Daily Market Analysis and News From NordFX

[Stan NordFX]

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: March 09 Mystery and the Secret Struggle of Crypto Clans

Many were probably surprised by the unexpected jump in bitcoin on Wednesday March 09. The beginning of the week passed quite calmly: the bulls tried to break above $40,000, the bears tried to lower the quotes below $37,000. And then all of a sudden, in just a few hours, the BTC/USD pair soared by 10%, reaching a high of $42,520.

Why did it happen?

We have repeatedly said that the present and future of the crypto market is largely in the hands of the White House and the US central bank, and the jump on March 09 is an obvious proof of this.

Bitcoin and other digital assets surged after the details of President Joe Biden's executive order were revealed. The document instructs federal agencies to study the impact of cryptocurrencies on national security and the economy by the end of the year, as well as outline the necessary changes in legislation. In particular, it is supposed to coordinate the work of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), as well as the definition of roles for government agencies - from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.

According to a number of analysts, the events in Ukraine prompted the preparation of this document by the White House. More precisely, the fear that some organizations and individuals may use digital assets to circumvent sanctions against Russia. But, whatever the reason, it doesn't change the point. Unlike, for example, China, which seeks to completely destroy this market, the United States, on the contrary, seems to want to develop this industry. And this was positively received by crypto investors.

Such Washington's intentions were confirmed by Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and former White House Communications Director. He is confident that the United States will not tighten the noose around the neck of the crypto market: “I don’t think the US wants to lose its leadership in financial services. If they decide to ban or over-regulate digital currencies, we will see capital flight and brain flight out of the country.”|

This businessman also stated in an interview with Magnifi that investors should buy BTC even if they have never worked with cryptocurrencies before. According to Scaramucci, cold-blooded holders who know how to wait will benefit in the future. He is confident that bitcoin is guaranteed to reach $100,000 in a couple of years. Note that the entrepreneur stores about $1 billion in bitcoins at the moment.

Returning to the sanctions against Russia, they can cause the price of bitcoin to skyrocket, according to another billionaire, the legendary investor Bill Miller. “Almost 50% of its reserves are held by Russia in currencies controlled by people who want to harm it,” Miller said. In this regard, the Russian government may try to use digital gold as a reserve currency. And this, according to Miller, is a “very bullish signal” for bitcoin.

The bullish sentiment was also supported by an authoritative cryptanalyst known as Dave the Wave. According to his forecast, the price of the main cryptocurrency should update its historical maximum in 2022. Dave the Wave has published the BTC price chart and explained that despite bitcoin falling below $40,000, it is still on its way to $100,000. Against the background of the collapse of the global market, the coin has a chance for a steady rebound from the $36,000 mark.

The well-known crypto-analyst and trader Michael van de Poppe looks at the current situation quite differently. He believes that against the background of geopolitical tensions in the east of Europe, bitcoin can continue its fall to $30,000. "Why?" asks the specialist. And he answers: “Because of a short-term panic. You should understand that traders are people who are focused on the short term, are very impulsive, emotional, and this is what the markets reflect.” At the same time, Michael van de Popp notes that the current recession is a good opportunity for those who are still optimistic about the first cryptocurrency to replenish its reserves.

As for the altcoins led by ethereum, according to the trader, they are under strong selling pressure in the current situation, which could push them further down until the ethereum reaches the $2,000 mark.

According to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, bitcoin and gold will become the safest assets in the near future. “You can put an equal sign between these two instruments and stop the discussion about what is more important, BTC or precious metals,” this billionaire said.

However, there is no equality at the moment. On the contrary, according to analysts from IntoTheBlock, the correlation between bitcoin and precious metals has fallen to its lowest level since August 2021. Thus, it has reached a 7-month low in relation to gold and silver. Experts believe that these changes have occurred against the backdrop of a military operation that Russia is conducting on the territory of Ukraine. Bitcoin is highly correlated with the traditional stock market while commodity prices continue to rise.

According to experts, indicators that assess the return on an asset and the degree of risk demonstrate how much better precious metals have reacted to the resulting volatility compared to the flagship cryptocurrency.

The experts have also noted that the majority of bitcoin holders (57%) have not been affected by the recent price fluctuations of the coin. Many holders keep their virtual assets for more than a year, which means they still have positive returns.

At the time of writing this review (the evening of March 11), after the jump on March 09, everything is back to normal: the BTC/USD pair is trading around $39,000, the total market capitalization, after rising to $1.854 trillion, returned to the values of a week ago at $1.740 trillion, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell from 27 to 22 points, finding itself in the Extreme Fear zone once again.

And in conclusion, another tip in our joke crypto life hacks column. Recall that we talk in it about alternative ways to make money in this market. This time our advice is: “Try writing a crypto thriller.” An example is a bestseller that recently came out from the pen of Forbes journalist Laura Shin. Its title is very telling: The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. The writer talks in this book about the large-scale struggle of the rich for influence and leadership in the “new money” industry.

Shin introduces readers to prominent figures in the digital space, such as Vitalik Buterin, Web3 prodigy, Charles Hoskinson, and Joe Labin (a former Goldman Sachs vice president who became one of the most famous cryptocurrency billionaires). “Sparks fly as these prominent personalities fight for their place in what seems to be a limitless new business world,” the author writes, describing the “crypto clans” confrontation.


NordFX Analytical Group


Notice: These materials should not be deemed a recommendation for investment or guidance for working on financial markets: they are for informative purposes only. Trading on financial markets is risky and can lead to a loss of money deposited.

#eurusd #gbpusd #usdjpy #btcusd #ethusd #ltcusd #xrpusd #forex #forex_example #signals #cryptocurrencies #bitcoin #stock_market

 

[Stan NordFX]

CryptoNews of the Week

- The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament (ECON) adopted a bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies by a majority of votes. “It is a good day for the crypto sector," said one of the drafters of the law. “The EU Parliament has paved the way for innovative regulation of cryptocurrencies that could set standards for the world.” It is also positive that the document has not included an amendment to ban mining on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm, which would de facto mean a ban on bitcoin.

- Analytical company Elliptic said that it transferred to the US authorities some information about digital wallets allegedly associated with sanctioned Russian officials and oligarchs, Bloomberg reports.
To support the sanctions regime against Russia, Elliptic employees have identified more than 400 virtual asset service providers (mostly exchanges) where cryptocurrencies can be purchased for rubles (according to analysts, turnover on these platforms tripled in a week). In addition, the company's specialists have identified several hundred thousand crypto wallets associated with sanctioned individuals and legal entities.

- According to the latest data, large investors from Russia kept their cryptocurrency holdings on exchanges located in Switzerland. They expected that Switzerland, being a neutral country, would not be involved in any conflicts, so their digital assets were safe. However, Switzerland announced unexpectedly that it was joining the European sanctions. And now the Russian oligarchs are trying to save their assets. For example, Reuters reports that a cryptocurrency company (the name is not published) received orders from Swiss brokers to sell 125,000 bitcoins, which are worth about $5 billion, and convert them into cash.

- MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor is known to be an ardent supporter of bitcoin. His company owns several billion dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies. Sailor himself is confident that BTC will grow in price, as this asset forms a new financial system. During his recent speech at the Economic Club of New York, he compared cryptocurrencies to real estate that an investor purchases in an American metropolis. In the context of rising inflation, real estate retains the status of a reliable and profitable asset. In this regard, bitcoin can also be considered a safe-haven asset that is not subject to inflation risks.

– Elon Musk agreed with Michael Saylor. His tweet referred to an article in the Financial Times about the rise in prices in commodity markets to highs since 2008 amid fears of cutting off the supply of raw materials from Russia and concluded that it is better to invest in physical assets and cryptocurrencies. “Buy a house or shares of a company that makes good products. By the way, I personally still hold bitcoin, ethereum and Dogecoin,” wrote the head of Tesla and SpaceX.

- Peter Brandt, a well-known trader and analyst, a Wall Street legend, recommended almost the same thing to his more than 600,000 subscribers. According to news.bitcoin, he advised young people to "get a degree in their field, avoid student debt if possible, get a decent job, and think of the markets as a hobby." In addition, in his opinion, young people should be frugal, buy a house and start a family, and also invest part of their savings every month in bitcoin and in stocks of serious companies, while remaining hodlers.

– According to Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra crypto-bank, a steady decline in fees within the Ethereum network can serve as a driver for the growth of the asset to the $30,000-40,000 zone. Today, the Ethereum network is one of the most sought after in the industry, as it is used in the field of non-fungible tokens (NFT), DeFi decentralized finance, games, etc. The number of ethereum holders will only grow with the launch of Ethereum 2.0 and the launch of staking approaching.
However, Bill Barhydt has not ruled out the possibility of selling small amounts of ETH in June or July. According to him, this will be a completely predictable correction against the backdrop of the growth of cryptocurrency.

- According to analysts from IntoTheBlock, despite the fact that the price of bitcoin is far from the historical high, the number of holders of the flagship cryptocurrency has reached a record value. 39.79 million unique addresses keep these digital coins on their balances at the moment. This suggests that about 888 thousand new BTC holders have joined the network since the beginning of this year.
According to experts from Finbold, the number of holders holding less than 1 BTC on their balance sheet has increased significantly since October 2020. At the same time, whales (from 1000 to 10,000 BTC) have not increased their holdings much. According to the analysts, this suggests that bitcoin is unlikely to show serious growth in the medium term.
Representatives of the CoinMarketCap service do not agree with them. The portal's SMM service has conducted a survey among subscribers, as a result of which 4 out of 5 users expressed confidence that the price of BTC will rise to almost $50,000 by the end of March.

- Citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis can now be purchased with cryptocurrency. It is a small island nation in the Caribbean. The country is part of the British Commonwealth, and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is recognized as its head. The program for obtaining citizenship in exchange for investments has been operating in the country for a long time, since the 1980s. The current amount of investment, which allows you to get the coveted passport, is $150,000. But if earlier the country accepted only the traditional currency, now the list has expanded: investors can transfer about 4 BTC at the exchange rate to Saint Kitts and Nevis.
By the way, some well-known supporters of digital assets already have the citizenship of this country. One of the most recognizable is Roger Ver, the developer of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

- Cryptocurrencies have proven to be an effective weapon against Russia, ConsenSys founder and ethereum co-creator Joseph Lubi said in an interview with Decrypt. The international crypto community has donated more than $100 million to Ukrainian charitable foundations since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
According to Joseph Lubi, the war in Ukraine predetermined the further integration of digital assets into the global economy: “This is another moment for our industry that will allow for mass adoption [of cryptocurrencies]. This will be a matter of national security now,” he said. “Our country and many others will have to learn how to use this powerful tool, this weapon. Nobody likes guns, but you need to be able to handle them like your neighbors do."

- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believes bitcoin will be worth $100,000. According to him, BTC is “the most incredible mathematical miracle” that surpasses gold due to the confirmed digital scarcity.
Other influencers in the crypto world believe that the coin can reach this milestone as well. Bitbull CEO Joe DiPasquale is one of the biggest proponents of cryptocurrency. Even though bitcoin has been falling since November, he believes that the digital asset is still on track to reach the long-awaited $100,000 mark.

- Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz named five times the figure during his speech at Bloomberg TV. He once again confirmed his forecast, according to which the largest cryptocurrency could rise to $500,000 in five years. And it will be a smooth, not aggressive growth.
The billionaire had accurately predicted that the cryptocurrency market would stall at the beginning of 2022. Bitcoin’s upward rally in 2021 was fueled by fears that the Federal Reserve would “print money forever,” he said. Now that the Fed is winding down its stimulus program, the largest cryptocurrency is in the middle of a bearish trend.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

#eurusd #gbpusd #usdjpy #btcusd #ethusd #ltcusd #xrpusd #forex #forex_example #signals #forex #cryptocurrencies #bitcoin #stock_market

 

[Stan NordFX]

Forex and Cryptocurrency Forecast for March 21 - 25, 2022​

EUR/USD: Has the Market Gone Crazy?

What happened in the market after the US Federal Reserve meeting can be called "the theater of the absurd". As expected, the regulator raised the key interest rate from 0.25% to 0.5% on Wednesday, March 16, for the first time since 2018. As expected, the dollar began to strengthen after that. But what no one expected was that the strengthening will last only about an hour and will amount to some 50 points. After that, it will be not the American, but the European currency that will begin to grow. As a result, the EUR/USD pair will fix a weekly high at 1.1137 the next day.

Everything that happened was completely contrary to logic. The forecasts for US GDP were revised. And they showed that the Fed expects economic growth to slow down in 2022 from 4% to 2.8% due to the sanctions war with Russia. In addition, the forecasts for the interest rate have also changed. It was earlier said that it will reach 0.75-1.00% by the end of the year. This figure has now risen to 1.75-2.00%. Given that there are only six meetings left this year, it turns out that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) will have to raise the rate by 0.25% at each of them.

But this is not all either. The forecast for the end of 2023 was also raised from 1.50-1.75% to 2.75-3.00%. Moreover, it seems that we will face several more acts of monetary restriction in 2024. That is, this is not just a revision of forecasts, but a sharp tightening of the US monetary policy, which could deal a serious blow to the labor market and lead to a large-scale recession.

In such a situation, the dollar would have to grow steadily, and the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq stock indices would fall drastically. But everything went the opposite way: the DXY Dollar Index fell drastically, and stock indices quickly flew up.

As already mentioned, there is no logical explanation for this. Some believe that the reason for this is the rate increase not by 0.5%, but only by 0.25%. According to another version, the reason is that the regulator has not clarified plans to reduce the Fed's balance sheet. And someone thinks that it is the greed factor that worked. Speculators remembered how quickly stock indices recovered after the shock at the beginning of the pandemic and decided that something similar would happen again soon. So now is the time to buy US stocks while they are still relatively cheap after a 10-week drop.

Logic began to return to the markets at the very end of the working week. The dollar began to rise again, and the EUR/USD turned south, finishing at 1.1050. As for its future, experts' opinions are divided as follows: 45% have supported the growth of the pair, 35% support the fall, and 20% have taken a neutral position. Among the oscillators on D1, the picture is mixed: 30% of them are colored red, 30% are green and the remaining 40% are neutral gray. The trend indicators have an advantage on the side of the red ones: those are 65% against 35% of the green ones.

The nearest target for the bears will be to break through support at 1.1000, then 1.0900. If successful, we can expect a retest of the March 07 low at 1.0805. This will be followed by the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325. The strategic goal is parity at the level of 1.0000.

The bulls' immediate goal is to break through the resistance zone in the 1.1100-1.1135 area. Then there are zones 1.1280-1.1390 and the highs of January 13 and February 10 at 1.1485.

As for the upcoming week, there are few important macro data expected. Thursday, March 24, can be singled out in the economic calendar, when data on business activity in Germany and the Eurozone will arrive. The volume of orders for capital goods and durable goods in the US will be known on this day as well.

GBP/USD: Bank of England Is One Step Ahead of the Fed

Strange market reaction to the Fed meeting helped the pound as well. Positive statistics on the national labor market also sided with the British currency. The unemployment rate, with the forecast of 4.0%, actually fell from 4.1% to 3.9% in January, and the number of applications for unemployment benefits in February decreased by 48.1K (31.9K in the previous month). The average wage increased from 3.7% to 3.8%. Taking into account bonus payments, its growth amounted to 4.8%, which is also better than the forecast of 4.6%. All this allowed the Bank of England to once again be one step ahead of the US Federal Reserve and to raise the interest rate from 0.50% to 0.75% at its meeting on Thursday, March 17.

It is highly likely that the regulator of the United Kingdom will continue to tighten monetary policy and raise the refinancing rate again at its next meeting, in a month and a half. The new inflation forecast will also push it to this. Unlike its US and European counterparts, the Bank of England expects it to reach 7.25% in April. It will take at least two years to bring it down to the target level of 2.0% in such a situation.

The results of the meeting of the Bank of England initially caused the same paradoxical reaction of investors as in the case of the US Federal Reserve. The GBP/USD pair, instead of growing, fell from 1.3210 to 1.3087 on expectations of an active rate hike. However, then, as in the case of the euro, the market changed its mind, and the pair completed the five-day period at 1.3175.

Experts' forecast for the GBP/USD pair for the next week is as follows: 50% vote for the movement to the north, 40% are for further movement to the south, the remaining 10% vote for the sideways trend. Among the oscillators on D1, 70% are looking down, 30% have taken a neutral position at the time of writing the review. For trend indicators, 65% side with the bears, 35% side with the bulls.

The nearest support is located in the zone 1.3080-1.3100, then comes the low of the past week (and at the same time of 2021-2022) - 1.3000, followed by the 2020 support. Resistance levels are 1.3185-1.3210, then 1.3270-1.3325, 1.3400, 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3640.

As for the events of the upcoming week, one can pay attention to the data from the UK consumer market, which will arrive on Wednesday March 23. The country's services PMI (Markit) will be released on the next day, Thursday, March 24, which is expected to rise from 60.5 to 60.7 over the month.

USD/JPY: Yen Falls to Six-Year Low

The headline of the previous USD/JPY review stated that “the markets chose the dollar”. The past week has only confirmed this conclusion. Despite the fact that the US currency fell against the euro and the pound, it continued to grow steadily against the yen. The high of the week was fixed at 119.40, while the finish was slightly lower, at the level of 119.15. The last time the USD/JPY pair traded so high was a very, very long time ago, at the turn of 2016/2017.

The reason for this is the Bank of Japan, which does not want to change its ultra-soft monetary policy. The position of the Japanese regulator differs sharply from the position of the Fed, the Bank of England, and even the ECB. Although, admittedly, there are certain reasons for this. Inflation in the country amounted to only 0.9% in February in annual terms against 0.5% in January. This indicator, although it was the highest since April 2019, is simply insignificant compared to the inflation rate in the UK or in the US, where it reached 7.9%, the highest in the last 39 years.

And although, following the results of the last meeting on Friday, March 18, the Central Bank of Japan announced that it expected inflationary pressure to increase due to rising energy and commodity prices, it still kept the interest rate at a negative level, minus 0.1%, and the target yield of ten-year government bonds are close to zero.

As for the forecast, 70% of analysts believe that it is time for the pair to turn down, 20% hold the opposite view, and 10% have just shrugged. Among the indicators on D1, there is almost complete unanimity after such a powerful breakthrough to the north. 100% of trend indicators and oscillators are looking up, although 35% of the oscillators are already in the overbought zone.

The pair easily broke through all the resistance levels indicated a week ago, and one can most likely focus on the next round values with a backlash of plus/minus 15-20 points now. The nearest zone is 119.80-120.20. Supports are located at the levels and in the zones 119.00, 118.00-118.35, 117.70, 116.75, 115.80-116.15.

Of the week's macro statistics, inflation data in Tokyo, which will be released on Friday, March 25, is of interest. According to forecasts, the core consumer price index in the country's capital may fall from 0.5% to 0.4%. A report on the latest meeting of the Japanese regulator's Monetary Policy Committee will be published a day earlier. However, all its main decisions are already known, so one should hardly expect any surprises from this document.

continued below...

 

[Stan NordFX]

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: The Salvation of Bitcoin Is in Small Holders

So, Jerome Powell's speech at the end of the Fed meeting has returned investor interest to the stock market, becoming the driver of the best two-day increase in the S&P500 index since April 2020. Both Dow Jones and Nasdaq went up. This is not to say that the increase in such risk appetites has helped cryptocurrencies a lot, but at least it has kept them from falling further. The BTC/USD bulls tried to gain a foothold above $40,000 once again, while their ETH/USD counterparts tried to push the pair closer to $3,000.

Bitcoin is trading in the $41,650 zone at the time of writing this review, on the evening of Friday March 18. The total market capitalization increased from $1.740 trillion to $1.880 trillion over the week. And the Crypto Fear & Greed Index remained in the Extreme Fear zone, having hardly risen from 22 to 25 points.

Probably, the growth of US stock indices can be considered good news for the digital market as well. Another piece of good news came from the other side of the Atlantic, from Europe. The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament (ECON) has adopted a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. “It is a good day for the crypto sector! The EU Parliament has paved the way for innovative regulation of cryptocurrencies that can set standards for the whole world,” said one of the drafters of the law. It is also positive that the document has not included an amendment to ban mining on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm, which would de facto mean a ban on bitcoin.

The European Parliament's decision came just days after US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on the same subject. Recall that this document instructs federal agencies to study the impact of cryptocurrencies on national security and the economy by the end of the year, as well as outline the necessary changes in legislation. In particular, it is supposed to coordinate the work of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), as well as the definition of roles for government agencies - from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.

According to some analysts, the events in Ukraine prompted both the White House and the EU Parliament to take these steps. More precisely, the fear that some organizations and individuals may use digital assets to circumvent sanctions against Russia. And there is no doubt that such attempts are being made.

So, it became known last week that some large investors from Russia had been keeping their cryptocurrency reserves on Swiss exchanges, counting on the neutrality of this country. However, Switzerland announced unexpectedly that it was joining the European sanctions. And now the Russian oligarchs are trying to save their assets. For example, Reuters reports that a cryptocurrency company (the name is not published) received orders from Swiss brokers to sell 125,000 bitcoins, which are worth about $5 billion, and to convert them into cash.

Analytical company Elliptic said that it transfered to the US authorities information about digital wallets allegedly associated with sanctioned Russian officials and oligarchs, Bloomberg reports. To support the sanctions regime against Russia, Elliptic employees have identified more than 400 virtual asset service providers (mostly exchanges) where cryptocurrencies can be purchased for rubles (according to analysts, turnover on these platforms tripled in a week). In addition, the company's specialists have identified several hundred thousand crypto wallets associated with sanctioned individuals and legal entities.

According to some experts, it is possible that bitcoin will return to a bearish trend, against the backdrop of a tense geopolitical situation and the upcoming tightening of the Fed's monetary policy. AcheronInsights editor Christopher Yates expects BTC/USD to drop to $30,000. Well-known analyst Willy Woo shares similar fears. His calculations indicate that there is no necessary dip in the relative cost measurement. This, in his opinion, suggests that "there is room for another fall."

In addition to the growth of investors' risk appetite, bitcoin keeps the activity of small buyers with wallets up to 10 BTC from a collapse: they increase their purchases in the hope of a local bottom being formed. So, CoinMarketCap's SMM service has conducted a survey among subscribers, as a result of which 4 out of 5 users expressed confidence that the price of BTC will rise to almost $50,000 by the end of March.

According to analysts from IntoTheBlock, the number of holders of the flagship cryptocurrency has now reached a record high: 39.79 million unique addresses. About 888 thousand new BTC holders have joined the network since the beginning of this year. At the same time, according to Finbold, a serious growth is observed among small holders holding less than 1 BTC on their balance. As for the whales (from 1000 to 10,000 BTC), they have not increased their holdings much. According to the analysts, this suggests that bitcoin is unlikely to show serious growth in the medium term.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is more optimistic about the prospects of the flagship cryptocurrency; he believes that bitcoin will still rise to $100,000. According to him, BTC is “the most incredible mathematical miracle” that surpasses gold due to the confirmed digital scarcity.

Other influencers in the crypto world believe that the coin can reach this milestone as well. Bitbull CEO Joe DiPasquale is one of the biggest proponents of cryptocurrency. Even though bitcoin has been falling since November, he believes that the digital asset is still on track to reach the long-awaited $100,000 mark.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz named five times the figure during his speech at Bloomberg TV. He once again confirmed his forecast, according to which the largest cryptocurrency could rise to $500,000 in five years. And it will be a smooth, not aggressive growth.

The billionaire had accurately predicted that the cryptocurrency market would stall at the beginning of 2022. According to him, bitcoin’s upward rally in 2021 was fueled by fears that the Federal Reserve would “print money forever. Now that the Fed is winding down its stimulus program, the largest cryptocurrency is in the middle of a bearish trend.

The CEO of the crypto-bank Abra Bill Barhydt draws no less brilliant prospects for the ethereum. He believes that a steady decrease in fees within the ethereum network can serve as a driver for the growth of the asset to the $30,000-40,000 zone. Today, the ethereum network is one of the most sought after in the industry, as it is used in the field of non-fungible tokens (NFT), DeFi decentralized finance, games, etc. The number of ethereum holders will only grow with the launch of Ethereum 2.0 and the launch of staking approaching.

However, Bill Barhydt has not ruled out the possibility of selling small amounts of ETH in June or July. According to him, this will be a completely predictable correction against the backdrop of the growth of cryptocurrency.


NordFX Analytical Group


Notice: These materials should not be deemed a recommendation for investment or guidance for working on financial markets: they are for informative purposes only. Trading on financial markets is risky and can lead to a loss of money deposited.

#eurusd #gbpusd #usdjpy #btcusd #ethusd #ltcusd #xrpusd #forex #forex_example #signals #cryptocurrencies #bitcoin #stock_market

 

[Stan NordFX]

Forex and Cryptocurrencies Forecast for March 28 - April 01, 2022​

EUR/USD: A Tangle of Chaos and Paradoxes

The title of the previous EUR/USD review had a question of whether the market has gone crazy. Many analysts agreed that financial markets behaved at least illogically following the March Fed meeting. And at most, it's just absurd.

Despite aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the US regulator, despite a possible slowdown in economic growth in the US due to the actions of the Fed and anti-Russian sanctions, despite the worsening epidemiological situation in China, stock indices are going up. This is especially noticeable in the S&P500, which has added almost 10% since March 15, and it has more than doubled in the two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (more precisely, it has gone up by 108%).

It is difficult to explain what is happening. The classic explanation that sounds most logical is that markets rise on expectations. Investors remembered how quickly stock indices recovered after the shock at the beginning of the pandemic and decided that something similar would happen again soon. That is, now is the time to buy shares before their price has flown to new heights.

As for EUR/USD, this pair behaved illogically as well. Markets were waiting for the difference in the monetary policies of the Fed and the ECB to push it sharply down. However, instead, the pair consolidated in the 1.1000 area, which fully confirmed the neutral forecast of experts and indicators given a week ago.

Apparently, investors believe that a sharp increase in interest rates by the Fed, although it will stop inflation, could create serious problems for the US industry. But Europe may expect good economic growth in Q3 and Q4.

US President Joe Biden said before his visit to the EU last week that he wanted to achieve new sanctions against Russia, including a complete embargo on Russian energy supplies. However, this did not happen, which supported the common European currency. The end of the armed conflict in Ukraine, or at least its transition from a hot phase to a frozen state, can further strengthen the euro. The situation on the debt market, which is much better in Germany, the locomotive of the European economy, than in the United States, also keeps the EUR/USD pair from falling.

At the same time, macro statistics look quite contradictory, introducing additional confusion into the assessment of the current situation. Thus, business activity in the eurozone slowed down from 55.5 to 54.5 this month. But it is still better than the forecast of 53.7 points. And in the US, the composite index of business activity jumped from 55.9 to 58.5 against the forecast of 55.4 points. And this is another paradox: how can this happen when anti-Russian sanctions are putting pressure on the economy on both sides of the Atlantic, and fuel prices are skyrocketing?

Even more confusion and chaos was added by President Putin's decision to sell energy resources for rubles. True, this only applies to countries that are unfriendly to him, but this list includes the United States and all EU countries, as well as Great Britain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Switzerland.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development has already lowered its forecast for US GDP for 2022 from 3.0% to 2.4%. There was also an adjustment for the GDP of the Eurozone, and it turned out to be more significant: the figure was halved, to 1.7%. This seems to be due to the EU's geographic proximity to war-torn Ukraine, as well as Europe's much greater dependence on Russian oil and gas. And now nobody knows how to buy them for rubles. There has never been anything like it in world practice. Therefore, most likely, purchases will take place through intermediary countries, for example, from North Africa or the Middle East, which will lead to another increase in prices.

The EUR/USD pair relied on support at 1.0960-1.0965 throughout the past week and ended the trading session at 1.0982. Most analysts (60%) believe that the pair will try to break through the support in the 1.0900 zone and retest the March 07 low at 1.0805. Then, with luck, the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325 will follow. The strategic goal is parity at the level of 1.0000. The remaining 40% of experts have opposed such a scenario and vote for a bullish forecast. The nearest target for them is a breakdown of the resistance zone around 1.1050. Then there are zones 1.1100-1.1135, 1.1280-1.1350 and the highs of January 13 and February 10 in the area of 1.1485. At the same time, if we switch from the weekly to the median forecast for the whole of April, then the Pivot Point of the month is in the region of 1.1000, as it is now.

Among the oscillators on D1, the picture is mixed: 35% of them are colored red, 30% are green and the remaining 35% are gray neutral. Trend indicators have 100% on the red side.

The coming week will bring many important economic statistics. The value of the harmonized consumer price index in Germany will become known on Wednesday, March 30, and the volume of retail sales in this country on the next day. Statistics on consumer prices in general for the Eurozone will be published on Friday, April 01. In addition to European statistics, data on employment in the private sector and US GDP will be released on Wednesday, March 30, and in addition to data on business activity (ISM), we are traditionally waiting for a portion of statistics from the US labor market on Friday, including the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector (NFP).

GBP/USD: Narrow Channel Amid Uncertainty

As with the euro, GBP/USD bulls and bears are at a complete loss. The reasons are the same: a strange increase in the global risk appetite of investors and the unpredictable situation with energy resources. As a result, the pair has been moving east all week, trapped in a narrow corridor 1.3120-1.3220. The attempt of the bulls to break through in the middle of the five-day period above the horizon of 1.3300 ended in a fiasco, and the pair finished in the center of the named corridor, at the level of 1.3180.

Experts' forecast for the GBP/USD pair for the coming week is as follows: 50% vote for moving north, 25% vote for moving south, the remaining 25% vote for a sideways trend. Among the oscillators on D1 at the time of writing, 70% are looking up, 30% are looking down. For trend indicators, the opposite is true: 80% side with the bears, 20% - with the bulls.

The nearest support is located in the area of 1.3150, then there is a zone of 1.3080-1.3100 and the March 15 (and at the same time 2021-2022) low of 1.3000, followed by the support of 2020. Resistance levels are 1.329-1.3215, then 1.3270-1.3325, 1.3400, 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3640.

From the events related to the economy of the United Kingdom, we can highlight the speech of the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey on Monday, March 28, as well as the publication of UK GDP data for the Q4 2022 on Thursday March 31.

continued below...

 

[Stan NordFX]

USD/JPY: New Anti-Record of the Japanese Currency

The yen fell to a six-year low last week, reaching 119.15 JPY per 1 USD. The record was updated this week: the pair was marked at the level of 122.43 on Friday, March 25.

The Bank of Japan, which does not want to change its ultra-soft monetary policy, is to blame for such a sharp weakening of the yen. The position of the Japanese regulator contrasts sharply with the plans and actions of the Fed, the Bank of England and even the ECB. It still believes that a premature withdrawal of stimulus policies could do more harm than good. Admittedly, there are certain reasons for this. Inflation in the country amounted to only 0.9% in February in annual terms against 0.5% in January. This indicator, although it was the highest since April 2019, is simply insignificant compared to the inflation rate in the UK or in the US, where it reached 7.9%, the highest in the last 39 years.

This dovish position was once again confirmed during the speech of the head of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda on March 22, who said that it was too early to discuss the possibility of curtailing the quantitative easing (QE) program, as well as raising the interest rate. Recall that it has been at a negative level for a long time - minus 0.1%.

Three other factors also pushed the yen down and USD/JPY up. The first one is the departure of investors from quiet currency havens to risky assets. The second factor is the Fed Chairman's rhetoric that has become even more hawkish. Speaking on March 21 at the US National Association of Economics and Business, Jerome Powell said that the US Central bank is ready to act even more aggressively if necessary. These words led the markets to think that the Fed could raise interest rates 10-11 times by the end of 2023. Based on such expectations, the yield on 10-year US government bonds rose from 2.146% to 2.282%, reaching a maximum since May 2019. And as we know, the exchange rate of the Japanese currency traditionally correlates with these securities. If the yield on ten-year Treasury bills grows, so does the USD/JPY pair. Which is what we saw last week.

And finally, the third factor is the decision of the Russian leadership to introduce payments for gas in rubles. “We do not quite understand what Russia's intentions are and how it will do it,” Finance Minister Shun'ichi Suzuki said at a meeting of the Japanese Parliament on March 23.

Most analysts have been waiting for the end of the bullish rally for the past two weeks, but it still has not happened. On the contrary, the pair USD/JPY has added about 700 points. And now this "majority" of 70-80% has "shrunken" to 50%. Moving from a weekly to a monthly forecast, the number of those voting for the pair's reversal to the south and its fall at least to 117.00-118.00 is still large and amounts to 85%.

Among the indicators on D1, there is complete unanimity after such a powerful breakthrough to the north. 100% of trend indicators and oscillators are looking up, although 35% of the oscillators are already in the overbought zone.

The previous bullish forecast called the 119.80-120.20 zone as the target, which is now far below. It is difficult to point to any new targets in the current situation. Most likely, it is worth focusing on subsequent round levels with a backlash of plus/minus 15-20 points. This approach was confirmed last week, when the pair finished at 122.08. The range of support zones has also become wider due to very strong volatility. These are the zones 120.60-121.40, 119.00-119.40, 118.00-118.35.

The economic calendar of the week can mark Friday, April 1, when the Bank of Japan publishes the Tankan Large Producers Index. This is quite an important indicator that reflects the general business conditions for export-oriented large industrial companies in the country.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: In Anticipation of a Bull Rally

Investors' risk appetites, which caused the growth of stock indices, have dragged the crypto market along with them. Bitcoin reached the powerful resistance level of $45,000 on the evening of Friday, March 25, for the fifth time since the beginning of the year. it is still an open question whether it will be able to gain a foothold above this level. The previous four attempts failed; the BTC/USD pair rolled back down. However, the rising wedge is clearly visible on its chart, in which each next drawdown becomes smaller and smaller. So the main cryptocurrency fell to $32.945 on January 24, to $34.415 a month later, and it hit the bottom at $37.170 on March 7.

The total market capitalization rose to $2.280 trillion at the peak on March 25, but it also failed to gain a foothold above this significant mark, and at the time of writing the review it is trading at $1.995 trillion ($1.880 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index finally moved out of the Extreme Fear zone to the middle of the scale, rising from 25 to 47 points.

Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine in an interview with Time. At the same time, in his opinion, this event reminded the crypto community that the purpose of digital assets is to bring real benefits to people, and cryptocurrencies can become a counterbalance to authoritarian governments and undermine the “suffocating control” of technology giants.

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, agrees with Buterin, he believes that due to anti-Russian sanctions, bitcoin will gain an advantage over the US dollar, and possibly gold. In his opinion, sanctions against Russia and other countries only encourage their citizens to invest in gold and bitcoin, and not to keep money in dollars. Hayes explained that in a difficult economic situation, citizens have more confidence in assets with a limited supply or offer, considering them a more reliable way to save money.

The BitMEX co-founder believes that Russia's disconnection from the SWIFT international payment system, that is, the isolation of one of the energy leaders, may have long-term negative consequences for the global financial system. Gold will become the dominant asset for some time, as it will be used for international trade in energy and food products. After some time, Central banks will begin to save this precious metal, it will become increasingly difficult for them to make such payments. And this will contribute to the widespread introduction of digital currencies.

Cryptocurrencies need a clear regulation to become really popular. This is the opinion of Matt Hougan, investment director at Bitwise Asset Management. He believes that the current stage in the history of the digital industry is paving the way for growth that will occur this year and will continue next year.

One of the important regulatory steps, according to the top manager of Bitwise, is the recent decree of US President Joe Biden, which could lead to an increase in the price of bitcoin. Recall that this document instructs federal agencies to study the impact of cryptocurrencies on national security and the economy by the end of the year, as well as outline the necessary changes in legislation. In particular, it is supposed to coordinate the work of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), as well as the definition of roles for government agencies - from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.

Bank of America crypto strategist Alkesh Shah also believes regulation of the crypto market will increase confidence and capitalization to a record high. “Ultimately we need some governance and some level of trust, but regulators want to ban when something goes wrong,” the expert explained. Therefore, in his opinion, a semi-decentralized system is optimal: blockchains, which are secretly managed by centralized organizations. “I think that $30 trillion for the semi-decentralized part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is quite real capital,” Shah concluded.

If we talk about the foreseeable future, the analytical company Glassnode expects a repeat of the bitcoin high of $69,000. The coin has been trading below the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) For the past 9 weeks but continues to rise. A similar situation was observed during the accumulation period of 2021, which paved the way for a rally in the fourth quarter, when an all-time high was reached. Glassnode data also shows that long-term holders are still hoarding bitcoin and the number of bitcoins on exchanges is declining. The company's specialists interpret this data as the end of the downward correction period.

According to some experts, ethereum is now even slightly better off than bitcoin, as many investors are now buying ETH for BTC. In addition, the community is waiting for the long-awaited update to the ethereum mainnet. The Merge update is approaching rollout following successful testing on the testnet. Before its launch, more than $5.0 billion in ETH tokens had already been withdrawn from circulation as a result of burning. As burning reduces the total supply of ethereum, this can positively affect its price, contributing to the rally of the altcoin.

Analysts at FXStreet suggest that its price could rise by 20% in the current uptrend. But for this to happen, the ETH/USD pair needs to gain a firm foothold above $3,033, which could lead to a perfect bullish breakout for the first time since October 2021.


NordFX Analytical Group


Notice: These materials should not be deemed a recommendation for investment or guidance for working on financial markets: they are for informative purposes only. Trading on financial markets is risky and can lead to a loss of money deposited.

#eurusd #gbpusd #usdjpy #btcusd #ethusd #ltcusd #xrpusd #forex #forex_example #signals #cryptocurrencies #bitcoin #stock_market

 

[Stan NordFX]

CryptoNews of the Week

- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke about the importance of digital assets in an interview with CNBC. “Cryptocurrency has grown by leaps and bounds, and now it plays a significant role not only in transactions, but in the investment decisions of many Americans,” she said.
At the same time, Ms. Minister confirmed her concerns regarding digital assets due to threats to financial stability, the need to protect private investors and the use of cryptocurrencies in illegal activities. “On the other hand, cryptocurrencies have advantages, and we recognize the benefits of innovation in the payment system. We want to issue recommendations to create a regulatory field in the long run,” she concluded, referring to the March executive order of US President Joe Biden. Recall that this decree requires federal agencies to coordinate their efforts in regulating the cryptocurrency industry.

- Kevin O’Leary, an American entrepreneur and star of the popular business and finance show “Shark Tank” stated that “there is no chance that bitcoin or anything else that has economic prospects in terms of developing new technologies for financial services will be banned and payment systems.
Roy Niederhoffer, the founder of RGNiederhoffer Capital Management, disagreed with his opinion, and he sees the possibility of a ban. He recalled that there was a time when private ownership of gold was banned in many countries, including the United States.
In the end, both panellists agreed that regulation of the cryptocurrency space is inevitable, and it will lead to a massive rally. “As soon as we see regulation, organizations will start investing trillions of dollars in cryptocurrencies,” O’Leary is sure.

- Peter Brandt, a legendary trader and the Factor Trading CEO, tweeted to his 629,400 followers that BTC’s recent move reminded him of April 2019, when the top cryptocurrency bottomed at $3,500 and began the first phase of its bull cycle. However, the expert emphasizes that even a technical breakthrough does not guarantee that the coin will repeat the 2019 rally.
“Charts DO NOT predict the future. The charts DO NOT even offer probabilities. Charts offer opportunities and are useful for risk management in a trading program. Chart patterns can either work, fail, or transform. If laser eyes reappear and BTC stops, be careful,” Brandt warns.
Crypto analyst Dave the Wave posted a comment saying that bitcoin is forming a larger ascending triangle on the weekly timeframe and could rise to its all-time high of $69,000. Note that this forecast met with no objections from Brandt.

- DataDash CEO Nicholas Merten believes that short-term investors and traders with leverage influence bitcoin volatility, and “whales” influence the growth. He clarified that “whales” and other institutional investors accumulating cryptocurrency, despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, are the catalyst for the rise in the price of BTC.
“There has been a lot of panic around the macro environment over the past couple of months. The Fed raises interest rates... The war between Ukraine and Russia, the potential next wave of COVID-19: all these issues have caused investors to be pessimistic and make them think that investors and companies are going to sell bitcoins. At the same time, the “whales”, on the contrary, did not sell cryptocurrency in large volumes. In fact, we saw how long-term investors continued to either buy more or hold bitcoin,” Merten shared his observation.
As for volatility, “all the up and down price movements that we see in the market are most likely due to the liquidation of the positions of short-term traders and leveraged traders,” said the CEO of DataDash. In his opinion, despite a 50% drop in quotes from a record high of $69,000 in November, bitcoin has remained in a bull market all along.

- The conflict, during which American actor Will Smith hit comedian Chris Rock during the live broadcast of the Oscars, opened up a good opportunity for entrepreneurial members of the crypto community to make money.
Almost immediately after the end of the Oscars, there were reports on the network about the launch of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) named after this slap in the face: Will Smith Slap DAO. The project has its own website and pages in social networks. The organizers of Will Smith Slap DAO also launched the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFT) based on the slap, which have already been bought by over 500 people.

- Despite numerous macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, bitcoin is highly likely to move into the second half of the bear market. This opinion is shared by Glassnode analysts.
The price of the first cryptocurrency broke through the upper limit of the three-month range at $47,000 last week. Active accumulation of coins in the $35,000-$42,000 range and the lack of significant spending of bitcoins purchased in the first quarter of 2021 increased the selling pressure.
The share of BTC “aged” over a year has grown by 9.4% over the past eight months to close to a record 62.9%. The holders of these coins did not get rid of the asset in the face of two corrections of more than 50% over the past year. The growth rate of this indicator is comparable to the market recovery in 2018-2019. And this may reflect increased investor confidence in bitcoin.
At the same time, analysts at Glassnode warned that the process of bottoming and investor capitulation in a bear market is often lengthy and painful. They urged not to rush into stating the end of the bear market.

- Citizens School in Dubai (UAE), which is scheduled to open in September, will offer parents of students the opportunity to pay for their studies in bitcoins and ethereum. Payments will be accepted through a processing service that converts crypto assets into the local currency dirham.
“By introducing a new payment method, we expect the younger generation to play a stronger role in the development of the digital economy in the UAE. While many people are already enjoying the fruits of the new era, today's children will become the entrepreneurs and investors of the future,” says Citizens School management.

- Well-known software developer MicroStrategy received a $205 million loan secured by its own crypto assets. The loan was issued by the American bank Silvergate. The purpose of the loan is to buy bitcoins.
According to the Bitcoin Treasuries website, MicroStrategy already owns 125,051 BTC worth nearly $6 billion. “This loan provides an opportunity to strengthen our position as a leader among public companies investing in bitcoin,” said Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy.
Note that MicroStrategy is not the only company that provides crypto assets as collateral. For this type of loans, Silvergate Bank has a special SEN Leverage program, the total amount of obligations for which has already exceeded $570 million.

- Glassnode analysts have found that the volume of ethereum on exchanges has been declining in recent days. The inflow of this altcoin to the trading floors is 20% lower than its outflow, which creates conditions for the formation of an ETH deficit.
The growth in the value of the coin is observed against the backdrop of the activation of the ten largest ETH addresses. This is confirmed by a new report from the analytical company Santiment. It states that whales have accumulated up to 23.7% of the total ethereum supply. They are not going to dump their reserves and prefer to send ETH to offline storage. A similar trend was observed in the first half of 2017. As a result, we saw the famous altcoin run during the hype five years ago.

- The next time someone tries to downplay Bitcoin (BTC) mining’s environmental achievements, feel free to cite the AmityAge mining farm as an example. Founded in Slovakia by Gabriel Kozak and Dušan Matuska, the company generates electricity for mining by using human and animal waste.,
One of its leaders, Dušan Matushka, said that "their devices run on methane, which is produced during the biodegradation process." Since there is no shortage of human and animal waste in the foreseeable future, we can say that BTC mining here is carried out in an environmentally friendly manner and using renewable energy sources.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

#eurusd #gbpusd #usdjpy #btcusd #ethusd #ltcusd #xrpusd #forex #forex_example #signals #forex #cryptocurrencies #bitcoin #stock_market

 

[Stan NordFX]

Forex and Cryptocurrencies Forecast for April 04 - 08, 2022​

EUR/USD: Too Much Uncertainty

The movement of major currencies was determined throughout March by reports from the Russian-Ukrainian front, the sanctions-energy war with Russia, and the pace of monetary tightening. The US dollar has strengthened significantly in recent months thanks to a sharp increase in the yield of US government bonds and signals about an increase in the Fed's interest rate. The EUR/USD pair fell to 1.0805 on March 07, its lowest level since mid-May 2020. However, then the growth of the dollar stopped, and the pair moved to a sideways movement along the Pivot Point 1.1000. The hawkish statements of the Fed management pushed the pair down, the hopes for resolving the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine sent it above this line.

The same factors determined the dynamics of EUR/USD last week as well. The pair rose by 240 points from Monday, March 28 to Thursday, March 31: from 1.0944 to 1.1184. First, the strengthening of the euro was caused by reports in the US media that the ECB may start actively raising the refinancing rate this year. Allegedly, a number of large market participants require the European regulator to raise the rate four times by the end of 2022. As a result, investors began to include in quotes the probability of such a move by the ECB, and the yield on government bonds in Europe went up.

The next day, March 29, hopes dawned for the success of the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which took place in Istanbul (Turkey). The success of the EU's energy war with Russia also helped the European currency. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the sale of energy carriers to Europe exclusively for rubles a week ago. The goal was clear: to support the ruble exchange rate under the sanctions. However, the main European consumers refused to do so categorically, and the head of Russia was forced to note his decision.

Everything would have been good for the euro, but it turned out in the second half of the week that the rumors about the increase in the EUR rate in 2022 are nothing more than a speculation, and that there was no serious shift in the negotiations in Istanbul. Macroeconomic statistics also helped the dollar a little. As a result, the growth of the EUR/USD pair stopped, it turned south and ended the five-day period not far from Pivot Point 1.1000, at the level of 1.1045.

The outcome of the hostilities in Ukraine is still unclear. The situation with the supply and payment of hydrocarbon raw materials to Europe remains confusing as well. Oil has fallen in price by about 14% since March 24. This is how the market reacted to the plans of President Joe Biden to sell additional volumes of oil from national reserves. The White House intends to sell up to 1 million barrels of oil per day over the next six months. And this could be the biggest sell-off in the nearly 50-year history of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It should be noted here that, despite the smaller volumes, the sale of oil brings Russia more profit than gas currently. And such a decision by the United States should reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy carriers, causing additional damage to the Russian economy.

Another uncertainty is introduced by the Fed. Recall that forecasts for US GDP have been recently revised. And they have shown that the regulator expects economic growth to slow down in 2022 from 4% to 2.8% due to the sanctions war with Russia. In addition, the forecasts for the interest rate have also changed. It was earlier said that it will reach 0.75-1.00% by the end of the year. This figure has now risen to 1.75-2.00%. Given that there are only six meetings left this year, it turns out that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) will have to raise the rate by 0.25% at each of them.

But this is not all either. The forecast on the rate for the end of 2023 has also been raised from 1.50-1.75% to 2.75-3.00%. Moreover, it seems that we will face several more acts of monetary restriction in 2024. That is, this is not just a revision of forecasts, but a sharp tightening of the US monetary policy, which could deal a serious blow to the labor market and lead to a large-scale recession. The market may receive important signals about the future movement of the dollar on Wednesday, April 6. The minutes of the March FOMC meeting will be published on this day.

At the moment, 50% of analysts vote for the strengthening of the dollar. 40% vote for the growth of the EUR/USD pair and 10% have taken a neutral position. Among the oscillators on D1, the picture is mixed: 30% of them are colored red, 20% are green and the remaining 35% are gray neutral. The trend indicators have an advantage on the side of the red ones: those are 85% against 15% of the green ones.

The nearest target for the bulls is a breakdown of the resistance zone in the area of 1.1100-1.1135, followed by the zones of 1.1185-1.1200, 1.1280-1.1350 and highs on January 13 and February 10 in the area of 1.1485. As for the bears, they will certainly try to break through the support of 1.0950-1.1000 and drop 100 points lower. If successful, the next targets will be the March 07 low at 1.0805 and the 2020 low at 1.0635 and the 2016 low at 1.0325.

Apart from the publication of the minutes of the March FOMC meeting, there will be relatively few events in the coming week. We can highlight the publication of the ISM PMI in the US services sector on Tuesday, April 05, as well as data on retail sales in the Eurozone on Thursday, April 07.

GBP/USD: Trend east, along 1.3100

Statistics from the United Kingdom last week turned out to be rather contradictory. According to the data published on Thursday, March 31, the British economy for the Q4 21 grew by 1.3%, which was higher than both the previous 1.0% and the forecast of 1.0%. The economy grew by 7.5% over the past year, which was the highest since 1941. But it is necessary to take into account here that GDP fell by 9.4% in 2020. So, there has not yet been a final recovery to the pre-pandemic level. In addition, data on the country's current account for the Q4 21 amounted to 7.3 billion pounds against the forecast of 17.6 billion and the previous value of 28.9 billion.

The activity of the manufacturing sector in the UK was also less than expected, which was confirmed by a IHS Markit report on Friday, April 01. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was 55.2 in March against the forecast of 55.5.

As with the euro and for the same reasons, GBP/USD investors and traders are at a loss. As a result, the pair was moving east along the 1.3100 level in a narrow corridor throughout the week. The low of the week was fixed at 1.3050, the high was 1.3182, the last chord sounded at 1.3112.

Giving a forecast for the coming week, 55% of experts side with the bulls, 35% support the bears and 10% remain neutral. The median forecast still points to the 1.3100 horizon. True, when moving to the forecast for the whole of April, its value rises to the zone of 1.3235. Most trend indicators on D1 point north. Among the oscillators, 55% are colored red, 20% are green and the remaining 25% are gray neutral. Trend indicators, as in the case of EUR/USD, have an overwhelming advantage on the side of the red ones: those are 90%.

The nearest support is located in the area of 1.3080-1.3100, then 1.3050 and the low of March 15 (and at the same time of 2021-2022) - 1.3000, followed by the support of 2020. Resistance levels are 1.3160, 1.3190-1.3215, then 1.3270-1.3325, 1.3400, 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3640.

Among the events related to the economy of the United Kingdom, we can highlight the speech of the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey on Monday, April 4, as well as the publication of the Composite PMI and the Business Index UK services activity on Tuesday, April 05, and the Construction PMI on Wednesday, April 06.

continued below...

 

[Stan NordFX]

USD/JPY: 125.09: No More Anti-Records?

The yen breaks an anti-record after an anti-record. The USD/JPY hit 122.43 on Friday, March 25, and it was already 263 points higher at 125.09 on Monday, March 28. The reason for the continued weakening of the Japanese currency is the same: the Bank of Japan, which does not want to change its super-soft monetary policy. Its head, Haruhiko Kuroda, once again stated on March 22 that it was too early to discuss the possibility of curtailing the quantitative easing (QE) program, as well as raising the interest rate. Recall that it has been at a negative level for a long time, minus 0.1%. In addition, the regulator was actively buying Japanese government bonds (JGB) throughout the past week in a desperate attempt to prevent their yield from breaking through the target level of 0.25%.

Last week's high of 125.09 is already close to the 2015 high of 125.86. And if the pair manages to break higher, then, according to strategists at Credit Suisse, this will open the way for it to 135.20 in the long term, and then even higher, to the zone of 147.00-153.00. However, in their opinion, the correction that has begun now can be continued during the Q2, first to 119.79, then to 119.09, after which the pair will move to trading in the range of 119.00-125.00. Credit Suisse also believes that if the pair breaks through support at 119.09, then the pullback may become deeper, to the zone of 116.35-116.50.

The same high for the Q2 is called by Rabobank specialists, who predict the pair's rise above 125.00 only in the second half of this year. They believe that the tightening of the Fed's policy is already built into the current dollar quotes, and this will hold back the growth of the pair in the coming months. However, the difference in interest rates and Japan's position as an importer of raw materials will play their role in Q3 and Q4, and the yen will continue to gradually weaken. A quick jump in USD/JPY above 125.00 will seriously increase the likelihood that the Bank of Japan will revise its quantitative easing (QE) program.

As for the past week, after the pair rose to 125.09, a correction began. The low was recorded on Thursday, March 31 at 121.27, after which the pair went up again and finished at 122.54.

With 50% of experts giving a bullish outlook for the coming week, it looks very moderate and sees the pair rising to the 124.00-124.50 zone as a target. 25% of analysts, on the contrary, vote for a further decline in the pair, and 25% have taken a neutral position. It should be noted that when switching to a monthly forecast, the vast majority (85%) of experts predict the strengthening of the Japanese currency and expect to see the pair in the 115.00-117.00 zone.

Among the indicators on D1, there is almost complete unanimity after such a powerful breakthrough to the north. 90% of trend indicators and 100% of oscillators are looking up, although 25% of the oscillators are already in the overbought zone. The nearest resistance levels are 123.20, 124.20 and the March 28 high at 125.09. After that, as already mentioned, the bulls may try to reach the 2015 high at 125.86. The nearest support is 122.00, then 121.30. It is followed by zones 120.60-121.40, 119.00-119.40, 118.00-118.35.

There are no expected releases of any important statistics on the state of the Japanese economy this week.

continued below...

 

[Stan NordFX]

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: What Whales and Short-Term Speculators Do

Investors' risk appetite, which caused the growth of stock indices, continued to pull the crypto market with it at the beginning of last week. Bitcoin gained 28% and ethereum gained nearly 40% in just the second half of March.

The main cryptocurrency reached the powerful resistance level of $45,000 on the evening of Friday, March 25, for the fifth time since the beginning of the year. It failed to gain a foothold above it the previous four times, the BTC/USD pair rolled back down. This time it seemed that the bulls finally achieved the long-awaited victory: the quotes recorded a local high at a height of $48.156 on March 28. However, after that, the pair hit the 200-day SMA and stopped rising. The most logical explanation for this stop is the strengthening of the dollar at the end of the past week.

At the time of writing, April 01, the flagship cryptocurrency first returned to the $45,000 zone, which turned from resistance to support, and then rebounded to $46,500. The total market capitalization rose to $2.140 trillion ($1.995 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has also grown slightly: from 47 to 50 points.

DataDash CEO Nicholas Merten believes that short-term investors and traders with leverage influence bitcoin volatility, and “whales” influence the growth. “There has been a lot of panic around the macro environment over the past couple of months,” Merten writes. The Fed is raising interest rates... The war between Ukraine and Russia, the potential next wave of COVID-19 - all these problems caused pessimism among small investors. At the same time, the “whales”, on the contrary, did not sell cryptocurrency... In fact, we saw how long-term investors continued to either buy more or hold bitcoin.

One such investor was the well-known software developer MicroStrategy. The company has recently received a $205 million loan secured by its own crypto assets. The loan was issued by the American bank Silvergate. The purpose of the loan is to buy bitcoins. According to the Bitcoin Treasuries website, MicroStrategy already owns 125,051 BTC worth nearly $6 billion. And “this loan,” said Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, “is an opportunity to strengthen our position as a leader among public companies investing in bitcoin.”

Note that MicroStrategy is not the only company that provides crypto assets as collateral. For this type of loans, Silvergate Bank has a special SEN Leverage program, the total amount of obligations for which has already exceeded $570 million.

Despite numerous macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, bitcoin is highly likely to enter the second half of a bear market, according to analysts at Glassnode. This is evidenced by the active accumulation of coins in the range of $35,000-42,000 and the absence of significant spending of bitcoins purchased in the Q1 2021. The share of BTC “aged” over a year has grown by 9.4% over the past eight months to close to a record 62.9%. The holders of these coins did not get rid of the asset in the face of two corrections of more than 50% in the last 12 months. The growth rate of this indicator is comparable to the market recovery in 2018-2019. And this may reflect increased investor confidence in bitcoin.

At the same time, analysts at Glassnode warn that the process of bottoming and investor capitulation in a bear market is often lengthy and painful. Therefore, they urge not to rush into ascertaining the end of the bear market.

A number of experts believe that a new strong correction to the south is only a matter of time. There are still no drivers for the rapid growth of quotations, and everything depends on the severity of the geopolitical situation and the dynamics of the global economic recovery. The $30,000 level may become the bearish target for the BTC/USD pair.

Peter Brandt, CEO of Factor Trading, calls for caution in optimistic forecasts. This legendary trader tweeted to his 629,400 followers that BTC’s recent move reminded him of April 2019 when the top cryptocurrency bottomed at $3,500, starting the first phase of its bull cycle. However, the expert emphasizes that even a technical breakthrough does not guarantee that the coin will repeat the 2019 rally.

“Charts DO NOT predict the future. The charts DO NOT even offer probabilities. Charts offer opportunities and are useful for risk management in a trading program. Chart patterns can either work, fail, or transform. If laser eyes reappear and BTC stops, be careful,” Brandt warns.

Crypto analyst alias Dave the Wave posted a comment saying that bitcoin is forming a larger ascending triangle on the weekly timeframe and could rise to its all-time high of $69,000.

We noted in the forecast for the last week of March that the position of ethereum is currently slightly better than that of bitcoin. The above growth figures are clear proof of this. Many investors are now buying ETH with BTC. In addition, the community is waiting for the long-awaited update to the ethereum mainnet. The Merge update is approaching rollout following successful testing on the testnet. Before its launch, more than $5.0 billion in ETH tokens had already been withdrawn from circulation as a result of burning. Since the burning reduces the overall supply of ethereum, this positively affects its price, contributing to the altcoin’s rally. Glassnode analysts have found that the volume of ethereum on exchanges has been declining in recent days. The inflow of this altcoin to the trading floors is 20% lower than its outflow, which creates the conditions for the formation of an ETH deficit.

The growth in the value of the coin is observed against the backdrop of the activation of the ten largest ETH addresses. Whales have accumulated up to 23.7% of the total ethereum supply, according to a new report from analytics firm Santiment. And they are not going to dump their assets, preferring to send ETH to offline storage. A similar trend was observed in the first half of 2017, after which we saw the famous altcoin run during the hype five years ago.

And at the end of the review, another piece of advice in our crypto life hacks section. Recall that we talk in it about the most interesting and unexpected ways to make money in this market.

Have you ever wondered what the toilet is for? We will tell you: to mine cryptocurrency! This is exactly what Gabriel Kozak and Dušan Matuska from Slovakia decided. As a result, they created the AmityAge mining farm, which runs on electricity obtained from human and animal waste. Dušan Matushka, said that "their devices run on methane, which is produced during the biodegradation process." Since there is no shortage of such waste in the foreseeable future, BTC mining on their farm is not dependent on rising global energy prices. Moreover, it takes place in an environmentally friendly way using renewable energy sources, which completely removes all claims against this industry.


NordFX Analytical Group


Notice: These materials should not be deemed a recommendation for investment or guidance for working on financial markets: they are for informative purposes only. Trading on financial markets is risky and can lead to a loss of money deposited.

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