Trader gives $44K BTC price target as Bitcoin shrugs off executive order 'nothingburger'

Bitcoin (BTC) held onto swift gains at the Wall Street open on March 9 as nerves over U.S. regulatory moves calmed. 

Executive order enters with a whimper

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD maintaining $42,000 into the start of trading Wednesday.

The pair had shrugged off the latest round of macro tensions to add over 11% in 24 hours, among the best movers in the broader crypto market.

Despite mixed feelings over the real significance of the move among traders and analysts, fresh information about U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order on cryptoassets appeared to allay some of the market's fears.

An accompanying fact sheet seemed to point to the order being more investigative than draconian, making the White House's latest efforts decidedly unlike last year's Infrastructure Bill.

"The Administration will continue work across agencies and with Congress to establish policies that guard against risks and guide responsible innovation, with our allies and partners to develop aligned international capabilities that respond to national security risks, and with the private sector to study and support technological advances in digital assets," it concluded.

Reacting, Bill Barhydt, founder and CEO of payment gateway Abra, called the order a "nothing burger with a side of psychobabble" and said that Bitcoin was rallying as a result.

The fact sheet itself did not mention "Bitcoin" at all, referring only to "digital assets" and "cryptocurrencies."

"Today, POTUS signed an Executive Order on crypto-assets. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across the government to achieve important public policy goals: protecting investors & consumers, guarding against illicit activity, & helping ensure financial stability," Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), wrote on Twitter.

Among the order's plans was a pledge to further research into a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, on the part of the U.S. government.

Range resistance not tipped to be broken

Buoyed by the events, BTC price action thus allowed market players to push higher in their short-term forecasting.

Related: Bitcoin transaction fees briefly doubled yet remain exceptionally low

For options trader and pseudonymous Twitter user John Wick, the scenario was now similar to that in which BTC/USD found itself earlier in March.

#BTC Reversal bar setup + Squeeze Arrow setup has up in a new uptrend (again) targeting $44k retest.Indicators from https://t.co/c5WtFtKTRV https://t.co/f7AEvUEHQ5 pic.twitter.com/XLfUiwC42Q

Others remained conservative, with Crypto Ed not expecting a rematch of the previous range high.

"BTC looks like it finished that move at $42,550 Just a marginal new high was enough apparently," he wrote in his latest Twitter update.

Bearish prognoses nonetheless remained, with precious little sign that Bitcoin would break out from its range high near $46,000.