Bitcoin (BTC) has climbed back above its 200-day moving average for the first time in roughly nine months, reclaiming a widely watched long-term technical level as its latest rally gathers momentum following an expansion of US Treasury bond buybacks.

Charting platform Barchart highlighted on Thursday that Bitcoin's price had crossed above its 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2025, roughly a month after BTC reached an all-time high above $126,000.

The 200-day moving average — the average of Bitcoin's closing prices over roughly the past 200 trading days — is widely used to gauge longer-term market trends, with moves above the indicator often viewed as a sign of bullish momentum and extended stretches below it read as evidence of a bearish phase. A sustained break above the level could therefore suggest that Bitcoin's months-long downtrend is beginning to weaken, though technical analysts generally look for reclaimed levels to hold on subsequent retests before treating a trend change as confirmed.

The milestone came as Bitcoin climbed to nearly $73,000 on Thursday, according to TradingView data. Even at that level, BTC remains more than 40% below the all-time high above $126,000 set in late 2025, underscoring how much of the drawdown that followed the record peak has yet to be recovered.

Treasury buyback expansion underpins the rally

Bitcoin has gained more than 13% since Wednesday, when the US Treasury Department announced it would at least double the size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated Treasury securities, raising the maximum from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation beginning Sept. 9. The Treasury has conducted regular buybacks of outstanding securities since 2024 as a market-functioning tool, repurchasing older, harder-to-trade issues to support overall liquidity.

The operation aims to improve liquidity at the long end of the Treasury market and initially pushed long-term yields lower, helping bolster risk appetite across financial markets. Institutional crypto exposure has moved in the same direction, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs drawing $517 million in their largest one-day inflow since early May.

Following the Treasury's announcement, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick said the move could help fuel a broader Bitcoin rally toward $100,000 by year-end. Two checkpoints now stand out for market watchers: whether Bitcoin holds above the 200-day moving average on any retest, and whether the enlarged buyback operations beginning Sept. 9 sustain the improved liquidity conditions that accompanied this week's risk-asset rally.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs draw $517M in largest one-day inflow since early May