler episode.

If this recent #BTC bounce is merely a relief rally to flip the 200-day EMA back into resistance...Then $BTC could pullback towards the blue 50-day EMAThe 50 DEMA is another EMA that has historically proven to be useful in supporting Bull Market uptrends#Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/AWwP5jomvv

In comments to Cointelegraph, fellow analyst Filbfilb added that Bitcoin had also yet to reclaim the 100-day and 20-week moving averages.

“This is my biggest concern,” he warned.