Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) fell to $21,000 on July 26 after it emerged that major the United States cryptocurrency<\/a> exchange Coinbase was under investigation.<\/p>\n Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro<\/a> and TradingView<\/a> showed a swift reversion to lower levels for BTC\/USD as reports emerged of fresh legal problems for Coinbase over securities trading.<\/p>\n The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg originally\u00a0reported<\/a>, was looking into whether the exchange had allowed users to trade unregistered securities.<\/p>\n Part of a wider battle between the U.S. crypto industry and regulators over compliance<\/a>, the move appeared to frighten the market, coming amid parallel allegations that a former executive conducted insider trading<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ironic the peak euphoric events of the Bull Market were Tesla buying #Bitcoin<\/a> and Coinbase IPO’ing on the Stock Exchange <\/p>\n Now in the last week Tesla has sold and Coinbase is under investigation by the SEC<\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) July 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n With that, Bitcoin was back to defending $21,000 as support on the day, with commentator Mark Cullen stressing that the level must hold for bulls to stay in control.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 21k level for BTC is super critical for the bulls to hold if they have any hope of this regaining a bullish posture,\u201d he told<\/a> Twitter followers:<\/p>\n \u201cA 4hr close below there and the bitcoin ball is well and truly in the [bears\u2019] court.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Trader Crypto Tony eyed a slightly lower level as a short-term floor, warning that a \u201cdrop deeper\u201d was nonetheless a likely future outcome.<\/p>\n $BTC<\/a> \/ $USD<\/a> – Update <\/p>\n $20,700 is my target on this drop, following my chart yesterday. Looking for at least another drop to that level, but i do think we drop deeper ‼️ pic.twitter.com\/WXYUCWZm6O<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) July 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n For its part, Coinbase had been anything but passive in the U.S. regulatory debate, last week releasing<\/a> a dedicated blog post on why the SEC should change course.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Commission starts an open process where all of us can provide input, we look forward to sharing our thoughts on how to answer the important questions our petition raises, and we would encourage others to do the same,\u201d chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cWe may not agree every step of the way, but it\u2019s critical that this is an open and transparent process, where the public has a chance to offer their views. Policymaking at this level is far too important to be made in a black box.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Coinbase shares were down 3.7% pre-market, adding to 5.3% losses the previous day.<\/p>\n A similar mood was visible on altcoin markets, with fellow account TraderSZ forecasting<\/a> a return to $1,000 for Ether (ETH<\/a>) even before the bulk of Bitcoin\u2019s losses materialized.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Will the Fed prevent BTC price from reaching $28K? \u2014 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n ETH\/USD, previously the best performer in the July crypto market rebound, traded at just over $1,400 at the time of writing. Versus its peak on July 24, the pair was down 15%.<\/p>\n On July 25, TraderSZ warned that Ether and Bitcoin could both soon challenge lows, the latter aiming for $18,500.<\/p>\n i dont like the way ethusd looks…i think even if it wants to go higher, makes more sense to take out the lows…which means btc could squeeze lower. going to cut my btc long. if it is low, il get back in higher up after low is in https:\/\/t.co\/u6sFHpzPH1<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/6BbfmB6VRY<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2022-07\/161f34bd-764c-4092-a34a-b73b609bb0b3.png\")
$21,000 now \u201csuper critical\u201d for BTC bulls<\/h2>\n
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Trader warns Ether could \u201ctake out lows\u201d next<\/h2>\n
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