Forex Trading Expert Advisors (EA or automated trading system) and Custom Indicators (CI) for MetaTrader Platform.

The third and final draw of the Super Lottery by the brokerage company NordFX took place on January 3. The lottery was launched nine months ago, in April 2021, and anyone could participate in it, it was enough to fulfill just a few simple conditions.

Interim draws were held every three months. Like the final one, they were held online, and all interested persons could follow them on the Internet. The videos of all the draws runs are available now on the company's official YouTube channel.

The final draw took place immediately after the New Year holidays, on January 03, 2022. And it drew a substantial amount of $60,000 divided by 30 prizes of $500, 10 of $1,000, 6 of $2,500 and 1 super prize of $20,000.

The winners are the holders of the following lottery tickets:



According to the rules, the prize funds can be used by the lottery winner in trading or withdrawn from the account at any time by any of the available methods and without any restrictions.

Summing up the results of our super lottery, we would like to wish all its participants and all NordFX clients a Happy New Year. May luck always be with you in 2022. We wish happiness, health and prosperity to you and your loved ones!


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- It was 13 years ago, on January 3, 2009, that a person or a group of people known as Satoshi Nakamoto launched the main bitcoin network, mining a genesis block with 50 BTC. Its hash contains the title of the article "Chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout for Banks" by the British edition of The Times. The launch of the network was preceded by the publication of the bitcoin white paper on October 31, 2008. The first bitcoin transaction took place on January 12, 2009: Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney.
It is possible that one of the incentives for the bitcoin creation was the global financial crisis that broke out in 2007-2008, accompanied by the collapse of the largest investment banks, a widespread decline in production, falling demand and prices for raw materials, rising unemployment and active government intervention in the economy.

- According to the CoinatMrRadar analytical service, against the backdrop of growing demand for cryptocurrencies, about 20,000 new bitcoin ATMs appeared in the world in 2021. Their number has grown by about 2.4 times over the year and is very close to 34,000. The vast majority of these are still in the United States. Genesis Coin is the leader among ATM manufacturers, having installed 13,996 ATMs. It is followed by General Bytes with 7,514. The top three is closed by BitAccess with 4,875 ATMs.

- MicroStrategy increased investments in bitcoin by $94 million. The company's CEO Michael Saylor announced the purchase of 1.9 thousand BTC at an average price of $49,200 per coin. The software developer currently owns 124,391 BTC, which is valued at $6.1 billion. In total, the company spent about $3.7 billion on the purchase of cryptocurrency, so the average price of 1 BTC in its ownership is $30,100.
The head of MicroStrategy is a strong proponent of digital assets and believes bitcoin will become the 21st century's premier store of value. As for China's anti-cryptocurrency measures, Michael Saylor called them a “trillion-dollar mistake”.

- The head of the investment company Ava Labs, John Wu, expressed the opinion in an interview with CNBC that the capitalization of the crypto market will exceed $5 trillion in 2022. According to Wu's forecast, digital assets have the potential to double their market value in the coming year. (The capitalization is $2.25 trillion at the time of writing this review).
According to the head of Ava Labs, cryptocurrencies will be the only asset class that can withstand both the actions of the Fed and the record increase in inflation, which reached its maximum values in the US in almost 40 years in early December 2021. Wu also claims that the share of bitcoin will fall below 30% with the growth of the crypto market, although the price may exceed $75,000 per coin.

- According to cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen, bitcoin has already bottomed out, although many traders believe the bearish trend will continue. According to Cowen, it can be more revealing sometimes to value bitcoin not in the BTC/USD pair, but in comparison with other assets. As an example, the expert suggests looking at BTC paired with the S&P500 index. Bitcoin has already reached critical support here, Cowen believes. “If you look at bitcoin in the mirror of the stock market, it is testing levels that were tested back in September.”
However, the analyst does not rule out that the main cryptocurrency may return to the level of $40,000 or $42,000. “Anything is possible in the case of investment,” he writes. “All models can be wrong, although some can be useful.”

- Another fraudulent account of Vitalik Buterin has been found on Instagram. According to users, the owner of this account is “pulling followers into classic cryptocurrency fraud schemes.” He encourages subscribers to send him direct messages which contain passphrases for crypto wallets, or persuades them to send him cryptocurrency, promising to return three times as much.
It turns out that the real Vitalik Buterin does not have an official Instagram account, which is what the scammer decided to take advantage of, gaining 643,000 subscribers. The fake account was registered in Israel more than two years ago. However, it is not the only one. If you search Instagram for the name of the Ethereum creator, you will see more than a dozen accounts, many of which are called “Vitalik Biterin_official”.

- Notorious entrepreneur, co-founder of Block.One, former actor and former US presidential candidate Brock Pierce is confident that bitcoin can reach $200,000 this year. Governments are printing excessive amounts of money, thereby fueling inflation, and this will be the main reason for BTC to take off. “I wouldn't be surprised if bitcoin trades for $100,000. It is quite possible that it can jump over $200,000 for a moment,” Pierce said optimistically.

- Anthony Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of Nexo, a major cryptocurrency lender (over $ 6 billion), exudes optimism like Brock Pierce. “I think bitcoin will reach $100,000 this year, perhaps by the middle of this year,” Trenchev said.

- Economist Alex Kruger expects the main cryptocurrency to grow in early January, but then bears may enter the scene and the reason for this is the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve. “If the report on inflation on January 12 shows an excess of its level,” the specialist explains, “then investors should expect an exit from risky assets on the eve of the FRS meeting on January 26.”

- American billionaire and founder of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio said he is impressed by the fact that bitcoin has managed to stand the test of time and agreed with his fellow billionaire Bill Miller is that one should allocate 1-2% of one's net profit for this cryptocurrency. He talks about this in his new book, which is a macroeconomic explanation of why bitcoin will become a $10 trillion asset.
Many members of the crypto community have perceived this billionaire's work as a 550-page advertisement for bitcoin. However, Dalio also warns about the risks for this cryptocurrency in this book. The financier believes that a new alternative may appear in the market due to the nature of the evolutionary process. The billionaire predicts that capital will flow into non-fungible tokens and other coins in the future, for diversification purposes. At the same time, he did not purchase NFTs himself, but the mania accompanying this innovation causes him some interest.
The head of the world's largest hedge fund still does not rule out that governments can outlaw bitcoin, as they once outlawed gold and silver. “Alternative currency is a threat to any government. Each of them wants a monopoly on their currency," Dalio writes.

- Kevin O'Leary, an American entrepreneur and star of the popular business and finance show Shark Tank, said that he is ready to increase the share of cryptocurrencies in his investment portfolio to 20%. However, he is waiting for clearer regulation of the industry to do this.
O'Leary had previously been a crypto sceptic, but these assets already occupy about 10% of his portfolio now, a significant part of them are stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. This is how he is trying to protect himself from inflation of the world reserve currency. According to the entrepreneur, his optimism towards stablecoins is shared by many institutional investors. At the same time, O'Leary has a different attitude to bitcoin due to its significant volatility: “You will not invest 20% or 30% of your portfolio in bitcoin if you are an institutional investor, you simply will not. And stablecoins may well get such an allocation,” he said.

- Bitcoin markets have been consolidating since the start of the year, but chain metrics paint a more positive picture as more and more assets become illiquid. Glassnode examined the supply performance of bitcoin in its report dated January 03, 2022. The results showed that while the asset has been trading sideways so far this year, the illiquid supply has accelerated and now accounts for 76% of the total.
Glassnode defines illiquidity as moving BTC to a wallet with no history of spending. The liquid stock of BTC, which is 24%, is in wallets that regularly spend or trade coins.
The figures indicate that more and more bitcoin is being transferred to storage, which indicates an increase in accumulation. The reduction in highly liquid supply also hints that there is no need to expect a major sell-off or surrender to the bears in the near future.


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

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.

EUR/USD: Awaiting the January FOMC Meeting

The EUR/USD pair has been in a sideways trend for seven weeks in a row, moving along the horizon 1.1300 in the 1.1220-1.1385 channel. Even the publication of the protocols could not get it out of this state of the December FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which confirmed the seriousness of this central bank's intentions to tighten monetary policy and strengthen dollars. Apparently, the regulator is frightened by the rate of inflation in the country. In addition, it did not expect the Omicron coronavirus strain to have a significant negative impact on economic activity in the United States.

To normalize the situation, the Fed decided to finally stop the printing press and move on to raise interest rates. The roadmap for the near future includes three main points: 1) the curtailment of the emergency stimulus program in March; 2) three increases in the key rate in 2022, the first of which may also occur in March, after which 3) the regulator will begin to normalize the balance.

These intentions of the Fed led to a sharp outflow of funds from risky assets. Stock indices and cryptocurrency quotes collapsed, while US Treasury yields and the DXY dollar index went up. Although, it should be noted that the strengthening of the US currency was insignificant: the dollar won back only 45 points against the euro, dropping the EUR/USD pair from 1.1345 to the Pivot Point 1.1300.

The release of data from the US labor market on Friday, January 7th could be another important event of the week. The number of new jobs outside the agricultural sector (NFP) was expected to grow from 249K to 400K. However, it fell to 199K instead. On the other hand, the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 3.9% against the forecast of 4.1%. Thus, investors did not receive any clear signals, and the pair completed the weekly session near the upper border of the side corridor, at 1.1360.

According to some experts, the difference in the hawkish attitude of the Fed and the dovish attitude of the ECB should eventually lead to a further strengthening of the dollar and the movement of the EUR/USD pair to the south.

Recall that the European regulator, although it raised the inflation forecast for 2022 at its last meeting in 2021, still considers it a temporary phenomenon, which is why it is not worth it yet to worry. It was announced once again that the refinancing rate will remain at the current level until inflation reaches the target level of 2.0% and will remain there for a long time. Eventually, the “main” result of the December meeting of the ECB was the head of the bank Christine Lagarde's statement that the rate hike in 2022 was “very unlikely”.

Strategists of the Dutch banking ING Group (Internationale Nederlanden Groep) have voted for the strengthening of the US currency. They believe that the EUR/USD pair will fall to the 1.1100 zone in Q2 and Q4 of this year, and it will be even lower at 1.1000 in Q4. Analysts of one of the largest financial conglomerates in the world, HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) are in solidarity with ING, predicting a downward trend of this pair as well.

CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) designated the following route for EUR/USD: Q2 - 1.1100, Q3 - 1.1000, Q4 - 1.1000. The JP Morgan financial holding assessed the pair's prospects more modestly, pointing to the level of 1.1200.

However, there is an opposite opinion among experts. For example, Barclays Bank already considers the dollar to be highly overvalued. Therefore, it is expected to depreciate moderately against the backdrop of rising risk appetites and commodity prices, caused by the recovery of the global world economy and cooling inflation. The Barclays scenario written for EUR/USD looks like this: Q1 - growth to 1.1600, Q2 - 1.1800, Q3 and Q4 - movement in the 1.1900 zone.

Morgan Stanley believes that the Fed's rate hike will proceed fairly smoothly, while other central banks will move from dovish to hawkish politics. This will lead to a convergence in the actions of regulators, put pressure on the dollar and raise the EUR/USD pair to 1.1800. The Goldman Sachs strategists call the same goal.

As for the near term, despite the poor NFP indicators, we can expect that the pair will continue to move along the level of 1.1300 until the January Fed meeting, fluctuating in in the range of 1.1220-1.1385 with the predominance of bearish sentiment. 70% of analysts agree with this forecast. 15% have taken a neutral position and another 15% side with the bulls.

The readings of the indicators on D1 are inconsistent as they are under the influence of a multi-week sideways trend. Among the oscillators, 60% point to the north, but 20% are already signaling that the pair is overbought, 20% point south, and 20% point east. Trend indicators have 55% green and 45% red.

The nearest resistance level is 1.1385, then 1.1435-1.1465 and 1525. The nearest support level is at 1.1275, followed by 1.1220. This is followed by the last November 24 low of 1.1185 and the zone 1.1075-1.1100.

The economic calendar of the coming week is highlighted by the publication on January 12, 13 and 14 of a whole pool of macro-statistics from the USA. It will include consumer price indices and retail sales indices, producer price indices, and retail sales volumes in December 2021.

GBP/USD: BoE Hawks vs Fed Hawks

The fact that, unlike the Fed and the ECB, the Bank of England launched an attack on rising prices in December made a strong impression on the market. After inflation in the UK rose to 5.1%, reaching a 10-year peak, the regulator raised the rate for the first time in three years from 0.1% to 0.25%. The decision was made despite the worsening epidemiological situation due to the new coronavirus strain. According to the head of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, the number one task is to curb price pressure on the economy and society.

Of course, the rate hike by 15 basis points cannot be called significant, but, most importantly, the first step has already been taken, and the market expects the second rate hike in February.

Such expectations continue to support the British currency, and the GBP/USD pair updated its eight-week high on January 05, reaching 1.3598. The finish of the five-day period took place slightly lower, at 1.3590.

Strategists at the British investment Barclays Bank believe that the pound is still very undervalued, and that the policy of the US Federal Reserve will eventually lead to a moderate depreciation of the dollar. They do not exclude that due to the new wave of COVID-19 and difficulties in relations with the EU due to Brexit, the pair may drop to 1.3300 in Q1. However, then it will go up again (Q2 - 1.3700, Q3 - 1.4000) and will return to the 2021 highs by the end of the year (Q4), rising to the level of 1.4200.

Capital Economics, one of the leading independent research centers in the UK, has taken the opposite position. Its specialists, on the contrary, expect the pound to weaken, and refer to a combination of 1) weak economic growth, 2) slowdown in inflation and 3) slowness of the Bank of England. These three factors, in their opinion, may lead to the fact that the UK regulator decides to raise the rate only to 0.5% in the coming months, instead of 1.0%, which will greatly disappoint the markets.

But, in addition to the growth and fall of the British currency, there is a third scenario. ING Group analysts predict that the pound will be somewhere in the middle of a triangle of a stronger US dollar, stable commodity currencies and weaker low-yielding currencies. Therefore, according to their scenario, the GBP/USD pair will move sideways along the horizon of 1.3400.

If we talk about the near future of the pair, 40% of analysts vote for its growth above the level of 1.3600, 50% vote for a fall below 1.3400 and 10% for a sideways trend.

The indicators on D1 have a pretty summery mood. Among the oscillators, 100% is colored green, although 25% of them are already in the overbought zone. Among trend indicators, 90% are green and only 10% are red.

The supports are located at 1.3525, 1.3480, 1.3430, 1.3375, the next strong support is 100 points lower. Resistance levels are 1.3600, 1.3735, 1.3835.

Important macro-statistics from the UK will be scarce next week. We can only note the data on the volume of production in the manufacturing industry, which will become known on Tuesday January 11 and Friday January 14.

USD/JPY: Pair at 5-Year High

The color of the indicators for this pair is also predominantly green. However, unlike GBP/USD, this does not indicate a weakening of the dollar, but, on the contrary, its strengthening.

We wrote a week ago that Japan needs a weak national currency. Thus, the head of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, has recently said that a weak yen would rather help the country's economy than harm it. According to the senior official, if the yen falls, it will support exports and corporate profits. And if you look at the USD/JPY chart, his words do not differ from the deeds: the pair updated its high on January 04 and rose to the point where it has not been seen since January 2017, to the height of 116.35.

According to ING Group experts, the growth will not stop there, and we will see the pair at a height of 120.00 by the end of the year. Morgan Stanley also prefers the dollar, expecting growth to 118.00. On the contrary, Goldman Sachs believes that the pair will fall to 111.00 by 2023.

The pair finished last week at 115.55. As already mentioned, despite the slight correction, most of the indicators on D1 point north. Among the oscillators there are 90% of those (10% of them are signaling the pair being overbought), the remaining 10% are colored neutral gray. Among trend indicators, 85% recommend buying, 15% - selling. Experts also agree with the indicators: 80% of them side with the bulls, 0% for the bears, 20% choose neutrality. Support levels are 115.50, 115.00, 114.25, 113.75, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70. The nearest resistance level is 116.35.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: A Full Crypto Winter? Or Temporary Freezes?



it is the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere of the planet Earth. And the weather on the crypto market is corresponding, below zero. Quotes are falling, and there is not even a hint of warming so far. Another cold wave arose after the news appeared on the night of January 06 that the US Federal Reserve is ready to raise the key interest rate earlier and at a faster pace than was expected. This became clear from the published minutes of the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Inspired by this news, the bears went on the attack again. Anti-government unrest in Kazakhstan added anxiety to investors. Recall that a part of the miners immigrated there after the ban on mining in China, as a result of which Kazakhstan took the 2nd place in the world in BTC production (TOP-3: USA - 35.4%, Kazakhstan - 18.1%, Russia - 11.23%). The Internet was cut off due to the unrest in Kazakhstan, which led to a significant decrease in the hash rate on the BTC network.

These two events caused the BTC/USD pair to break through support around $46,000, where the 200-day moving average was passing, and fell below $42,000. Bitcoin's Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to the Extreme Fear zone, hitting 15 points out of 100, indicating panic reigning in the market. The Bitcoin Dominance Index fell to 39.65%, hitting the May 2021 lows. (Recall that it was 95.88% at the maximum in 2013). Naturally, the collapsed bitcoin pulled the entire crypto market along with it. If its total capitalization was $2.439 trillion on December 27, it lost almost 19% by January 7 and fell to $1.980 trillion, breaking through an important psychological level of $2 trillion.

It should be noted that the attack of bears on the eve of the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve on January 26 was predictable. Our weekly crypto news review quoted economist Alex Kruger as saying that “investors should be expected to exit risky assets ahead of the Fed meeting.” Which is exactly what happened.

The next line of active defense of the bulls, according to a number of experts, awaits bears in the $39,500- $41,900 zone. It is there, near the low of last April 12, is the range of high liquidity, according to the TradingView publication. It was not withdrawn even before the last wave of the asset's rally, when the price of bitcoin hit an all-time high.

Despite the fact that the crypto market is falling for the eighth week in a row, many experts and investors are hoping for the imminent arrival of the crypto spring. For example, Block.One co-founder, former actor and former US presidential candidate Brock Pierce is confident that bitcoin could reach $200,000 this year. Governments are printing excessive amounts of money, thereby fueling inflation, and this will be the main reason for BTC to take off. “I wouldn't be surprised if bitcoin trades for $100,000. It is quite possible that it can jump over $200,000 for a moment,” this influencer said optimistically.

Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner of Nexo, a major cryptocurrency lender (more than $6 billion), heralds a stellar future for the main digital asset. “I think bitcoin will reach $100,000 this year, perhaps by the middle of this year,” he predicts.

The head of the investment company Ava Labs, John Wu, expressed the opinion in an interview with CNBC that the capitalization of the crypto market will exceed $5 trillion in 2022. According to Wu's forecast, digital assets have the potential to at least double their market value in the next year.

According to the head of Ava Labs, cryptocurrencies will be the only asset class that can withstand both the actions of the Fed and the record increase in inflation, which reached its maximum values in the US in almost 40 years in early December 2021. Wu also claims that the share of bitcoin will fall below 30% with the growth of the crypto market, although the price may exceed $75,000 per coin.

An interesting way to assess the prospects of the flagship cryptocurrency was proposed by analyst Benjamin Cowen. In his opinion, bitcoin has already bottomed out, although its decline may continue, somewhere up to $40,000. According to Cowen, it can be more revealing sometimes to value bitcoin not in the BTC/USD pair, but in comparison with other assets. As an example, he suggests looking at BTC paired with the S&P500 index. According to the expert, bitcoin has already reached critical support here, as “it is testing levels that were tested back in September”.

The experts of Glassnode are in solidarity with Benjamin Cowen, although they use completely different methods of market analysis. According to their estimates, the BTC market indicators paint a fairly positive picture, since an increasing amount of this asset is becoming illiquid. Glassnode examined the dynamics and the supply performance of bitcoin in its report dated January 03, 2022. The results showed that the growth of illiquid asset supply accelerated last year, which now accounts for 76% of the total. Glassnode defines illiquidity as moving BTC to a wallet with no history of spending. The liquid stock of BTC, which is 24%, is in wallets that regularly spend or trade coins.

The figures indicate that more and more bitcoin is being transferred to storage, which indicates an increase in accumulation. The reduction in highly liquid supply also hints that there is no need to expect a major sell-off or surrender to the bears in the near future.

It will not be long to wait until the Fed meeting on January 26. We will see then whether such estimates are right. In conclusion, we just recall the words of the aforementioned Benjamin Cowen. “Anything is possible in the case of investment,” he writes. “All models can be wrong, although some can be useful...”


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- China's Supreme Economic Planning Authority has officially declared crypto mining "obsolete", backing up the government's efforts to eradicate the industry entirely. The National Development and Reform Commission made the announcement on Monday, January 10, explaining along the way that the country's economy is moving towards a model that favors cleaner, less resource-intensive industries. According to business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associate, the “obsolete” label refers not only to mining, but also to other technologies that will be banned from investment and should be phased out.
As a reminder, China had been the world leader in this industry until last year, when government bans drove most of the crypto miners out of the country,

- The global adoption of cryptocurrencies will jump from the current 5% to 20% in 2022. This forecast was given by the CEO of Binance crypto exchange Changpeng Zhao in an article for the Indian version of Fortune. The main drivers, in his opinion, will be the SocialFi, GameFi and NFT sectors.
Regarding India, Zhao noted the importance of government support for blockchain and cryptocurrency innovation, regardless of asset classification. According to the NASSCOM report, it is expected that the crypto market in the country will reach $241 million by 2030 and potentially create 877 thousand jobs. The organization also predicts an increase in the inflow of funds from retail investors in digital assets to $15.6 billion from $6.6 billion currently.
The head of Binance stressed that India is poised to “become a leader in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.” “In addition to banking and financial services, DLT technology can improve the efficiency of land transactions, supply chains, agriculture and corporate sustainability,” Zhao added.

- According to Bloomberg, only 5% of customers surveyed by JPMorgan believe that the bitcoin price will reach $100,000 by the end of 2022. More than 40% believe that it will only return to the $60,000 level. “I'm not surprised by the bearish sentiment on bitcoin. Our futures-based indicator looks oversold", said the bank's strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou. According to him, the fair value of the cryptocurrency ranges from $35,000 to $73,000.

- Jack Dorsey's Block (formerly Square) payment company has opened a recruitment process to develop a next-generation bitcoin miner and a hardware wallet “for the next 100 million bitcoin users.” This is stated in the corresponding section on the company's website. “Our goal is to expand economic opportunities, starting with providing easy-to-use and reliable self-service to a global audience,” the announcement says.

- Bitcoin continues to fall in price after it reached an all-time high of $69,000 last November. Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz called this a healthy pullback in a recent interview with CNBC. He believes that the main cryptocurrency will find support around $38,000-40,000, after which it will return to growth, thanks to purchases by institutional investors.
Nigel Green, CEO of the consulting company deVere Group, has also stated that this is the best time in the current cycle to buy bitcoin.

- However, some experts consider such sentiments to be too optimistic. Thus, the ENCRY Foundation predicts that bitcoin may return to growth only after its price drops to $28,000-30,000. “The flows of liquidity to the markets will decrease in the second half of 2022, after the completion of the asset repurchase program in the United States. Then bitcoin may fall to $30,000,” the company's specialists believe.
The current levels cannot yet be described as a market bottom. This is indicated by another expert, Viktor Pershikov, a leading analyst at 8848 Invest. According to him, conditions that have not yet been observed must be fulfilled for the formation of the bottom. This is a long flat (at least two months in the current circumstances) with the accumulation of long positions and an increase in open interest, a decrease in BTC sales by market participants as well as clarification of the speed and degree of tightening of monetary policy by world central banks.
“The current state of the crypto market is characterized by emotional selling to a large extent, including at a loss, which is typical for situations when retail participants are shaken out of the market. The current decline does not pose a threat for large BTC holders and is a normal market correction before further growth," Pershikov says. In his opinion, bitcoin will spend most of the year in the price range of $30,000-70,000.

- Bitcoin is classified as a risky asset, and it moves mainly in the same direction as technology stocks. Sometimes the correlation of BTC with such assets weakens, but the overall dependence remains high.
Analysts associate the January fall in cryptocurrency with the retreat of stock indices, which is taking place against the background of the US Federal Reserve's readiness to raise the discount rate this quarter. Correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 has increased to its highest level since July 2020, according to Kaiko platform. A similar situation is observed between BTC and the Nasdaq index.

- Up to 50% of all transactions in one form or another will be made through Ethereum in 10-20 years. This was stated by Joey Krug, co-director of investments at Pantera Capital in an interview with Bloomberg.
The top manager is convinced that the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization will play an important role in global finance, and that the explosive growth of Ethereum killers will not be able to undermine its dominance. “There are many compromises in other blockchains, while Ethereum is in the best position in terms of decentralization, which is extremely important,” explained the Pantera Capital Co-Chief Investment Officer.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Justin Bennett said what, in his opinion, awaits Ethereum against the backdrop of a downtrend in the entire market. “One needs to be careful as long as ETH is below $4,000. If ETH returns to this area in the coming weeks and months and can gain a foothold there, then we can talk about the continuation of the strong bullish trend observed in 2021. ”Bennett himself does not mind replenishing his leading altcoin stocks at around $3,000.
The analyst also looks at ETH against BTC and believes that the ETH/BTC pair could start a long-term rally to 0.18 BTC ($7.388) for 1 Ethereum, but this would require holding the 0.075 BTC ($3.077) level as support.

- A resident of San Francisco (USA) Siraj Raval uses his 2018 Tesla Model 3 to mine Ethereum. To do this, he launched the corresponding free software on the Apple Mac mini M1, connecting it to the car's center console. Five graphics cards are powered by the Tesla battery.
According to Raval, he was mining for about 20 hours a day on the Tesla battery and was earning from $400 to $800 per month throughout 2021, which made such mining profitable even during the bear market. (The monthly cost of recharging the car was only $30 to $60, despite the fact that he was driving it as well.)
However, another miner who used Tesla, Thomas Somers, doubted that much profit. “The best estimate I would give for a GPU hashrate in Model 3 would be around 7-10 MH/s. Currently, this will generate revenue of about $13 at a rate of 10 MH/s without taking into account any costs,“ Somers said.


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

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.

EUR/USD: Rumors That Drive the Markets



Ave MariaThe weather on the market is quite often determined by rumors which have very little to do with reality. Or nothing at all. But those who spread them can earn good money by speculating on them. Something similar seems to have happened last week.

Ave MariaRecall that the EUR/USD pair has been in a sideways trend since November, fluctuating in the range of 1.1220-1.1385. And most analysts voted for the continuation of such a movement a week ago, with a predominance of bearish sentiment. The US Fed's hawkish intentions to end the emergency stimulus program, raise interest rates, and start normalizing the balance sheet were an argument in favor of the dollar's strength.

Ave MariaNote that neither the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, nor other officials of the American central bank have ever said or even hinted that the rate could be raised four times during 2022. It is unclear where this figure came from, but rumors about such an opportunity began to be actively exaggerated and, as a result, many investors believed in it.

Ave MariaSpeaking in the US Congress on Tuesday, January 11, Jerome Powell just repeated what he had already voiced earlier. He said once again that the Fed is going to raise the refinancing rate at least twice this year in order to combat a record inflation in forty years, and that if necessary, it can be raised three times. That is, nothing new was actually said. But the market was waiting for the number "four” and was disappointed because it did not sound.

Ave MariaAs a result, the DXY dollar index went into a deep peak, closing below the 50-day moving average, and the EUR/USD pair, instead of moving south, went north.

Ave MariaThanks to US inflation data, the euro further strengthened its position the next day, on Wednesday, January 12, and the pair EUR/USD, having broken through the border of the medium-term sideways channel, went further up. The breakdown of resistance in the 1.1385 zone served as a trigger for a correction after the strengthening of the dollar that began in May 2021 and the subsequent month-and-a-half sideways trend. The weekly high was reached on the morning of Friday, January 14 at the height of 1.1482.

Ave MariaUS retail sales and consumer confidence data released at the end of the week were much worse than previous figures, confirming the negative impact of the Omicron coronavirus strain on the US economy. It is not yet possible to predict exactly how much they will affect the next steps of the Fed. But, judging by the reaction of the market, investors decided that such statistics would push the regulator to take more decisive action. As a result, the EUR/USD pair finished at 1.1415.

Ave MariaOf course, the dollar may retreat a little more in the short term. However, the difference between the hawkish policy of the Fed and the dovish policy of the ECB should still support the USD. Moreover, the head of the Fed once again stressed in recent comments that the fight against inflation is a top priority for the US regulator, and expressed confidence that the US economy will cope with the rate increase.

Ave MariaAlso, according to a number of experts, the increase in rates may occur more often than once a quarter, as was the case in the previous cycle of monetary tightening. However, this is just an opinion so far that can give rise to another wave of rumors and expectations. Investors expect to find out what will happen in reality following the results of the January FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting of the US Federal Reserve on January 26-27.

Ave MariaAt the time of writing, 75% of D1 oscillators are green and 25% are giving signals EUR/USD is overbought. Trend indicators have 65% green and 35% red. Among the experts, the majority (75%) does not exclude the growth of the pair in the coming week. However, the weather vane of opinions turns 180 degrees in the forecast for February, and here it is already 75% of analysts who are in favor of the dollar strengthening. Resistances are located at the levels of 1.1450, 1.1480, 1.1525, 1.1570 and 1.1615. Support levels and zones are 1.1385-1.1400, 1.1300, 1.1275, 1.1220. This is followed by the November 24 low of last year at 1.1185 and the 1.1075-1.1100 zone.

Ave MariaAs for the economic calendar for the coming week, we can note the release of data on the consumer market of the Eurozone on Monday January 17 and Thursday January 20. The ECB's statement on monetary policy and the issue of statistics on the US labor market are also expected on Thursday. The head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, is to speak on Friday, January 21.

GBP/USD: Bank of England vs Fed: a Game to Stay Ahead

Ave MariaNaturally, in addition to the meetings of the FRS and the ECB, the meeting of the Bank of England will also take place in January. It should be borne in mind that, unlike its peers, this regulator started attacking rising prices back in December, and this made a strong impression on the market. After inflation in the UK rose to 5.1%, reaching a 10-year peak, the Central bank of the kingdom raised the rate from 0.1% to 0.25% for the first time in three years. The decision was made despite the worsening epidemiological situation due to a new coronavirus strain. And here the opinion of the head of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, coincided with that of Jerome Powell: for both, the No. 1 task was to reduce price pressure on the economy and society. But the position of the former looks more hawkish, although the rate increase by 15 basis points is not significant. But the first step has been taken, and the market expects a second rate hike in February.

Ave MariaSuch expectations continue to support the British currency, thanks to which the GBP/USD pair was able to update the high of the last eleven weeks, reaching the height of 1.3748. However, it failed to break above the 200-day SMA, and the last chord of the five-day week, after the strengthening of the dollar in the second half of Friday, January 14, sounded at 1.3678.

Ave MariaAccording to 60% of analysts, the GBP/USD pair may make another attempt to rise above the 1.3800 horizon in the coming days. This scenario is supported by 90% of trend indicators on D1 and 80% of oscillators. The remaining 20% signal that the pair is overbought. However, as in the case of EUR/USD, the scales tilt in favor of the bears, when moving from a weekly to a monthly forecast, and here it is already 55% that are waiting for the pair to move down.

Ave MariaSupports are located at 1.3659, 1.3600, 1.3525, 1.3480, 1.3430, 1.3375, the next strong support is 100 points lower. The resistance levels are 1.3700, 1.3750, 1.3835 and 1.3900.

Ave MariaImportant macro data from the UK will suffice next week. There will be data on unemployment and the average wages in the country on Tuesday, January 18. Then, the consumer price index will be known the next day. In addition, the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, will speak on Wednesday, January 19, and retail sales for December 2021 will be published on Friday, January 19. This is an important indicator of consumer spending, which also correlates with consumer confidence and is considered as an indicator of the UK economy development pace. According to forecasts, it is expected to fall from 1.4% to minus 0.6%.

USD/JPY: The Yen Strength Is the Weak Dollar

Ave MariaUSD/JPY dropped from 116.35 high (high since January 2017) to 113.47 last week on the back of Jerome Powell's speech and lower US Treasury yields. However, the ultra-dove position of the Japanese regulator is unlikely to further strengthen the yen. The dollar seems to be gaining strength again, and the pair went up again at the end of the weekly session, rising to the level of 114.18.

Ave MariaWith USD/JPY moving south for the last week and a half, most of the indicators on D1 turned red. Among the oscillators, these are 80% of them, 10% give signals of the pair being oversold, and 10% have already changed their color to green. Among trend indicators, 60% recommend selling, 40% recommend buying. Among experts, 50% vote for the growth of the pair, 40% for its fall, and 10% have taken a neutral position.

Ave MariaSupport levels are 113.50, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70. The nearest resistance zone is 114.40-114.65, then there are levels 115.00, 115.45, 116.00 and 116.35.

Ave MariaThe decision of the Bank of Japan on the key interest rate will be announced on Tuesday, January 18. And it will highly likely remain at the same negative level as before, minus 0.1%. As we wrote earlier, according to this regulator, the country does not need a strong currency, and a weak yen is more likely to help the country's economy, as it supports exports and corporate profits.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: And Here Too, Thank You Jerome Powell

Ave MariaSatoshi Nakamoto launched the bitcoin mainnet by mining the genesis block with 50 BTC in January 2009. Only some 13 years have passed since then, and The National Development and Reform Commission of China declares crypto mining “obsolete” in January 2022. It follows from the official statement of this top economic planning body that preference will now be given to cleaner and less resource-intensive industries, and mining is on the list of "obsolete" technologies that will be banned from investment and must be eliminated.

Ave MariaWilliam Shakespeare was right; nothing lasts forever under the moon. And after digital currencies were declared “persona non grata” in China, the center of influence on the crypto market shifted completely to the United States. Another proof of this was last week, when a few words from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell were enough to stop the fall of bitcoin and turn the trend of the crypto market upwards.

Ave MariaSpeaking at the US Senate Banking Committee, Powell said that stablecoins can be used with the Central Bank official digital currencies CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency is fiat money in digital form, which are issued and provided by the Central Bank). But this is not what allowed crypto quotes to move north, but the general weakening of the dollar and the return of investors' risk appetites.

Ave MariaAs mentioned above, Jerome Powell made it clear that the Federal Reserve has not yet decided to reduce its balance sheet by almost $9 trillion, and that there will be no four rate hikes in 2022, but no more than three. As a result, the DXY dollar index went down, while stock indices and cryptocurrency quotes went up.

Ave MariaBTC/USD dropped to $39,660 on January 10. It has not fallen this low since September 2021. However, then, following the growth of the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq, it rose to $44,300 on January 12, and the total capitalization of the crypto market exceeded the psychologically important level of $2 trillion once again, reaching $2.091 trillion. But the Crypto Fear & Greed Index did not get out of the Extreme Fear zone, although it rose from 15 to 21 points.

Ave MariaIt is clear that it is too early to talk about the beginning of a new rally in the crypto market. The BTC/USD pair is 35% below its all-time high, and the total capitalization is still very far from the almost $3 trillion that it reached on November 10, 2021. And, if the dollar starts to gain strength again, we can expect digital assets to return to a downward trend.

Ave MariaOf course, crypto enthusiasts predict as usual that top coins will soon rise to new heights. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the Binance crypto exchange, claims in an article for Fortune that global adoption of cryptocurrencies will jump from the current 5% to 20% in 2022. And Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz sees the 35% drop as just a “healthy pullback.” In his opinion, the main cryptocurrency will find support around $38,000-40,000, after which it will return to growth. Nigel Green, CEO of consulting company DeVere Group, also states that now is the most convenient time to buy bitcoin in the current cycle.

Ave MariaHowever, some experts consider such sentiments to be too optimistic. Thus, the ENCRY Foundation predicts that bitcoin may return to growth only after its price drops to $28,000-30,000. “The flows of liquidity to the markets will decrease in the second half of 2022, after the completion of the asset repurchase program in the United States. Then bitcoin may fall to $30,000,” the company's specialists explain.

Ave MariaThe current levels cannot yet be described as a market bottom. This is indicated by another expert, Viktor Pershikov, a leading analyst at 8848 Invest. According to him, conditions that have not yet been observed must be fulfilled for the formation of the bottom. This is a long flat (at least two months in the current circumstances) with the accumulation of long positions and an increase in open interest, a decrease in BTC sales by market participants as well as clarification of the speed and degree of tightening of monetary policy by world central banks.

Ave Maria“The current state of the crypto market is characterized by emotional selling to a large extent, including at a loss, which is typical for situations when retail participants are shaken out of the market. The current decline does not pose a threat for large BTC holders and is a normal market correction before further growth," Pershikov says. In his opinion, bitcoin will spend most of the year in the price range of $30,000-70,000.

Ave MariaIt is clear that a serious growth of BTC is possible only with the same growth of interest in it from institutional investors. But they seem to be a problem for now. According to Bloomberg, only 5% of customers surveyed by JPMorgan believe that the bitcoin price will reach $100,000 by the end of 2022. More than 40% believe that it will only return to the $60,000 level. According to bank strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, the fair value of the cryptocurrency ranges from $35,000 to $73,000.

Ave MariaAs for bitcoin's main competitor, ethereum, crypto analyst Justin Bennett believes that “as long as ETH is below $4,000, you need to be careful” against the backdrop of a downtrend in the entire market. If only ETH returns to this area in the coming weeks and months and can gain a foothold there, then we can talk about the continuation of the strong bullish trend observed in 2021."

Ave MariaThe analyst also looks at ETH against BTC and believes that the ETH/BTC pair could start a long-term rally to 0.18 BTC ($7.388) for 1 ETH, but this would require holding the 0.075 BTC ($3.077) level as support.

Ave MariaAll of the above shows that the situation is currently ambiguous. And then how do you make money on virtual currencies? The answer to this question is given in our humorous crypto life hacks column by San Francisco (USA) resident Siraj Raval, who uses his 2018 Tesla Model 3 car for ethereum mining. To do this, he launched the corresponding free software on the Apple Mac mini M1, connecting it to the car's center console. Five graphics cards are powered by the Tesla battery. According to Raval, he mined for about 20 hours a day this way and earned from $400 to $800 a month during 2021.

Ave MariaThe numbers do look attractive. It only remains to find about $50,000 to buy such a car and find out if the Chinese authorities will not consider this method of mining harmful and obsolete.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- Canadian entrepreneur and Shark Tank TV star Kevin O'Leary spoke to Anthony Pompliano about how sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East are considering mining possibilities. In his opinion, they can enter this space within the next two to three years focusing on the shares of "environmentally friendly" companies.
The businessman did not rule out the creation of his own mining company. In addition to the approval of his initiative by the authorities, O'Leary would like to enlist the support of the inhabitants of the territory associated with its deployment. The entrepreneur called the creation of opportunities for mining companies to reflect income from cryptocurrency mining in financial statements as another condition. He believes this will create an incentive to invest for O'Leary and other financiers.

- The bubble is deflating, so the bitcoin price may fall to $30,000. This opinion was expressed by specialists from the investment company Invesco in their list of “incredible but possible” results for 2022. “Bitcoin’s mass marketing reminds us of stockbrokers' activity leading up to the 1929 crash,” they write.
According to the experts, the drop in quotes from highs around $69,000 to $42,000 in early January is exactly in line with the bubble pattern. This trajectory assumes that the asset will lose 45% of its value within 12 months after the peak. That is, the price will fall to $34,000-$37,000 by the end of October and to $30,000 by the end of 2022.
At the same time, Invesco admitted that they made a mistake with the forecast for 2021, when they predicted a fall in the BTC price below $10,000. Analysts explained their mistake by the fact that bitcoin seems to pass not through one, but through a series of bubbles.

- Guido Buehler, CEO of SEBA licensed cryptocurrency bank, gave an opposite forecast. He believes that digital gold could rise to $75,000 by the end of 2022, according to CNBC. “Our internal valuation models point to a price between $50,000 and $75,000. I am quite sure that we will see this level,” he said, adding that the volatility of bitcoin will remain high, but the asset will be able to test new record levels, the only question is the timing.

TV presenter, filmmaker and former trader Max Kaiser still believes that bitcoin will hit $220,000 this year. He explained in another interview why his forecast was not realized last year. “As for 2021, I said we would get to $220,000 per coin, which is a typical four-year cycle. What we had in 2021 was a massive mining collapse in China, the hash rate fell by 50%. We have recovered since then and are about to reach a new all-time record hash rate. That's why I'm moving my goal from 2021 to 2022."
“There is a price, there is a hash rate and there is a complexity setting: these are three things you need to keep in mind,” Max Keiser explains. “I have always said that the price lags behind the hash rate, so once we see its new all-time highs, new all-time highs of the bitcoin price will follow.”

- Another cryptocurrency analyst, Justin Bennett, believes that bitcoin is in for a decent rally in the near future. He reviewed BTC historical price movement models that show that the asset is expected to rise by 20-30%. “You can see since the beginning of 2021 that when bitcoin finds a low below the liquidation level, it makes a move up. The average rate of such movement is about 63%, and the lowest was in April, about 27%. – says the expert. “If you take this data and look at the low around $40,000, then a minimum move of around 27% would take the market to around $50,000. This is highly likely given that the $50,000-53,000 range is very important, and sellers will defend this range as resistance. But bitcoin first needs to break the $45,600 mark to start the rally.”

- The number of vacancies related to the cryptocurrency industry in the US increased by 395% in 2021. Such data is provided by the LinkedIn social network. The sample has included ads containing the words "bitcoin", "ethereum", "blockchain" and "cryptocurrency". At the same time, the number of vacancies in the technology sector increased by 98% over the year.
LinkedIn noted that while most jobs were posted by companies specializing in software and finance, interest in crypto-related candidates was also shown in other areas. We are talking about consulting, accounting, hardware and recruiting.

- The owners of the fake YouTube channel of the head of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor lured 26 BTC (about $1.1 million) from one of the users. The scheme of fraud was common and widespread: they promised on behalf of Saylor to “double” any amount sent to the specified address in cryptocurrency. No matter how much is written about this type of scam, there are still those who fall for this bait, driven by greed.
“489 of these scam channels were launched on YouTube last week. We complain about them every 15 minutes, they are blocked after a few hours, but scammers launch new ones,” the real Saylor wrote in his verified Twitter account.

— According to Peter Brandt, a Wall Street trader with 45 years of experience, he expects a further decline in the price of ethereum. To date, this altcoin has already fallen in price by 36% from its all-time high of $4,878 recorded on November 10, 2021. Brandt is pessimistic as he believes that from a technological standpoint, ethereum is “a very complex, costly, and user-inconvenient platform in terms of its use for NFTs, special tokens, and its involvement in the metaverse.” Based on this, Brandt concludes that ETH will lose points in the eyes of investors, giving way to competitors.

- Data from the Glassnode platform shows that investors are buying up ethereum, despite the fall in its value. As mentioned above, this digital currency has lost 36% of its value in two months. At the same time, the number of ETH wallets with a non-zero balance reached a new high of 73,025,019. Network activity is also increasing, which indicates the desire of investors to take advantage of the correction and buy as many tokens as possible. The average daily number of transactions on the blockchain exceeds 1.2 million at the moment.
According to Glassnode analysts, ETH will trade in a narrow range until a clear vector of movement for the US stock market is formed. If the capital goes into risky assets again, then the ethereum will resume the rise along with bitcoin.

- Popular analyst PlanB is considered one of the main supporters of the theory that BTC will grow to $100,000 in 2021. He developed a forecasting model for the behavior of the bitcoin price (S2F), the signals of which indicated the prospects for such a rise.
Despite the fact that the S2F forecast did not come true, PlanB continues to stick to his theory. He is confident that bitcoin has not yet realized the potential laid in it by the 2020 halving. According to the analyst, the coin is now near local lows and is preparing to renew all-time highs in March. According to the analyst, the peak value of bitcoin within the current cycle can be recorded in July-August 2022.
Analysts of the Twitter channel Root largely agreed with PlanB's opinion. They also believe that bitcoin's growth cycle is not yet complete and is ready to resume growth.

- Umar Farooq, Head of the Cryptocurrency Division at JPMorgan Onyx, compared the current level of development of the cryptocurrency market with the music streaming industry in the 90s. “There was a thing called Napster in the 90s. It was clumsy. Not everyone could use it. And 20 years later, you have Apple Music and Spotify. We live in the era of Napster. We just don't know what Spotify looks like. So I think cryptocurrencies will remain. I just don't know in what form," Umar Farooq said. According to him, the industry has already survived the era of the "Wild West" and has now become an established industry, attracting more and more users.
Earlier, the JPMorgan analyst opined that reduced volatility would enable bitcoin to reach $73,000 in 2022, and the “promised” $146,000 in the long term.


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EUR/USD: FOMC Meeting: the Day the Markets Are Waiting For

The main event not only of the next week, but of the whole month will certainly be the meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) of the US Federal Reserve on January 26. Will the regulator raise interest rates now? Or in March? Or will it postpone the curtailment of incentives indefinitely? These questions remain unanswered.

Recall that the roadmap includes three main points at the moment: 1) curtailing the emergency stimulus program in March, 2) three increases in the key rate in 2022, the first of which may also occur in March, after which 3) the regulator will begin to normalize the balance. However, nothing lasts forever under the moon, the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve either. So, these points are not constant at all and can be changed.

Even ECB President Christine Lagarde said last week that the European Central bank has already begun to react and is ready to adjust its policy if facts and figures require it. Although it is not yet very clear what “it has already begun to react” is. And “ready” is a very loose concept.

According to the same Ms. Lagarde, a too rapid rate increase could slow down the growth of the Eurozone's GDP. So why then reduce monetary stimulus and raise the key rate, especially since, according to the bank's management, the surge in inflation is a temporary phenomenon? And inflation in the US is growing faster than in the Eurozone. So let the Fed have a headache about how to stop it. And the ECB can wait until 2023 to raise rates, and at the same time see how things go overseas.

A clear difference between the US Central Bank's hawkish stance and its European counterpart's dovish stance is a strong support for the dollar, pushing the EUR/USD down. However, there are times when the actions of investors are determined not by real economic and political factors, but by rumors spread by speculators.

Something similar seems to have happened on January 11th. Speaking in the US Congress that day, Jerome Powell stated once again that in order to combat the record for forty years inflation, the Fed is going to raise the refinancing rate at least twice this year, and that if necessary, it can be raised three times. That is, nothing new was actually said. But, thanks to rumors, the market for some reason was waiting for the number "four” and was disappointed because it did not sound. As a result, the DXY dollar index went into a deep peak, and the EUR/USD pair went north instead of moving south.

Due to inflation data in the US, the euro strengthened its positions even more the next day, January 12, and the EUR/USD pair went further up having broken through the border of the medium-term side channel 1.1220-1.1385. A nine-week high was reached on the morning of January 14 at 1.1482. After that, everything went back to normal. The market realized that there were no real reasons for the euro to strengthen, and the pair found itself within the 1.1220-1.1385 channel once again on Tuesday, January 18, reaching the local bottom at 1.1300 on January 21. The final chord was played at 1.1343.

At the time of writing, most (55%) of the D1 oscillators are red, 20% are green and 25% are neutral gray. Trend indicators have 90% red and only 10% green. Among experts, the majority (55%) support the strengthening of the dollar, 45% are for its fall. The nearest resistance zone is 1.1370-1.1385, then 1.1400-1.1435, 1.1480 and 1525. The nearest support zone is 1.1300-1.1315, then 1.1275 and 1.1220. This is followed by the November 24 low of last year at 1.1185 and the 1.1075-1.1100 zone.

As for the economic calendar for the upcoming week, besides the FOMC meeting of the US Federal Reserve and the subsequent press conference of its management, we can note the release of data on business activity in Germany and the Eurozone (Markit index) on Monday, January 24. Preliminary data on US GDP will be released on Thursday, January 27, as well as the volume of orders for capital goods and durable goods. (Since the purchase of such goods usually involves large investments, these data reflect the economic situation in the United States, including the inflationary component.) And, finally, data on German GDP will be published at the end of the working week, on January 28.

GBP/USD: Rate Up Bet

The dollar strengthened its position against the pound slightly over the past week. If the GBP/USD pair was at the height of 1.3748 on January 13, it fell to 1.3545 on the evening of January 21. According to some experts, it's all about he British currency being generally overbought. After the December decision of the Bank of England to raise the interest rate from 0.1% to 0.25% for the first time in three years, the pair showed an increase of about 575 points. So the current fall of 200 points may not mean a medium-term trend reversal, but only a temporary correction.

The pound has a lot of chances to return to growth, even despite the hawkish position of the US Federal Reserve. The CPI published on January 19 showed that inflation in the UK rose to its highs in more than 15 years, reaching 5.4% (previous reading 5.1%, forecast 5.2%). The continuing growth of inflationary pressure may force the regulator to raise the key rate as early as at the next meeting on February 03. It is possible that at the same time, against the backdrop of a moderate impact of the omicron strain on the economy of the United Kingdom, plans to reduce monetary stimulus (QE) introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic may also be revised.

A survey conducted by Reuters among 45 experts showed that most of them (65%) expect the Bank of England to raise rates again on February 03, to 0.5% this time. If this happens, then, according to Scotiabank strategists, the GBP/USD pair may return to levels around 1.3800.

More than 75% of analysts expect the rate to be raised to 0.5% by the end of March. Also, according to the median forecast, the British regulator will raise the rate by another 25 basis points in the Q3 (up to a quarter earlier than expected). After that, another increase will follow, up to 1.0%, approximately at the beginning of 2023.

However, as for the forecast for the next few days, 60% of experts side with the bears, expecting the pair to fall at least to the 1.3450-1.3500 zone. Most of the indicators on D1 agree with this forecast: 60% of oscillators point to sell (although 10% are already in the oversold zone), 20% recommend buying and 20% remain neutral. Among trend indicators, 40% look up, 60% look down.

The supports are located at 1.3525, 1.3480, 1.3430, 1.3375, the next strong support is 100 points lower. The levels and resistance zones are 1.3570-1.3600, 1.3640, 1.3700, 1.3750, 1.3835 and 1.3900.

The Bank of England meeting will only take place in early February, and there won't be much important macro data from the UK next week. The publication of the Markit business activity index may cause increased volatility on Tuesday, January 24. Although, most likely, investors will not pay much attention to it on the eve of the US Federal Reserve meeting.

USD/JPY: Yen as a Safe Haven

The meeting of another central bank, Japan, took place last week, on January 18. As expected, the key rate remained at the same negative level, minus 0.1%. As we wrote earlier, according to this regulator, the country does not need a strong currency, and a weak yen is more likely to help the economy, as it supports Japanese exports and corporate profits.

In general, last week's results for the USD/JPY pair can be assessed as neutral. First, it went up and rose to the height of 115.05 on Tuesday, January 18. Then the trend changed to a downtrend, and the pair dropped to where it was trading a week ago, to the zone of 113.60-114.00 by the end of the five-day period.

The Japanese currency was supported by the weakening of the risk appetite of the market. Investors began to abandon risky assets once again in favor of the yen, which plays the role of a "safe haven". The reasons for this change in sentiment were forecasts for rising inflation, uncertainty about the monetary policy of world central banks and the growth of geopolitical tensions.

The USD/JPY pair finished last week at 113.66, that is, within the trading range 113.40-114.40, where it has regularly been in the last three months. And although 60% of analysts vote for its growth, 25% for a fall and 15% for a sideways trend, the median forecast suggests that it will stay within this channel. Of course, provided that the US Federal Reserve does not present any surprises at its meeting. And you should not forget about the international political situation, there are also possible surprises, and very unpleasant ones at that.

Among the oscillators on D1, 100% are facing south, although 25% of them are already giving signals that the pair is oversold. Among trend indicators, 65% recommend selling, 35% recommend buying. Support levels are 113.50, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70. The nearest resistance zone is 114.00-114.25, 114.40-114.65, then there are levels 115.00, 115.45, 116.00 and 116.35.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: It Is Not Just Winter in the Crypto Market, It Is Polar Cold



Quotes of risky assets remain under strong pressure in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve meeting. The Dow Jones, S&P500 and Nasdaq stock indices have been losing their positions for almost the entire month of January. But as for the top cryptocurrencies, they have been quite successful in repulsing bear attacks for the last two weeks. If we talk about bitcoin, buyers did their best to keep the BTC/USD pair quotes from reaching the psychologically important horizon of $40,000. However, the bears managed to break through the defense on Friday, January 21 and lower the pair to $36,160. The total capitalization of the crypto market flew down as well, falling to $1.72 trillion, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index was firmly stuck in the Extreme Fear zone, dropping to 19 points.

The situation, according to a number of experts, does not bode well for cryptocurrencies at the moment. The bubble is deflating, so the bitcoin price may fall to $30,000. This opinion was expressed by specialists from the investment company Invesco, drawing an analogy with the crash of 1929.

The decline from the $69,000 highs is exactly in line with the bubble pattern, analysts say. This trajectory assumes that the asset will lose 45% of its value within 12 months after the peak. That is, according to their calculations, the price will fall to $34,000-$37,000 by the end of October and to $30,000 by the end of 2022.

At the same time, Invesco admitted that they made a mistake with the forecast for 2021, when they predicted a fall in the BTC price below $10,000. Analysts explained their mistake by saying that bitcoin seems to be going through not one, but a series of bubbles. (Although, perhaps, Invesco experts were just in a hurry, and this forecast will come true this year).

Popular analyst PlanB had made a mistake with his forecast for the past year as well. Recall that he developed a model for predicting the behavior of the bitcoin rate (S2F), the signals of which indicated the prospects for BTC to rise to $100,000 in 2021. Despite the fact that the S2F forecast did not come true, PlanB continues to stick to his theory. He is confident that bitcoin has not yet realized the potential laid in it by the 2020 halving. According to the analyst, the coin is now near local lows and is preparing to renew all-time highs in March. According to the analyst, the peak value of bitcoin within the current cycle can be recorded in July-August 2022.

Another unsuccessful predictor was TV presenter and former trader Max Kaiser. He explained In another interview why his forecast of $220,000 for bitcoin was not realized last year. “As for 2021, I said we would get to $220,000 per coin, which is a typical four-year cycle. What we had in 2021 was a massive mining collapse in China, the hash rate fell by 50%. We have recovered since then and are about to reach a new all-time record hash rate. That's why I'm moving my goal from 2021 to 2022."

“There is a price, there is a hash rate and there is a complexity setting: these are three things you need to keep in mind,” Max Keiser explains. “I have always said that the price lags behind the hash rate, so once we see its new all-time highs, new all-time highs of the bitcoin price will follow.”

Guido Buehler, CEO of SEBA cryptocurrency bank, calls a three times more modest goal. He believes that digital gold could rise to $75,000 by the end of 2022. “Our internal valuation models point to a price between $50,000 and $75,000. I am quite sure that we will see this level,” he said, adding that the volatility of bitcoin will remain high, but the asset will be able to test new record levels, the only question is the timing.

Cryptocurrency analyst Justin Bennett's forecast can also be classified as optimistic, although the numbers here are even smaller. Bennett reviewed BTC historical price movement models that show that the asset is expected to rise by 20-30%. “It can be seen that starting from early 2021, bitcoin, finding the minimum below the liquidation level, then makes an upward movement. The average rate of such movement is about 63%, and the lowest was in April, about 27%. - the expert says. “If you take this data and look at the low around $40,000, then a minimum move of around 27% would take the market to around $50,000. This is highly likely given that the $50,000-53,000 range is very important, and sellers will defend this range as resistance.

There is no clear opinion on the future of ethereum either. Some still hope that the ETH/USD pair will meet 2023 around $7,000-10,000, while others expect the coin to crash after bitcoin. For example, Peter Brandt, a Wall Street trader with 45 years of experience, expects a further decline in the price of ethereum. In his opinion, from a technological point of view, this altcoin is “a very complex, costly, and user-inconvenient platform in terms of its use for NFTs, special tokens, and its involvement in the metaverse.” Based on this, Brandt concludes that ETH will lose points in the eyes of investors, giving way to competitors.

Peter Brandt's forecast is quite controversial. Indeed, the slow protocol has led to delays in transactions and a significant increase in fees. Sometimes a transaction costs more than $50, which is very expensive compared to the competition. For example, the commission is less than a cent in Solana. However, due to its high decentralization, ethereum is still the first in terms of the use of smart contracts. At the moment, this altcoin dominates the rest of the blockchains in the DeFi sector with $157 billion of blocked funds or 66% of the total market. Its lead is even greater in the NFT sector: here ETH is almost a monopoly as its share exceeds 90%.

It is possible that its share will decrease over time due to competition, but many experts still promise a bright future for this altcoin. The transition to the proof-of-stake protocol and the subsequent network scaling should help it maintain its leading position. The “X hour” for these steps is scheduled for the Q2 2022 at the moment. However, there is a certain risk that the date will be postponed again. This does not seem to scare investors much though. According to the Glassnode platform, they are buying up coins despite the drop in their value.

Ethereum has already lost about 50% of its value in two months. At the same time, the number of ETH wallets with a non-zero balance has reached a new high of 73,025,019. Network activity is also increasing, which indicates the desire of investors to take advantage of the correction and buy as many tokens as possible. The average daily number of transactions on the blockchain exceeds 1.2 million at the moment.

According to Glassnode analysts, ETH will trade in a narrow range until a clear vector of movement for the US stock market is formed. If the capital goes into risky assets again, then the ethereum will resume the rise along with bitcoin.

But when will this happen?

And will it happen at all?



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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CryptoNews of the Week



- McDonald's fast-food chain has trolled crypto investors amid the fall of the crypto market. McDonald's joked that the owners of digital assets have to get a job in the catering industry during the bearish trend. The post was liked by the community and gained almost 100,000 likes.
In response to the fast-food joke, the CEO of the technology company MicroStrategy Michael Saylor posted his photo wearing a cap with the McDonald's logo and the caption: “Doing my best to buy more bitcoins”.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele also reacted to the joke about bankrupt crypto investors who are forced to cook burgers. Like Michael Saylor, he tweeted a photo of himself wearing a McDonald's cap. This tweet was immediately commented on by a Shibetoshi Nakamoto, who wrote: "Welcome to the McDonald's family, sir."

- But the well-known economist and critic of bitcoin, Nouriel Roubini called on the government of El Salvador in all seriousness to impeach President Nayib Bukele because of his investments in the first cryptocurrency. According to Roubini, the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. “El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment is a real disaster: BTC holders have lost 50% [of the portfolio],” he wrote, calling Bukele a “clown” and a “criminal president” along the way.

- McDonald's trolling has not been ignored by other influencers either. So, the director of the Gemini crypto exchange Tyler Winklevoss wrote that he considers the current fall as an excellent opportunity to buy coins on the Big McBottom. And Elon Musk promised to eat the Happy Meal during the TV broadcast "if McDonald's starts accepting Dogecoin."

- The collapse of bitcoin creates an opportunity to become richer, says Robert Kiyosaki. Rich Dad Poor Dad bestselling author and entrepreneur said he would buy more digital gold if its price dropped to $20,000. "Profits are made when you buy, not when you sell. Bitcoin is crashing. Great news. I bought BTC for $6,000 and $9,000. I will buy more if the price tests $20,000. The time to get rich is coming."
Recall that Kiyosaki predicted a “giant stock market crash” last October and warned that the same fate awaits gold, silver and bitcoin. This is exactly what we are seeing now.

- Goldbug and bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff allowed the collapse of bitcoin below $10,000. In response, Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz offered Schiff a $1 million bet. He promised to send these funds to charity or another purpose of the opponent's choice if BTC trades below $35,000 in a year. At the same time, Novogratz believes that the bear market will be long enough, and therefore does not advise buying on drawdowns now. “It will be difficult for cryptocurrencies to start a rally until the stock market bottoms out. Nevertheless, digital assets have already experienced a significant sell-off and are beginning to receive support from buyers,” he explained.

- Ton Weiss, a well-known trader, analyst and former vice president of JP Morgan Chase, does not rule out the completion of the bitcoin correction in the near future. According to him, the cryptocurrency has reached the 20-month moving average (MA), which is at the level of $34,000. Weiss claims that this is a "perfect opportunity" for a trend reversal and the asset's return to growth. According to the specialist, in the event of a rebound, the price of bitcoin will quickly return to the $40,000 level and consolidate above it.

- Another cryptocurrency analyst, Nicholas Merten predicts that despite the current market conditions, bitcoin could rise almost 7 times to $200,000 by the end of the year. Merten stated on his DataDash YouTube channel (502,000 subscribers) that if bitcoin's capitalization stays above $600 billion, it will set the stage for the coin's bull run in the coming months.
The expert recalled that all rallies occur after corrections and are often spurred on by BTC purchases at heavily discounted prices. Understanding how big players buy is the key to navigating the highly volatile cryptocurrency markets, Merten says.

- According to many market participants, bitcoin can go to the $30,000 area, and then it is likely to turn around. Charles Edwards, the founder of the crypto investment company Capriole, wrote that the signal of the NVT (Network Value to Transaction ratio) indicator shows that BTC is oversold: this situation is rare in the market. “We have entered an open buying zone,” Edwards commented on the current situation.
Recall that this indicator was proposed and is actively used by the well-known analyst Willy Woo. NVT is calculated by dividing bitcoin's market capitalization by its transaction volume (in USD) and is a popular metric to assess whether the coin is overbought or oversold.

- Scott Melker, a trader, analyst, and podcast host, reminded his subscribers that there is nothing unusual about what is happening in the market now. “People have short memories. Bitcoin fell from $60,000 to $30,000 in 10 days in May. 10 DAYS!!! All this has already happened. And that was only 8 months ago. So why be so scared?" he wrote.

- The flagship cryptocurrency has captured the mind of Eric Adams, who is now the mayor of New York. It was last Friday, during an epic price drop, that he received his first paycheck in bitcoin and ethereum, which cut his US dollar pay by 15%. However, Adams did not express any regret about this, apparently believing that he would win in the end anyway. "My goal is to send a message that New York is open to technology and encourage our young people to participate in new emerging markets," says the 110th mayor of the US's largest city.

- Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, named two reasons for the current correction in the cryptocurrency market. The first of these is the non-transparent regulation and regulatory uncertainty of the crypto industry. The second problem is the imperfection and immaturity of the crypto industry. At the same time, the businessman believes that the current market conditions provide “an excellent entry point for institutional investors interested in cryptocurrencies, who have been on the sidelines so far.”
According to Saylor, a lot of institutional investors are now watching bitcoin and see that it is 40% below the all-time high and that it is consolidating. At the same time, they understand that bitcoin is supported by such serious investors as Bill Miller, regulators, senators, and congressmen, as well as large public companies.
As for MicroStrategy itself, this software developer owns 124,391 BTC. The company has spent about $3.7 billion on the acquisition of cryptocurrency. Thus, the average purchase price is $30,100 per 1 coin.


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

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.

EUR/USD: Surprises from the US Federal Reserve



The meeting of the US Federal Reserve FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) and the subsequent press conference of its management was certainly the main event of the last week. JP Morgan analysts called the speech of Jerome Powell, the head of the US central bank, the most “hawkish” of all during his tenure.

As for the first increase in the federal funds rate this year, there were no surprises: it is likely to take place in March, as planned. True, Jerome Powell did not answer the question of how much it will be increased, 25 or 50 basis points (bp). But at the same time, he made it clear that the Fed will be quite “agile” and “intractable” from now on. Apparently, the regulator will no longer pay attention to either the coronavirus omicron strain or the stock indices collapse and will focus on controlling inflation.

The number of possible increases in the refinancing rate in 2022 was a real surprise for the markets. Powell's speech led to the market upgrading the probability of three increases by June from 45% to 60%. In total, there can be five or six of them this year. For example, Deutsche Bank experts forecast a 25 bp rate hike in March, May, and June, and two more acts of monetary restriction before the end of the year. And their colleagues from BNP Paribas have set their sights on six raises. There may even be seven of them If inflation continues to be at a high level in the second half of the year. After all, the head of the Fed has made it clear that the main tool to fight inflation will be the federal funds rate.

In addition, the US Central bank has decided to double the pace of rolling back its quantitative easing (QE) program. The volume of government bonds repurchases will decrease by $20 billion per month from next month (now $10 billion), and of mortgages by $10 billion (now $5 billion).

All of these hawkish signals have shown that the regulator's stance has become much tighter and have made a huge impression on the derivatives market. The direct correlation between government bond yields and the DXY dollar index was restored, and the index jumped above 97.35.

Recall that the euro is the basis of the basket of 6 world currencies that form the DXY, with a share of 57.6%. Therefore, the European currency played a leading role in the growth of the index and the strengthening of the dollar in the current situation. The difference between the Fed's hawkish stance and the ECB's dovish stance has been repeatedly spoken about. The European Central Bank intends to only start raising the rate in 2023, while its counterpart overseas will already be completing this program. And such a divergence does not bode well for the Old World currency.

The EUR/USD pair lost more than 220 points at its high in the past week alone, which was a record for the last seven months. The local bottom was found on Friday, January 28 at the level of 1.1121, followed by a slight correction and a finish at 1.1148.

Of course, if the US Federal Reserve conducts an ultra-aggressive tightening of its monetary policy, it can lead to a sharp reduction in consumer demand, with all the ensuing problems. But this is not happening so far. And it will always be possible to soften the position even if it ever happens. Therefore, the probability of the pair falling towards 1.1000 is very high. This is the figure that sounds both in the forecasts of strategists and the Internationale Nederlanden Groep, as well as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

At the time of writing, 100% of trend indicators and 100% of oscillators on D1 are red, though 30% of the latter are in the oversold zone. Among experts, the majority (60%) are in favor of further strengthening of the dollar, 40% believe that everything is not lost for the euro yet, and the pair will be able to temporarily return to the boundaries of the medium-term side channel 1.1220-1.1385. The nearest resistance zone is located at 1.1185, followed by 1.1220, 1.1275, 1.1355-1.1385 and 1.1485. The nearest support zone is 1.1075-1.1100 and then 1.0980-1.1025.

As for the calendar of the upcoming week, the attention of the market will be mainly focused on the ECB meeting on Thursday, February 03. It is not likely to present any special surprises, and the interest rate will remain the same, at the level of 0%. However, certain changes in the monetary policy of the European regulator are still possible. And investors expect to learn about them at the final press conference.

In general, the week will be full of macro-economic statistics. There will be data on the GDP of the Eurozone and the consumer market in Germany on Monday, January 31. The volumes of retail sales in Germany, the ISM business activity index in the US manufacturing sector, as well as the results of a study of the European banking sector will be announced on Tuesday. There will be statistics on the Eurozone consumer market and the level of employment in the private sector in the US on Wednesday. The value of the ISM business activity index in the US services sector will become known on Thursday. And in addition to data on retail sales in the Eurozone, we are traditionally waiting for a portion of statistics from the US labor market, including the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector (NFP) on the first Friday of the month, February 04.

GBP/USD: How Will the Bank of England Respond?

The Markit Services PMI for the UK released on January 24 came in below the forecast at 53.3 versus the expected 55.0. Further, the expected active increase in rates by the Fed, and then preliminary data on US GDP for the fourth quarter of 2021, played on the side of the dollar. They showed an increase that no one expected: 6.9% against the forecast of 5.5% and the previous value of 2.3%. Apparently, the US economy has not only recovered from the COVID-19 attack but has recovered so much that economic growth has even surpassed the 2019 figures.

All this has not benefited the British currency of course. And then there are the demands for the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which the market regarded as another bearish factor. As a result, the GBP/USD pair fixed a low at 1.3357, falling by almost 400 points in two weeks.

Can the pound return to growth even despite the US Fed's hawkish stance? We are likely to get an answer to this question soon enough.­ After all, in addition to the ECB meeting, there will also be a meeting of the Bank of England on Thursday, February 03. How can it respond to the Americans? Of course, by a faster rate increase: according to a number of forecasts, the pound rate may be increased by another 0.25 bp, up to 0.50%.

For how long will the British currency have such support? Many analysts doubt that the actions of the Bank of England will meet market expectations, and that the regulator will act as aggressively as the Fed this year. Based on this, economists at Rabobank, the second largest bank in the Netherlands, do not exclude that the GBP/USD pair may fall below 1.3000 by the middle of the year.

As for the current situation, the level 1.3400 (range 1.3360-1.3415 to be exact) is a very strong support/resistance zone and can serve as a springboard for the pair to bounce up. This development is supported by 30% of experts. The next resistances are waiting for the pair at levels 1.3440, 1.3500-1.3525, 1.3575, 1.3650, 1.3700 and 1.3750.

70% of analysts vote for the further fall of the pair. Supports are located at 1.3360, then 1.3275, 1.3200, followed by a strong December trend reversal zone 1.3160-1.3185.

The indicators on D1 look like this: only 10% of the oscillators point to the north, the remaining 90% point to the south, of which 20% give signals that the pair is oversold. Among trend indicators, all 100% look down.

In addition to the Bank of England meeting, we should pay attention to data on business activity (PMI) next week: in the manufacturing sector on Feb. 01, in the services sector on Feb. 03 and in the UK construction sector on Feb. 04.

USD/JPY: Yen Has Nothing to Answer

If the Bank of England has something to respond to the US Federal Reserve, nothing like this can be expected from the Bank of Japan with its forever negative (minus 0.1%) rate. The yen, as a safe-haven currency, is usually supported by investors running away from risky assets. But now the rising dollar and US Treasury bonds are a powerful obstacle in their way. And the Bank of Japan does not really need a strong national currency.

As a result, as most experts (60%) expected, the USD/JPY pair rushed north again. True, it failed to reach the high on January 04 at 116.35, but the rise still looks very impressive. If the pair was at the level of 113.46 on Monday, January 24, it reached the height of 115.68 by the end of the working week. The last chord of the five-day period was set at the level of 115.22.

At the time of writing, most indicators on D1 point north. Among the oscillators, there are 90% of them (10% of them give signals that the pair is overbought), the remaining 10% are colored red. Among the trend indicators, 100% recommend buying. Experts agree with the indicators: 70% of them side with the bulls, 20% with the bears, 10% are neutral. Support levels are 115.00, 114.45, 114.00, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70. The nearest resistance zone is 115.50-115.70, the nearest serious target of the bulls is a new five-year high at 116.35.

Any serious macroeconomic statistics from Japan is not expected this week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: The Calm After the Storm

If we talk about cryptocurrencies, nothing terrible happened for them at the January meeting of the Fed. It had long been known that the regulator would tighten monetary policy and reduce monetary injections into the economy. As well as the fact that it will raise interest rates. Yes, this will hit risky assets, but it will draw money from the stock market in the first place. It is possible that things will not reach cryptocurrencies, as a super-speculative asset at all: the volumes are too small.

The crypto market grew by leaps and bounds as the Fed flooded the fires of the pandemic with trillions of brand new freshly minted dollars. There will be no more inflow of this money, and it is probably not worth counting on a new crypto boom. Institutional investors will behave much more calmly, but they will not be in a hurry to part with their bitcoins and ethereums either. Everyone who wanted to sell them has already sold. Those who wanted to keep them, kept them as a long-term investment.

Of course, any surprises are possible in this industry: both pleasant and not so much so. In the meantime, the crypto market is recovering from the panic that arose before the Fed meeting. Having fallen on Monday, January 24 to $32.945, the BTC/USD pair grew a little and it is trading in the $37,000 zone on the evening of Friday, January 28 at the moment of writing this. The total market capitalization has risen from $1.51 trillion to $1.70 trillion, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has grown to only 24 points (11 points at the low of January 23), being stuck firmly in the Extreme Fear zone. So it is clearly premature to talk confidently even about the beginning of a recovery and a trend reversal. Moreover, the BTC/USD chart shows that the strong support that the pair relied on both in 2020 and 2021 is located in the $29,000-30,000 zone. So there is room to fall.

Goldbug and bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff allowed the collapse of bitcoin below $10,000. But Mike Novogratz, the founder of the Galaxy Digital crypto bank, stood up for the flagship currency immediately, offering Schiff a $1 million bet. The banker promised to send these funds to charity or another purpose of the opponent's choice if BTC trades below $35,000 in a year.

At the same time, Novogratz believes that the bear market will be long enough, and therefore does not advise buying on drawdowns now. “It will be difficult for cryptocurrencies to start a rally until the stock market bottoms out. Nevertheless, digital assets have already experienced a significant sell-off and are beginning to receive support from buyers,” he explained.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the best-selling book "Rich Dad Poor Dad", also recommends waiting with purchases, saying that he will buy more digital gold only if its price drops to $20,000. "Profits are made when you buy, not when you sell. Bitcoin is crashing. Great news. I bought BTC for $6,000 and $9,000. I will buy more if the price tests $20,000. The time to get rich is approaching,” he wrote.

Recall that Kiyosaki predicted a “giant stock market crash” last October and warned that the same fate awaits gold, silver, and bitcoin. This is exactly what we are seeing now.

Ton Weiss, a well-known trader, analyst and former vice president of JP Morgan Chase, does not rule out the completion of the bitcoin correction in the near future. According to him, the cryptocurrency has reached the 20-month moving average (MA), which is at the level of $34,000. Weiss claims that this is a "perfect opportunity" for a trend reversal and the asset's return to growth. According to the specialist, in the event of a rebound, the price of bitcoin will quickly return to the $40,000 level and consolidate above it.

Another cryptocurrency analyst, Nicholas Merten predicts that despite the current market conditions, bitcoin could rise almost 7 times to $200,000 by the end of the year. Merten stated on his DataDash YouTube channel (502,000 subscribers) that if bitcoin's capitalization stays above $600 billion, it will set the stage for the coin's bull run in the coming months.

The expert recalled that all rallies occur after corrections and are often spurred on by BTC purchases at heavily discounted prices. Understanding how big players buy is the key to navigating the highly volatile cryptocurrency markets, Merten says.

According to other market participants, bitcoin can visit the $30,000 area, and then it is likely to turn around. Charles Edwards, the founder of the crypto investment company Capriole, wrote that the signal of the NVT (Network Value to Transaction ratio) indicator shows that BTC is oversold: this situation is rare in the market. “We have entered an open buying zone,” Edwards commented on the current situation.

Recall that this indicator was proposed and is actively used by the well-known analyst Willy Woo. NVT is calculated by dividing bitcoin's market capitalization by its transaction volume (in USD) and is a popular metric to assess whether the coin is overbought or oversold.

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, named two reasons for the current correction in the cryptocurrency market. The first of these is the non-transparent regulation and regulatory uncertainty of the crypto industry. The second is the imperfection and immaturity of the crypto industry. At the same time, the businessman believes that the current market conditions provide “an excellent entry point for institutional investors interested in cryptocurrencies, who have been on the sidelines so far.”

According to Saylor, a lot of institutional investors are now watching bitcoin and see that it is 40% below the all-time high and that it is consolidating. At the same time, they understand that bitcoin is supported by such serious investors as Bill Miller, regulators, senators and congressmen, as well as large public companies.

As for MicroStrategy itself, this software developer owns 124,391 BTC. The company has spent about $3.7 billion on the acquisition of cryptocurrency. Thus, the average purchase price is $30,100 per 1 coin. And if it falls below this level, it will result in multi-million or even billions in losses for the owners of MicroStrategy.

And now, a couple of soothing statements to conclude the review. The first is from Scott Melker, a trader, analyst and podcast host, who reminded his subscribers that there is nothing unusual about what is happening in the market now. “People have short memories. Bitcoin fell from $60,000 to $30,000 in 10 days in May. 10 DAYS!!! All this has already happened. And that was only 8 months ago. So why be so scared?" he wrote.

The second is from McDonald's fast-food chain, which offered owners of digital assets to get a job in the catering industry during the bearish trend. This is a joke of course. But, as they say, there is some truth in every joke. The McDonald's tweet was liked by the community and quickly gained almost 100,000 likes.



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

CryptoNews of the Week



- According to Bloomberg, the residents of Russia possess a huge amount of digital assets worth about $214 billion. This estimate was obtained by analysing the IP addresses of users of the largest crypto exchanges. In addition, according to the University of Cambridge, Russia became the third country in the world in bitcoin mining (11.23%) in the summer of 2021, after the USA (35.4%) and Kazakhstan (18.1%), where many miners migrated after the ban in China.
The Central Bank of Russia took the initiative to impose a total ban on everything related to this area on January 20, including the circulation and mining of cryptocurrencies, as well as organizing these operations in the country.
However, President Vladimir Putin, instead of a complete ban, supported the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, which provides not for a ban on cryptocurrencies, but for the regulation of their circulation. The President expressed the opinion that the Central Bank should not stand in the way of technological progress. Moreover, Russia has certain competitive advantages, especially in mining, which include a surplus of electricity and well-trained personnel.

- Bitcoin is perceived as a “monetary good” and no altcoin can challenge that status for the foreseeable future. Fidelity Digital Assets analysts came to these conclusions. Experts called the first cryptocurrency not only a technology, but also a perfect form of money in their study “Bitcoin First”. It is the most “secure, decentralized form of assets. Bitcoin has the scarcity and longevity of gold combined with the ease of use, storage and transportation of fiat,” they explained.

- The persistence of high volatility limits the adoption of bitcoin by institutions. This is how JPMorgan analysts justified the decline in the fair, in their opinion, valuation of the first cryptocurrency from $150,000 to $38,000. The specialists noted that the current 50% pullback from the all-time high has highlighted the nature of the boom-bust cycle, which is an obstacle to adding BTC to the portfolios of large investors.
The JPMorgan model assumed that the volatility of bitcoin would converge with the volatility of gold and the alignment of their shares in investment portfolios. And now, bank analysts have admitted that their previous forecast that the bitcoin-to-gold volatility ratio would drop to around 2/1 by the end of 2022 was unrealistic. Therefore, they lowered the fair value of the first cryptocurrency to $38,000, writes Business Insider.
JPMorgan did not rule out a further decline in bitcoin quotes, even in the absence of signs of buyer surrender. “Open interest in futures and the volume of exchange balances indicates less panic or liquidation of positions than last May, especially in relation to large crypto investors,” the specialists concluded in their report.

- Arizona (USA) Senate Member Wendy Rogers introduced a bill that would approve bitcoin as a transactional currency or a means of payment. According to the bill, the first cryptocurrency will be accepted to pay debts, taxes and government fees as well as other obligations. Rogers has also been noted for other initiatives. One of them suggests the possibility of the authorities paying salaries to their employees in cryptocurrency. The senator has also proposed not to levy taxes or fees for “the use of blockchain technology.”
All of these bills must be approved by the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate to be adopted.

- Bitcoin could soar to a high of $93,717 this year and is expected to be worth $76,360 by the end of 2022 and close to $193,000 by the end of 2025. This is the average forecast made by industry representatives during a roundtable discussion organized by the analytical website Finder.
The discussion was attended by 33 fintech experts, half of whom do not expect the cryptocurrency price to fall even against the backdrop of the upcoming increase in US interest rates. Vanessa Harris, director of the cryptocurrency startup Permission, was among the most optimistic participants in the discussion. She predicts that BTC will peak at $220,000 this year. A much more modest figure was voiced by the founder of the CoinFlip bitcoin ATM network, Daniel Polotsky. In his opinion, the cryptocurrency is unlikely to exceed $60,000 in 2022 as the bubbles created by the US Federal Reserve during the pandemic are now deflating.

- Crypto analyst Jason Pizzino believes that despite a solid rebound from its 90-day low of $32,950, the first cryptocurrency is facing a strong resistance. When the price approaches $38,000, it stops because the resistance becomes too strong.
At the same time, according to Pizzino, bitcoin will still enter an accumulation period in the medium term, when whales and investors with smart money will begin to invest in cryptocurrency, waiting for its next bullish trend. This may take a whole year, during which the BTC rate will rise. According to Pizzino's forecast, bitcoin is able to reach a new price high in the second half of 2022, but this will not be a sharp upward movement but a series of ascents.

- American Express, one of the most recognizable credit card operators, has lost ground in processed transaction volumes to the bitcoin network. This is evidenced by the data of the latest NYDIG report.
While the BTC network processed transactions for $3.0 trillion in 2021, for American Express the figure was $1.28 trillion, and this is the best figure in the history of the American corporation. Discover, the 4th largest card operator, posted a result of $0.504 billion, which is also an absolute maximum for the company.
Only two famous brands are ahead of bitcoin: Mastercard and VISA. Their result is $7.72 trillion and $13.5 trillion, respectively. However, the gap between them and the bitcoin is steadily shrinking.

- Global adoption of bitcoin will certainly contribute to the growth of bitcoin to $1 million. This opinion was expressed by the head of Circle, Jeremy Aller in an interview with Business Insider. He admits that he himself is not a "bitcoin maximalist", but he still believes in new cryptocurrency highs. At the same time, the businessman prefers not to compare bitcoin with gold, believing that the digital asset is much more efficient than precious metals. According to the head of Circle, gold as money is simply useless in modern society.

- But analysts at Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest investment banks, do not share Aller's scenario. In their opinion, the mass adoption of cryptocurrency may, on the contrary, worsen the chances of its long-term growth. Experts argue that the global popularity of digital assets will increase their correlation with traditional ones. This, in turn, will reduce the volatility of cryptocurrencies, as well as reduce their advantage as a diversifying asset in an investor's portfolio.
Moreover, according to Goldman Sachs, cryptocurrencies are unlikely to be able to avoid the influence of macroeconomic forces, such as the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve.

- Peter Brandt, a well-known Wall Street trader with 45 years of experience, notes that most crypto enthusiasts are now in an extremely bearish mood. Most of the participants in the Laser Eyes flash mob are confident that the price of bitcoin will fall below $30,000 in the near future. According to the expert, this may be a signal to buy the first cryptocurrency. “When the bulls wear laser eyes, it’s time to sell. When bulls become bears, is it time to buy?” Brandt asks.
Recall that the “Laser Eyes” flash mob started on Twitter in February 2021, when bitcoin reached a local high of $58,300. After that, many supporters of the first cryptocurrency, in anticipation of its growth to $100,000, posted photos with “laser eyes” as their profile avatar. Co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Anthony Pompliano, TV presenter Max Kaiser, CEO of Binance crypto exchange Changpeng Zhao, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other influencers were among the participants in the flash mob.
However, instead of rising to $100,000, the flagship cryptocurrency collapsed to $29,000 by June. So, the current remark of Peter Brand is clearly not devoid of logic.


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

NordFX brokerage company has summed up the performance of its clients' trade transactions in the first month of 2022. The services of social trading, PAMM and CopyTrading, as well as the profit received by the company's IB-partners have also been assessed.

The maximum profit in January was received by a client from Vietnam, account No.1467xxx, whose profit amounted to 49.180 USD. This solid result was achieved thanks to transactions with gold (XAU/USD).

The second place in the ranking of the most successful traders of the month was taken by a client from China, account No. 1589XXX, who earned 39.151 USD on transactions primarily with the British pound (GBP/AUD, GBP/USD, GBP/JPY), as well as with such pairs as EUR /NZD, EUR/AUD, AUD/JPY.

The third place on the January podium went to another representative of Vietnam (account No. 1605XXX), whose result 36.880 USD was also achieved through operations with gold (XAU/USD).

The NordFX passive investment services:

- CopyTrading still has an active supplier under the nickname KennyFxPro. Signal with the complex name KennyFXPRO - Journey of $205 to $5,000 has shown a profit of 138% since March 2021 with a maximum drawdown of 67%. Their second signal, KennyFXPRO Prismo 2K, started two months later, while its profitability has been 55% with a drawdown of 37%. All trades in both cases were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD pairs.

We can also note the Hada signal this time, which has shown a profit of 53% in just 70 days of life with a drawdown of 21%.

The lifetime of the above-named signals is short, less than a year. In combination with a fairly serious maximum drawdown, this allows them to be classified as a group with a high degree of risk. But, of course, there are long-livers in the CopyTrading service. For example, signal MF989923. It has existed for almost 7 years, and it has shown an increase of 517% during this time. Note that this signal had serious drawdowns several times as well, reaching 66%. True, the last time this happened a long time ago, almost two years ago: in March 2020. But trading has since become much less aggressive and less profitable.

- As for the PAMM service, we have to mention the manager under the nickname KennyFXPRO again. They increased their capital on the KennyFXPro-the Multi 3000 EA account by 67% in exactly 1 year with a fairly moderate drawdown of less than 16%.

Among PAMM accounts, the TranquilityFX - The Genesis v3 account attracts attention as well. It exists for 303 days and has brought a profit of 47% during this time with a drawdown of 16%. NKFX - Ninja 136 is similar to the two previous accounts as well. Its lifespan is just over 200 days, growth is 36%, maximum drawdown is less than 15%.

It should be noted that in most cases, both traders and signal providers and PAMM managers ignored such a popular pair as EUR/USD in their work, making transactions either with gold (XAU/USD), or with pairs GBP/CAD, GBP/JPY, NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD.

Among the IB partners, NordFX TOP-3 is as follows:
- the largest amount of commission, 7.716 USD, was accrued in January to a partner from China, account No. 1336xxx;
- next is a partner from India, account No.1593xxx, who received 5.256 USD;
- and, finally, a partner from Vietnam, account No. 1371ХХХ, who received 3.913 USD as a reward, closes the top three.


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

EUR/USD: Another Surprise, from the ECB This Time



It's hard to resist when you're attacked from both sides. The dollar received two powerful blows last week: one from the Bank of England, the second from the ECB, and could not resist them. The USD DXY index flew down. While it was at the level of 97.36 on January 28, it dropped to 95.14 on February 04. This is not a knockout of course, but a knockdown from which it will be difficult for the US currency to recover quickly.

So, the Bank of England raised the interest rate by another 25 basis points (bp) to 0.50%, which was expected. But what shocked the markets was a shift in the direction of the ECB's monetary policy. The market was waiting for the regulator to start discussing such changes towards the end of the year. But it turned out that this could happen much earlier. Maybe already in the spring.

The data on unemployment in the Eurozone exceeded all wildest expectations: its level fell to 7.0%. But this is not all either. The growth of consumer prices in January accelerated from 5% to 5.1% and renewed its historical high. This is despite the fact that many expected the opposite. For example, Bloomberg experts predicted a slowdown in inflation to 4.4%.

It is known that unemployment and inflation are the main factors that determine the monetary policy of regulators in the current environment. And if the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, stated until recently that her bank would not copy the actions of the Fed, she was forced to admit at a press conference on Thursday, February 03 that "the situation has really changed."

“Inflation is likely to remain high longer than initially expected,” said Ms Lagarde. “Compared to our December estimates, current inflation risks are biased upwards. especially in the short term”.

The head of the ECB did not repeat the mantra about the “extremely low probability” of a rate hike in 2022. And, although the key rate remained unchanged at 0% at the last meeting, it became known from informed sources that the bank's officials are already discussing the possibility of raising it at the end of this year. According to some experts, it could rise by as much as 40 or even 50 bp.

So, apparently, the European regulator is abandoning the policy of patience and, together with the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, joins the "hawk" race to tighten monetary policy. It is appropriate to draw an analogy between Christine Lagarde's current statement and what her American colleague Jerome Powell said in June 2021. The head of the Fed said something similar then, after which the dollar began to sharply gain strength and won 1135 points back from the euro, lowering the EUR/USD pair from 1.2255 to 1.1120. Now it seems that it is time for the euro to recoup its losses.

In addition to the frontal blows from the Bank of England and the ECB, the US currency also received backstabs from the “native” Fed. At least six representatives of the US Central bank made comments last week, and none of them mentioned that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) could immediately raise rates by 50 bp at its meeting in March (although the market was waiting for this).

The result of all the events of the week, so painful for the dollar, was an impressive strengthening of the European currency. The EUR/USD pair has shown an active growth, which has not been seen since the beginning of the pandemic: it rose by 343 points in a week, from 1.1140 to 1.1483.

True, the dollar was slightly supported by statistics from the US at the very end of the working week, on Friday, February 04. Such an important indicator as the number of new jobs created outside agriculture (non-farm payrolls) was fixed at 467K, while the market expected it to fall to 150K. As a result, the dollar strengthened slightly, and the pair set the last chord at 1.1453.

Most of the indicators on D1 turned up by the end of the five-day period. Among the trend ones, there were 85% of them (15% are still colored red), among the oscillators - 80%, the remaining 20% took a neutral position. Among the experts, opinions are divided almost evenly, although the bulls have still got a slight advantage: 45% are in favor of continuing the uptrend, 35% are for moving down and 20% are for the sideways trend.

The nearest resistance is the highs of January 13 and February 04 in the zone of 1.1480, followed by 1.1525, 1.1560 and 1.1625. Supports are in zones and at levels 1.1365-1.1385, 1.1275, 1.1220, 1.1185 and Jan 28 low 1.1120.

As for the events of the upcoming week, the most important of them are related to inflation and will concern the consumer market. So, the values of the US Consumer Price Index (excluding food products and energy carriers) will become known on Thursday, February 10, and the values of the Harmonized Consumer Price Index of Germany and the Consumer Confidence Index of the University of Michigan USA will be published on Friday, February 11.

GBP/USD: The Bank of England: Not a Dove Yet, No Longer a Hawk

Of course, the general weakening of the dollar affected the GBP/USD pair as well, which recorded the weekly high at 1.3627. However, as mentioned above, the increase in the interest rate by the Bank of England did not come as a surprise to anyone and had already taken into account by the market in quotations. In contrast to the statement of the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, which produced the effect of a bombshell. As a result, the European currency gained a significant advantage over the British one, and the EUR/GBP pair rose by more than 2.2%, from 0.82843 to 0.84650. As for GBP/USD, it finished well below the local high, at 1.3528 for the same reason.

The bulls on the pound were also disappointed by disagreements among members of the Bank of England committee. Only 4 out of 9 voted to raise the rate by 50 bps. The majority, including the head of the bank, Andrew Bailey, decided to raise rates by only 25 basis points, citing a slowdown in economic growth.

This regulator will apparently continue to act in an extremely balanced manner, which was confirmed by the chief economist of the Bank of England, Hugh Pill. He said in an interview with Reuters that the bank expects "further moderate tightening in the coming months if everything goes as planned" and that "you need to be careful in setting the rate level."

Strategists at Japan's MUFG Bank say this sneaky stance limits the prospects for a stronger British currency. MUFG does not expect a steady growth of the pound and believes that if the movement of GBP/USD to 1.4000 continues, the pair will encounter many pits and bumps along the way. And their colleagues from Scotiabank look in the opposite direction at all. In their opinion, due to the inability to gain a foothold above 1.3600, the British currency is now at risk of falling to 1.3400 initially and possibly to 1.3200 in a relatively short term.

The majority of experts (55%) are still set for further growth of the GBP/USD pair at the moment, the remaining 45% have taken the opposite position. The indicators on D1 look like this: 45% of oscillators point north, 10% point south, the remaining 45% remain neutral. Among trend indicators, 40% look up, 60% look down. Supports are located at 1.3500, 1.3425, 1.3365, next strong support is 100 pips lower. Levels and resistance zones: 1.3570-1.3600, 1.3640, 1.3700, 1.3750, 1.3835 and 1.3900.

Highlights of the coming week include a speech by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Thursday, February 10, and the release of UK GDP and industrial production data on Friday, February 11.

USD/JPY: Calm, and Calm Again

While most G10 Central banks are either raising rates or becoming more aggressive (like the ECB), the BOJ's slogan is still "calm and calm again". Safe haven should remain as quiet as possible with its perpetually negative (minus 0.1%) interest rate.

It is already clear that, since inflation in Japan does not show signs of approaching the target level of 2% set by the Japanese regulator, its actions will lag behind the actions of other Central banks. And this, according to analysts at CIBC Capital Markets, will continue to put pressure on the yen.

At some point, rumors began circulating in the market that the Bank of Japan could move to normalize its monetary policy this year. However, the Bank's statement released after the January meeting made it clear that this is nothing more than speculation. Since central bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda keeps saying that it is far from reaching the inflation target of 2.0%, his organization is quite comfortable with the weak yen.

What has been happening to the USD/JPY pair over the past four months can be considered a sideways trend with a predominance of bullish sentiment. So the general weakening of the dollar practically did not help the Japanese currency last week: having fallen on February 02 to the level of 114.14, the pair returned to the same place where it started, to the zone of 115.20, by the end of the week.

At the time of writing, the majority of experts (55%) expect the USD/JPY pair to continue moving towards a multi-year high of 116.35, recorded on January 04. The remaining 45% believe that the weakened dollar will still put downward pressure on it. All 100% of the indicators are green, although 15% of the oscillators give signals of the pair being overbought.

Support levels and zones are 115.00, 114.55-114.80, 114.15, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70. The nearest resistance zone is 115.50-115.70, the nearest serious target of the bulls is a new five-year high at 116.35.

No serious macroeconomic statistics from Japan are expected either last or next week. We only note that Friday, February 11 is a day off in Japan. The country celebrates Kenko Kinen No Hi, the National Foundation Day. It is believed that the first emperor of Japan, Jimmu, ascended the throne on this day in 660 BC and founded the Imperial Dynasty of Japan and the State of Japan.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Who Is in Charge in the BTC/USD Pair? Answer: US Federal Reserve

Whatever crypto enthusiasts say, bitcoin has long ceased to be an independent asset. And the decisive factor intheBTC/USD pair is the dollar. And the strength or weakness of the US currency depends, in turn, on the policy of the US Federal Reserve (and partly on the actions of other Central banks).

The same crypto enthusiasts crave an inflow of funds from institutional investors like manna from heaven. And the latter are waiting for the regulators to establish clear rules governing the work with digital assets. Therefore, the movement of quotes of leading cryptocurrencies will depend (and already depends) not on the mood of millions of small players, but on the mood of just a few governments and Central banks. Just look at the correlation between the cryptocurrency and stock markets. This link is becoming more and more rigid and is determined by the risk sentiment of large investors.

Of course, short-term fluctuations in BTC/USD can be affected by events such as bad weather that has suspended miners in Texas. But the main trends are set not by them, but by the actions of regulators.

Bitcoin is now perceived as a "money commodity". Analysts of Fidelity Digital Assets came to this conclusion, calling the first cryptocurrency not only a technology, but also a perfect form of money. And what kind of government will allow the flow of "perfect" money to pass it by? And there may be two solutions: either to ban them completely, as in China, or to take them under strict control.

The Central Bank of Russia wanted to follow the Chinese version. But Russia's President Vladimir Putin supported the proposal of the Ministry of Finance not to ban, but to regulate the cryptocurrency market, including their circulation and mining. This is a very serious decision, because, according to Bloomberg, residents of Russia possess a huge number of digital assets worth about $214 billion. In addition, according to the University of Cambridge, Russia became the third country in the world in bitcoin mining (11.23%) in the summer of 2021, after the USA (35.4%) and Kazakhstan (18.1%), where many miners migrated after the ban in China.

MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor also believes that the current problems in the cryptocurrency market are caused, first of all, by the non-transparent regulation and regulatory uncertainty of the crypto industry. According to Saylor, many institutional investors are now tracking bitcoin, however, they are in no hurry to invest in it.

According to JPMorgan analysts, the persistence of high volatility, which limits the adoption of bitcoin by institutions, is also an obstacle.

Interestingly, analysts at another major investment bank, Goldman Sachs, agree that cryptocurrencies are unlikely to escape the influence of macroeconomic forces, such as the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve. However, they believe that the mass adoption of cryptocurrency may not improve, but, on the contrary, worsen the chances for its long-term growth. Experts argue that the global popularity of digital assets will further increase their correlation with the traditional ones. This, in turn, will reduce the volatility of cryptocurrencies and reduce both their speculative attractiveness and their advantages as a diversifying asset in investor portfolios.

As for the current situation, despite a solid bounce off its 90-day low of $32,950, the main cryptocurrency has been unable to overcome the strong resistance in the $38,000-39,000 zone for a long time. However, the BTC/USD pair went on a breakthrough and reached $40,880 at the time of writing the review, on the evening of Friday, February 04.

The total market capitalization for the week has grown slightly: $1.85 trillion compared to $1.70 trillion seven days ago, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has deepened even more into the zone of Extreme Fear, falling from 24 to 20 points.

The latest JPMorgan report notes that “open interest in futures and the volume of exchange balances indicate less panic or liquidation of positions than in last May, especially in relation to large crypto investors”. At the same time, the bank’s specialists do not exclude a further decrease in bitcoin quotes, even in the absence of signs of capitulation of buyers. They seriously lowered the fair value of the first cryptocurrency from $150,000 to $38,000.

According to Business Insider, JPMorgan's model assumed that bitcoin's volatility would converge with gold's volatility and equalize their shares in investment portfolios. Now, the bank’s analysts have acknowledged that their previous forecast that the bitcoin-to-gold volatility ratio would drop to around 2/1 by the end of 2022 proved to be unrealistic, leading to the downgrade.

Peter Brandt, a well-known Wall Street trader with 45 years of experience, notes that most crypto enthusiasts are now in an extremely bearish mood. Most of the participants in the Laser Eyes flash mob are confident that the price of bitcoin will fall below $30,000 in the near future. According to the expert, this may be a signal to buy the first cryptocurrency. “When the bulls wear laser eyes, it’s time to sell. When bulls turn bears, is it time to buy?” Brandt asks.

Recall that the “Laser Eyes” flash mob started on Twitter in February 2021, when bitcoin reached a local high of $58,300. After that, many supporters of the first cryptocurrency, in anticipation of its growth to $100,000, posted photos with “laser eyes” as their profile avatar. Co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Anthony Pompliano, TV presenter Max Kaiser, CEO of Binance crypto exchange Changpeng Zhao, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other influencers were among the participants in the flash mob.

However, instead of rising to $100,000, the flagship cryptocurrency collapsed to $29,000 by June. So, Peter Brand's current remark about "laser eyes" in bears clearly deserves attention.

It is also worth paying close attention to the results of the round table organized by the Finder analytical website. The discussion was attended by 33 fintech experts, half of whom do not expect the cryptocurrency price to fall even against the backdrop of the upcoming increase in US interest rates. The average forecast given by the participants of the table says that bitcoin could soar to a high of $93,717 this year and is expected to be worth $76,360 by the end of 2022 and close to $193,000 by the end of 2025.

Vanessa Harris, director of the cryptocurrency startup Permission, was among the most optimistic participants in the discussion. She predicts that BTC will peak at $220,000 this year. A much more modest figure was voiced by the founder of the CoinFlip bitcoin ATM network, Daniel Polotsky. In his opinion, the cryptocurrency is unlikely to exceed $60,000 in 2022 as the bubbles created by the US Federal Reserve during the pandemic are now deflating.

Crypto analyst Jason Pizzino predicts BTC growth as well. According to his forecast, bitcoin will still enter an accumulation period in the medium term, when whales and investors with smart money will begin to invest in cryptocurrency, waiting for its next bullish trend. This may take a whole year, during which the BTC rate will rise. According to Pizzino's forecast, bitcoin is able to reach a new price high in the second half of 2022, but this will not be a sharp upward movement but a series of ascents.

Finally, the most cosmic forecast was given by Circle CEO Jeremy Aller in an interview with Business Insider. In his opinion, the worldwide adoption of bitcoin will certainly contribute to the growth of this coin to $1 million. The businessman admitted that he is not a "bitcoin maximalist", but he still believes in new cryptocurrency highs. At the same time, he prefers not to compare bitcoin with gold, believing that the digital asset is much more efficient than precious metals. According to the head of Circle, gold as money is simply useless in modern society.



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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The Expert Council of the Forex-Awards.com named the Affiliate Program of the brokerage company NordFX and its Social Trading Network as the best at the end of 2021.

The Forex-Awards.com Expert Council is a unique team of professionals headquartered in Hong Kong. Based on the opinions of both independent experts and the trading community, the Expert Council honors the most remarkable solutions and innovations in almost 30 nominations and rewards market participants featuring breakthrough initiatives and excellent results in the Forex industry. A convincing victory was won by the brokerage company NordFX in two of them in 2021.

The victory in the Best Affiliate Program nomination was won thanks to NordFX's multi-level Flexible Partnership Program, which offers its IB partners payments up to 70% of the spread and most advanced CPA up to $700. Monthly monitoring showed that the total earnings of TOP-3 IB partners amounted to $351.853 in 2021. That is, the average earnings of each of them was $9.773 per month.

In total, over $30,000,000 has been paid to all IB partners of the brokerage company during the program's operation. At the same time, it must be taken into account that ΙΒ earnings are withdrawn instantly and without any restrictions.

NordFX Social Trading Network offers unique advantages to both novice traders and passive investors. Using Copy Trading and PAMM services, they get the opportunity to make a profit even with no independent trading experience and without any serious time spent. Experienced traders get additional earning opportunities by offering their services as signal providers and account managers.

In addition, the victory in the Best Social Trading Network nomination was facilitated by the wide information and educational work carried out by NordFX in various languages in all major social networks and hundreds of specialized Internet resources, forums and blogs.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- The US authorities announced the detention of persons they consider involved in the hacking of the Bitfinex exchange in 2016, and the confiscation of $3.6 billion worth of bitcoins stolen from it. According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, the accused are the spouses: a 34-year-old Russian and US citizen Ilya Lichtenstein and a 31-year-old Heather Morgan. “According to court documents, Liechtenstein and Morgan allegedly colluded to launder proceeds of 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex after the platform’s systems were hacked and more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions were performed,” the agency’s website says.
Approximately 25,000 of these stolen bitcoins have been withdrawn from a Liechtenstein-controlled wallet through a complex money laundering process over the past five years, according to investigators. The rest of the stolen coins, more than 94,000 BTC, remained in the wallet, which allowed special agents to seize them legally. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice stressed that this is the largest case of cryptocurrency confiscation in the history of the department.
According to the latest information, the court of the Southern District of New York released the spouses on bail of $8 million, and the seized bitcoins were returned to the Bitfinex exchange.

- A trader nicknamed macromule shared a trading algorithm that could bring about 1000% per annum. The signal to open a position is the tweets of the Bitcoin skeptic and gold supporter Peter Schiff about the first cryptocurrency. The user recommended buying BTC every time after the next such tweet and closing the position after 72 hours. According to macromule, this strategy could have made 203 trades since last May, of which 65% would bring an average profit of 3%.

- Sean Farrell, an analyst at the financial research company FSINsight, believes that the
price of the first cryptocurrency is likely to reach $200,000 in the second half of 2022. According to his observations, the correlation of bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole with the shares of technology companies increased in the last quarter of last year. At the same time, according to Farrell, bitcoin’s dominance over altcoins remains unshakable and its price, despite a “shaky start” in early 2022, could eventually reach $200,000.
The FSInsight report also states that the ethereum platform is undervalued and the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization may reach $12,000 this year. The analyst is optimistic about the transition of ethereum to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm. And if the process goes smoothly, capital inflows into the ecosystem will increase, “regardless of bitcoin’s performance.”

- The CEO of the KuCoin crypto exchange, Johnny Liu, shared his vision of the trends in the digital asset industry and focused on the decrease in the share of BTC relative to the entire crypto market. “Bitcoin dominance index is now 42%. Most innovative projects are launched on ethereum, and I believe that it will pull ahead in the long term,” Liu said.
As for regulatory issues, the head of KuCoin recommends patience. The authorities will gradually deal with the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies. According to him, there is a trend in the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies at the state level, governments are exchanging experience in their legalization, so any restrictions are only a temporary measure.

- Billionaire Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, expressed the opposite point of view. He believes that cryptocurrencies are too vulnerable, they are easy to trace, and it is likely that this asset class will be banned by the governments of a number of countries. Given the small size of the cryptocurrency market, Dalio said, “it gets too much attention.” He confirmed that he invested in ethereum in December 2021, but digital assets make up a "negligible percentage" of his personal investment portfolio.
The head of Bridgewater Associates also advised to create an investment portfolio that is diversified across asset classes and markets. At the same time, the billionaire noted that "cash is garbage."

— Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of the richest people in Mexico and the founder of the Grupo Salinas group of companies, said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine that the first cryptocurrency was superior to fiat. “Anything we have in fiat can be completely seized by the authorities,” he noted and explained that the decentralized nature of the first cryptocurrency makes it much more difficult to ban or control it. Therefore, “the government is not interested in facilitating the use of bitcoin.”
He called the limited emission of 21 million BTC an additional advantage of the first cryptocurrency, which allows using this cryptocurrency as a store of value in the long term. “But don’t expect to easily make money on it in 30 days,” the billionaire warned.

- Cryptocurrency trader Dave the Wave believes that BTC could break the $100,000 mark at the end of this year or early 2023, while his scenario assumes a “decent correction”. The trader notes that the cyclical curve pointing to $100,000 should not be interpreted as a support level, but as an average exchange rate trajectory that bitcoin can follow roughly.
In regard to the near future, Dave the Wave noted that while bitcoin's monthly chart may still look bearish, certain bullish signals are emerging on the weekly chart. In addition, bitcoin managed to break out of the narrow downward channel.

- North Korea continues to develop its nuclear programs, and funds received from attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges have become an important source of their financing. This is reported by Reuters with reference to a UN report.
The authors of the report refer to Chainalysis data, according to which cybercriminals from the DPRK carried out at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, stealing assets worth about $400 million. Most of the funds were stolen in hacks that targeted at least three crypto exchanges in North America, Europe and Africa. According to Chainalysis, North Korea controls $170 million in the current balances of exchanges, but these amounts have not yet been laundered.
Recall that Pentagon officials previously claimed that more than 6,000 hackers around the world are working for North Korea.

- The author of the book The Ascent of Money, historian and economist Niall Ferguson said that if the historical dynamics of BTC fluctuations repeat, the price of the first cryptocurrency will fall by November 2022 to a low of $11,515. This is 83% below the historic peak in bitcoin value reached in November 2021.
At the same time, Ferguson disagrees categorically with the opinion of the Nobel Prize winner in economics Paul Krugman, who draws a parallel between the volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the collapse of the US real estate market in 2007-2008. Which, as you know, was followed by the global economic crisis.
Niall Ferguson believes that “it is not worth waiting for a polar vortex or a giant ice cyclone. However, this does not mean that crypto winter will bring less cold.” The crypto skeptic clarified that a fall in the value of bitcoin to the lows of the 2010s is unlikely, since BTC has become a larger asset than it was ten years ago, and its market capitalization has grown to almost $1.0 trillion in 2021.

- According to Robert Breedlove, CEO of Parallax Digital, the price of bitcoin will increase over the next few years, and its market capitalization will exceed $5.0 trillion.
Inflation in the US is at a 40-year high at the moment. And according to the businessman, the same thing can happen with the dollar as with the currency of Venezuela. The US dollar will hyperinflate by 2035. At this point, the price of bitcoin in dollar terms will become astronomical: 1, 5, 10 million USD per coin.
In terms of downside risks to BTC, the world's largest cryptocurrency faces few existential threats, and only finite probability or black swan events can significantly hurt its price. It could be a cryptographic hack, it could be some kind of cosmological event, an electromagnetic pulse could destroy all the electronic equipment in the world. However, the biggest threat to bitcoin comes from regulators, according to Robert Breedlove.
The authorities will try to make life as difficult as possible for cryptocurrencies, as a class that poses a threat to their financial systems, which are already under heavy debt pressure. Therefore, it is highly likely that the authorities will use all their tools to regulate digital assets as much as possible.


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.

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EUR/USD: Tsunami Due to US Inflation

Ancient Greeks began to declare a truce during the Olympic Games more than 2,800 years ago. It seems that the EUR/USD bulls and bears have decided to adopt this tradition during the current Winter Olympics in Beijing. We observed a complete lull for at least the first half of the week, and the pair moved eastward under slight pressure in a narrow channel not exceeding 60 points, 1.1400-1.1460.

This calm was interrupted by a small tsunami that swept on Thursday, February 10 after the latest US inflation data was published. Consumer prices grew by 7.5%, while core inflation reached 6.0% (against 5.5% a month earlier). Both values are the highest for the last 40 years, and this has not been observed since 1982. And it scared the markets.

To be completely accurate, it was not the numbers themselves that frightened them, but the possible reaction of the US Federal Reserve to them. Investors were concerned that the US Central bank would act even more aggressively than expected in order to curb inflation. The probability that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) will raise interest rates by 50 basis points (bp) in March has jumped to 80%. There have also been rumors that the rate could be raised as many as seven times in 2022. Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that federal borrowing costs could rise to 2.0% by early 2023.

As a result of the panic, the dollar began to rise, while stock indices (S&P500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq) and the EUR/USD pair rolled down. However, the situation changed very quickly: the markets were afraid of the general economic risks caused by such a strong increase in consumer prices. And, having bounced off the level of 1.1374, the pair soared up by almost 120 points, to a height of 1.1494. After that, it changed the course again by 180 degrees.

There were two reasons for this reversal, the third in a row. The first was those overall economic risks, on the contrary, could push the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more vigorously. The second reason was Christine Lagarde. The head of the ECB said last week that a sharp tightening of monetary policy will have a negative effect on the Eurozone economy. This suggests the conclusion that this regulator is still not ready to raise rates, even despite high inflation rates. And according to forecasts, the first rate increase by 25 bp. can only be expected in December 2022.

Divergence in the pace of monetary tightening by the Fed and the ECB has always been good for the dollar. The same happened this time: the EUR/USD pair flew down again without reaching the height of 1.1500, reaching the local bottom at the level of 1.1329. As for the final chord of the week, it sounded at the height of 1.1340.

Taking into account the dynamics of the last two weeks, the readings of indicators on D1 are as follows at the time of writing the forecast on the evening of Friday, February 11: 65% of oscillators are colored green, the remaining 35% are neutral. As for trend indicators, only 25% are colored green, the remaining 75% are red. As for the experts, of course, all of them will pick up signals from the US Federal Reserve, primarily regarding how much the rate will be raised at the FOMC meeting in March. But it is already now that 55% of them are voting for the strengthening of the US currency and the movement of the EUR/USD pair to the south. 30% vote for an uptrend, and 15% of analysts predict a sideways movement of the pair.

The nearest resistance is 1.1370, followed by 1.1415, 1.1480-1.1525, 1.1560 and 1.1625. Supports in zones and at levels 1.1275-1.1315, 1.1220, 1.1185 and January 28 low 1.1120.

As for the upcoming week, Eurozone GDP data will be published on Tuesday, February 15. High volatility can be expected due to the release of the next portion of data on the US consumer market the next day, on Wednesday, February 16. The publication of the February FOMC meeting minutes will also cause unconditional interest on this day.

GBP/USD: The Trend Is Rising. Still Rising.

While the ECB is lagging behind the Fed, the Bank of England is so far ahead, raising interest rates faster than its peers across the Atlantic. Therefore, unlike the euro, the British pound managed to hold its ground so far last week, finishing the five-day period at 1.3551. The key word here is "so far": "so far ahead" and "managed so far." The superiority of the pound over the dollar is very shaky and it can quickly start retreating.

The main factors that could force the Bank of England to stop raising the rate, leaving it at a low level, are weak GDP and labor market growth, as well as low levels of consumer spending. According to the data published on Friday, February 11, the UK's GDP, instead of the expected 1.1%, grew by only 1.0% in the Q4 2021. And the situation in the labor market and the consumer marke will become known next week: statistics on the unemployment rate will be released on February 15, and that on the level of prices in the United Kingdom - on February 16.

When predicting the upcoming steps of the British regulator, it is appropriate to recall that only 4 out of 9 members of the Bank of England committee voted for a rate increase by 50 bps at the last meeting. The majority, including the head of the bank, Andrew Bailey, citing a slowdown in economic growth, decided to raise the rate by only 25 basis points.

The fact that this regulator will continue to act very carefully, which was confirmed by the Bank of England chief economist Hugh Pill. He said in an interview with Reuters that the bank expects "further moderate tightening in the coming months if everything goes as planned" and that "one needs to be careful in setting the rate level."

At the moment, most experts (60%) are betting on the strengthening of the dollar, believing that the GBP/USD pair will go down in the near future. The opposite position is taken by 30% of analysts, the remaining 10% remain neutral. Indicators on D1 look as follows: 90% of oscillators point to the north (10% of them are in the overbought zone), 10% look to the south. Among trend indicators, the ratio of forces is almost the same, 85/15%. Supports are located at 1.3500, 1.3425, 1.3365, the next strong support is 100 points lower. The resistance levels are 1.3585, 1.3600-1.3625, 1.3700, 1.3750, 1.3835 and 1.3900.

USD/JPY: The Pair Storms a Five-Year High Again

The correlation between US Treasuries and USD/JPY is not a secret to anyone. If the yield on US bills grows, so does the dollar against the yen. And the Japanese currency received a double blow last week: both the yield on 10-year treasury bonds, which reached peak levels since August 2019, and the USD DXY index, which soared sharply after the events described above on February 10, rose. As a result, the pair retested the multi-year high of 116.35, recorded on January 04, 2022. However, it failed to break this record, and completed the working week at 115.30.

Currently, most experts (60%) expect the USD/JPY pair to try again to update this high and rise to the point where it has not been seen since January 2017. All 100% of oscillators on D1 and 80% of trend indicators support this development. The nearest resistance zone is 115.70. The remaining 40% of experts and 20% of trend indicators side with the bears. Support levels are at 115.00 followed by 114.15, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70.

Japan's GDP (Q4) data, which will be made public on Tuesday, February 15, may be able to provide some assistance to the yen. According to forecasts, the country's Gross Domestic Product may grow from minus 0.9% to plus 1.4% during the quarter. Although, in the current post-COVID situation, such economic growth may, on the contrary, play against its national currency, confirming the correctness of the super-dove policy of the Bank of Japan, which has frozen the interest rate at minus 0.1% for a long time.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Correction or Reversal?



The question of what we have seen the last three weeks, just a correction to a downtrend or the beginning of a new rise, remains open. Cryptocurrency quotes are going up along with the S&P500 and Dow Jones stock indices, and even slightly ahead of them.

Something similar could be observed a few months ago. But then, digital currencies outperformed stocks by almost two months with the transition from growth to collapse. The BTC/USD pair reached a high on November 10, 2021, after which it turned south. As for the S&P500, its high was on January 04, 2022. And this is logical: despite the correlation, the stock market is still much more stable than the cryptocurrency market. But both of them are very dependent on the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve (and, in part, on the actions of other Central banks).

The stimulus program that kicked off the printing press flooded the US economy with cheap dollars and boosted risky assets. The Fed is currently tightening its policy. Based on this logic, we can predict a further decline in investors' interest primarily in cryptocurrencies.

We have already said that the movement of crypto quotes will depend in the near future (and already depends) on the mood of just a few governments and Central banks. But the expert community has not yet come to a consensus as to what their attitude will be.

For example, Johnny Liu, CEO of the KuCoin crypto exchange, has taken the “bright side”, believing that the authorities will gradually understand the advantages of cryptocurrencies. According to him, there is a trend in the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies at the state level, governments are exchanging experience in their legalization, so any restrictions are only a temporary measure.

The opposite view was expressed by the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio, who believes that this asset class is likely to be banned by the governments of a number of countries.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of the richest people in Mexico and founder of the Grupo Salinas group of companies, also believes that governments are not interested in facilitating the use of bitcoin, since the decentralized nature of the first cryptocurrency makes it much more difficult to control its turnover.

The same opinion is shared by Parallax Digital CEO Robert Breedlove, who said that the authorities will try to make life as difficult as possible for cryptocurrencies, as a class that poses a threat to their financial systems. To do this, they will use all their tools, aiming to regulate digital assets as much as possible. This is what we have seen lately in countries such as China or Russia.

Some optimism is caused by the fact that quite a lot of representatives of large businesses already side with digital assets, recognizing the merits of cryptocurrencies to one degree or another. Of course, not all of them are ready to invest serious capital in this market right now. The aforementioned billionaire Ray Dalio, while stating that “cash is trash,” admitted that digital assets make up a “tiny percentage” of his personal investment portfolio. And that in general, given the small size of the cryptocurrency market, it "is given too much attention."

In terms of market size, Robert Breedlove believes that the market capitalization of bitcoin will increase dramatically over the next few years and exceed $5.0 trillion. Inflation in the US is at a 40-year high at the moment. And according to the head of Parallax Digital, the same thing can happen with the dollar as with the currency of Venezuela. The US currency will hyperinflate by 2035, at which point the price of BTC in dollar terms will become astronomical: 1, 5, or 10 million USD per coin. That is, the Fed's printing press can provide tremendous support to bitcoin. But the biggest threat to it, according to Robert Breedlove, comes from the same regulator.

All indicators of the crypto market look much more modest at the time of writing the review on the evening of Friday, February 04. The total market capitalization is still slightly closer to $2.0 trillion and is at the level of $1.90 trillion ($1.85 trillion a week ago), the Bitcoin Dominance Index is 42.46%. The BTC/USD pair is trading in the $42,500 zone, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has left the Extreme Fear zone and, having gone up sharply, reached 50 points, which corresponds to the neutral state of the market.

A number of experts monitoring the dynamics of supply and demand for bitcoin are alarmed by the weak base for the current growth of the coin. As a result, in their opinion, the BTC/USD pair may return to the $40,000 zone within a month, and then fall even lower, to $29,000, in the medium term.

An even more pessimistic forecast was given by the author of the book "The Ascent of Money", historian of economics Niall Ferguson. He believes that if the historical dynamics of BTC fluctuations is repeated, the price of the first cryptocurrency will fall to a low of $11,515 by November 2022. This is 83% below the historic peak in bitcoin value reached in November 2021.

At the same time, Ferguson disagrees categorically with the opinion of the Nobel Prize winner in economics Paul Krugman, who draws a parallel between the volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the collapse of the US real estate market in 2007-2008. Which, as you know, was followed by the global economic crisis.

Niall Ferguson believes that “it is not worth waiting for a polar vortex or a giant ice cyclone. And a drop in the value of bitcoin to the lows of the 2010s is unlikely. However, this does not mean that crypto winter will bring less cold.”

Of course, there are much more optimistic forecasts. According to Sean Farrell, an analyst at financial research firm FSInsight, bitcoin’s dominance over altcoins will remain unshakable and its price, despite a “shaky start” in January, could reach $200,000 in the second half of 2022.

The FSInsight report also states that the ethereum platform is undervalued and the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization may reach $12,000 this year. Sean Farrell is optimistic about the transition of ethereum to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm. And if the process goes smoothly, capital inflows into the ecosystem will increase, “regardless of bitcoin’s performance.” And the CEO of the KuCoin crypto exchange, Johnny Liu, believes that since most innovative projects are launched on the ethereum, it will break ahead of BTC in the long run.

The fact that the BTC/USD pair could overcome the $100,000 mark at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2023 is also indicated by the forecast of a crypto trader nicknamed Dave the Wave. However, this scenario also implies a “decent correction”. The trader notes that the $100,000 cyclical curve should be interpreted not as a support level, but as an average price trajectory that bitcoin can roughly follow.

In regard to the near future, Dave the Wave noted that while bitcoin's monthly chart may still look bearish, certain bullish signals are emerging on the weekly chart. In addition, bitcoin managed to break out of the narrow downward channel, which also indicates an upcoming increase.

And at the end of the review, our traditional heading of crypto life hacks. This time we will mention a trader nicknamed macromule who shared a very interesting trading algorithm. According to this trader, the signal to open a position is the tweets of the bitcoin skeptic and gold supporter Peter Schiff about the first cryptocurrency. The user recommended buying BTC every time after the next such tweet and closing the position after 72 hours. According to macromule, this strategy could have made 203 trades since last May, of which 65% 65% would have been in positive territory and brought about 1,000% per annum income.

Of course, we cannot recommend using this "strategy". But if someone still wants to test it, they can do it on a demo account without risking real money.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- Tom Lee, co-founder of the analytical firm Fundstrat, called $200,000 a target mark for bitcoin in an interview with CNBC and explained what facilitates its achievement. According to the analyst, the total net worth of US households exceeds $141 trillion. The Fed's monetary policy leads to the fact that people are guaranteed to lose money on investing in bonds over the next decade. Lee expects an influx of speculative capital into cryptocurrency that could be “huge”, in this regard.
The high price of this asset is an obstacle to the mass adoption of bitcoin, in his opinion. Therefore, Tom Lee has supported the idea of switching to Satoshi, a millionth of BTC.

- The name of Satoshi Nakamoto also made it onto The Guardian pages. British crypto investor Anthony Welch bought Lataro Island in the Pacific Ocean (Vanuatu) with an area of 300 hectares and renamed it Satoshi. According to the newspaper, he plans to build a smart city there for supporters of digital assets.
According to the publication, Welch has been living on the island for the past 12 years with his partner Teresa. They expect 21,000 crypto investors from all over the world to join them soon. “Yes, we already have an island. Yes, we can develop as advertised. Yes, the government supports our plan. Yes, our team has relevant experience,” the project description says.
Candidates wishing to live on the island will receive an NFT token that will grant them Satoshi Island citizenship. In addition, all applicants will also have to obtain Vanuatu citizenship, which will cost them $130,000.

- According to the analytical company ESET, NFTs have become one of the main mechanisms for the distribution of malware for hidden mining or theft of cryptocurrency wallets in 2021. Most often, hackers put viruses into gaming NFTs that allegedly contain superpowers or rare weapons. Tools for crypto jacking, which allows for hidden mining, are implemented by attackers using various applications. Previously, the main sources of such viruses were torrent resources and porn sites.

- Legendary billionaire investor and founder of Miller Value Partners Bill Miller, speaking to CNBC, called bitcoin insurance against financial disasters and said that he still holds a significant part of the capital in the first cryptocurrency. He explained that he invested only a few percent of his fortune in digital assets, which then, as the cryptocurrency market grew, turned into half of his personal funds.
According to Miller, the thesis about the lack of intrinsic value of bitcoin is erroneous. “It's like an insurance policy. You don't want your house to burn down, and you don't want to get into a terrible accident, but you pay for insurance every year in case it happens,” explained the billionaire. He also likened the digital asset to collectibles like baseball cards and Picasso paintings.

- The Russian authorities unanimously refused bitcoin as a means of payment. The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance of the country have brought together their positions on the development of cryptocurrencies. The parties agreed that cryptocurrencies will not receive the status of a means of payment in Russia. However, their purchase, exchange and sale are subject to regulation.

- Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson believes that BTC will not be able to become a global reserve currency due to the energy costs of mining, various ecosystem flaws, and inconsistency with current industry standards. But his ADA cryptocurrency is quite suitable for this role. “Imagine that you are selling paintings, one of which you have to draw by hand and another with a machine. Both of them look the same and are in the same demand. So, you're just spending a thousand times more effort.

- Analyst Willy Woo believes that bitcoin will rise over the next five years. In his opinion, the future of the US dollar in terms of inflation has not yet been determined, and the capitalization of bitcoin is consolidating now in the $1 trillion zone. Overcoming this mark will give the coin greater stability. Further growth to the gold capitalization of almost $11 trillion will be relatively smooth, after which it will slow down. As for the final figure, Willy Woo believes that the capitalization of bitcoin could eventually grow to $40 trillion.
The deviation of the BTC price from the trend line occurred, according to Woo, due to the fact that the market was diluted due to the presence of other digital assets. Ethereum was launched in 2015, and as a result, there was a significant deviation in the direct trend line of bitcoin. And the line deviated even more in 2021 due to several thousand “shitcoins”.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Nicholas Merten believes that bitcoin is showing signs of an upcoming rally, and the bulls have a chance to beat the bears. According to him, bitcoin has not gone into a bear market, and the recent stagnation should not be confusing. “This is a really great signal,” says Merten, “Bitcoin doesn’t create lower highs, they are relatively constant, but the lows are getting higher. The previous resistance level becomes an upward support. Investors are ready to overpay, which indicates the market is ready to return to the formation of another uptrend.”
According to the analyst’s forecasts, “Bitcoin’s capitalization could potentially reach $4 trillion in October-December 2022, that is, the asset will show a 220% increase compared to the previous record high. The previous rally was up 392% and it was up 359% earlier.

- Jurrien Timmer, Global Macroeconomics Director at one of the largest asset management companies, Fidelity Investments, is confident that the value of the first cryptocurrency will repeat the growth of the Apple's market value. “I compared the network effect of bitcoin to the network effect of Apple computers. As Apple's earnings increase, its share price rises exponentially. I have reason to believe that bitcoin is following the same path. The price of this cryptocurrency will only increase as demand increases.”
BTC benefits from its strong difference from all other crypto assets, the expert believes. “Perhaps other digital currencies will look better against the background of bitcoin due to better scalability, but at the same time, they are likely to be less decentralized. For me, bitcoin is like gold, and other cryptocurrencies are more like venture capital.”
Recall that Timmer said last October that the value of BTC will reach $100,000 by 2023.

- A few days after the United Nations said that North Korea hacked cryptocurrency exchanges on several continents last year, Pyongyang hit back. The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the United States of being a wiretapping empire, a hacker king and a [expert] country when it comes to covert thefts.
The Foreign Ministry statement also claimed that the accusations of stealing the cryptocurrency were a kind of “fabrication that only the United States could invent, with their rejection of North Korea.”
Pyongyang added that all this was evidenced by revelations made by former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden, who said that US intelligence agencies were spying on their own citizens, as well as reports that the United States tapped the phones of European leaders.


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.

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EUR/USD: Waiting for War and Rate Hike

The period from February 10 to 14 was unexpectedly stormy. Panic moods were diligently warmed up by the leading media, actively discussing the statements of world leaders, primarily the President of the United States, regarding a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. The White House even decided to relocate its diplomatic mission from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, to Lviv, away from the zone of possible military operations and closer to the EU borders.

All this happened against the background of the US Federal Reserve's decision to convene an emergency meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee). Rumors immediately spread that the refinancing rate would be increased by 50 basis points (bp) right now.

As a result, investors began to panic to get rid of risky assets, and the stock indices S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq flew down.

The EUR/USD went down as well. The markets feared that the "hot" phase of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict would lead to further growth in energy prices and slow down the recovery of the European economy. According to JP Morgan strategists, if the price of oil rises to $150 per barrel, the global consumer price index (CPI) could soar to 7.0%. And according to Capital Economics, inflation in advanced economies could rise to 4.5%.

As a result, having started on February 10 at 1.1494, the war-terrified EUR/USD pair ended up at 1.1279 on February 14. That is, the euro returned to where it started north during Christine Lagarde's hawkish press conference, which she gave after the last meeting of the European Central Bank.

The results of the emergency FOMC meeting left many experts bewildered. There was no increase in interest rates. Perhaps the members of the Committee did not want to provoke further mass sales of shares and decided to wait for the outcome of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, there are signs of its peaceful resolution.

Investors began to calm down little by little. However, it was not possible to avoid a new wave of sales in the stock markets. And it followed on February 17 after another "apocalyptic" speech by US President Joe Biden.

Unlike equities, EUR/USD managed to stay neutral and ended the five-day trading session at 1.1324, within the 1.1260-1.1400 range it traded throughout December and the first ten days of January.

The European currency was kept from further falling, among other things, by multidirectional macroeconomic statistics from the USA. Thus, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits there amounted to 248K, that is, it increased by 23K instead of the expected fall by 5K. But repeated requests, instead of decreasing by 2K, fell immediately by 26 K.

The dynamics of the EUR/USD pair in the coming days will certainly be influenced by how far the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will go, as well as how deeply European countries and the United States will be involved into it and what the rhetoric of their leaders will be. If there is no war, the topic of the energy crisis in Europe will fade into the background, which will support the European currency.

Support for the dollar is now largely dependent on the Fed. Yes, there are disagreements among FOMC members. But they are not about whether or not to tighten monetary policy, but how quickly to do it and to what extent. The hawkish statements of some members of the Committee give rise to forecasts of 6 or even 7 acts of monetary restriction in 2022. However, a number of leaders of the Federal Reserve Banks believe that it is necessary to act slowly and more carefully, since too aggressive steps could hit the US economy.

At the time of writing, the trend indicators on D1 are 90% red and only 10% green. Among the oscillators, 20% are green, 50% are red, and 30% are neutral.

Experts' forecast for the next week also looks very uncertain: 40% do not exclude the growth of the pair, 50% adhere to the opposite point of view, and 10% remain neutral. However, 65% of analysts support the strengthening of the dollar in a forecast for March.

Resistances are located at levels 1.1385-1.1400, 1.1480, 1.1525, 1.1570 and 1.1615. Support levels are 1.1300, 1.1275, 1.1220. This is followed by 1.1185 and the Jan 28 low at 1.1120.

As for the economic calendar for the coming week, we can note the release of data on business activity (Markit) in Germany and the Eurozone on Monday, February 21. Preliminary annual data on US GDP will become known on Thursday, February 24, and US statistics on orders for capital goods and durable goods will arrive at the end of the week, on Friday.

GBP/USD: Consolidation of the Pair, Consolidation of Experts



The macro data released last week supported the British currency. This applies to both the labor market and the consumer market. The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom remained unchanged at 4.1%, which was exactly in line with the forecast. At the same time, the number of applications for unemployment benefits decreased from 51.6K to 31.9K in January. Retail sales added 1.9% after a 4.0% dip in December and are above the long-term trend level. All this is a positive signal about the recovery of the country's economy.

Looking back a few years, we can see that the 2007-2008 financial crisis was followed by an eight-year period during which retail sales remained below the trend line. This was one of the reasons that prevented the Bank of England from raising rates. But now both inflation indicators and the state of the labor market can give it a free hand in tightening monetary policy. Moreover, the British regulator is still in the lead, raising interest rates faster than its counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic do.

However, this superiority is very shaky. The growth in sales may not be due to an improvement in the economic situation, but due to pent-up demand for goods and services, access to which was limited due to quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the upcoming steps of the British regulator are likely to be very balanced. So as not to repeat the mistakes of the ECB, which rushed to raise the rate in May 2009, undermining the economic recovery.

In support of the forecast, it is enough to recall that only 4 out of 9 members of the BoE committee voted for a 50 bps rate increase at the last meeting. The majority, including the head of the bank, Andrew Bailey, decided to raise the rate by only 25 basis points, citing a slowdown in economic growth.

Economic indicators allow the pound to successfully repel the attacks of the US currency at the moment, and we can see the GBP/USD pair consolidating around 1.3600. We can say that experts' forecasts for the coming week are also consolidating: 25% of them vote for a sideways trend. 40% vote for moving north and 35% for moving south. (When moving to a monthly forecast, the number of bear supporters increases to 70%).

The overwhelming majority of indicators are aimed upwards D1. Among the oscillators, there are 70% of those. 20% have taken a neutral position, the remaining 10% side with the dollar. Among trend indicators, 90% are for the growth of the pair, 10% are for its fall.

Supports are located at 1.3570, 1.3500, 1.3425, 1.3355, the next strong support is 100 points lower. Resistance levels are 1.3600, 1.3650, 1.3700-1.3740, 1.3830 and 1.3900.

Of the events of the coming week, data on business activity in the services sector (Markit), which will be published on Monday, February 21, as well as the hearing of the UK Inflation Report on Wednesday, February 23, are of interest.

USD/JPY: Investors at a Crossroads

The USD/JPY was trading in a fairly narrow range throughout the past week, less than 110 pips (114.78-115.86). As already mentioned, investors are now most concerned about two issues: the expected Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increase in the refinancing rate by the US Central Bank. And, apparently, they have not yet decided what to do with such a safe-haven currency as the yen at this stage.

On the one hand, the increase in USD rates should push the pair up, strengthening the position of the US currency.

On the other hand, the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine may remind the markets of economic crises and a spike in inflation. In this case, one can expect a complete loss of risk appetite among investors and an influx of their capital into such a safe haven as the Japanese currency. Actually, this is happening now, although not on a very large scale: it is enough to compare the charts of stock indices and USD/JPY. This relationship is even clearer when compared to the EUR/JPY chart, since, unlike the US, the Eurozone is located in close proximity to the potential war zone.

Analysts' forecasts for the coming week are as follows: 25% of them are in favor of a sideways trend, 50% are in favor of the pair's growth and 25% are in favor of its fall.

Among the oscillators on D1, 30% are neutral gray, 10% are green, 60% are red (with a quarter of them in the oversold zone). Trend indicators have a 50-50 draw. The nearest resistance zone is 115.30, then 115.70. The main goal of the bulls is to renew the high of 116.34 and rise to where the pair has not been seen since January 2017. Support levels are at 115.00, 114.80, 114.15, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70.

No significant economic events are expected in Japan next week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Crypto Market Black Friday

BTC/USD is back where it was a month ago. The chart of the last two weeks resembled the chart of mid-January. The front line then lay at the $42,000 level, along which the bulls and bears fought with varying degrees of success. Last time, they ended with the pair falling to $32.945, and, according to a number of analysts, a similar outcome is possible this time as well. It depends not so much on the sales caused by a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, but on the US Federal Reserve. Tightening monetary policy and rising interest rates could hurt all risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has acted as an inflation protector throughout the pandemic. This was one of the main drivers of its growth. But if inflation returns to normal, who needs such a protector?

There is no doubt that the US Central bank will try to curb inflation, which has already reached a 40-year high. But how successful its efforts will be is a question to which different experts give different answers. Bitcoin supporters continue to convince everyone (and themselves in the first place) that we are ahead of an endless rise in prices and serious financial turmoil.

According to Parallax Digital CEO Robert Breedlove, the same thing could happen to the dollar as to the currency of Venezuela. The US currency will hyperinflate by 2035, at which point the price of BTC in dollar terms will become astronomical: 1, 5, or 10 million USD per coin.

The legendary investor, founder of Miller Value Partners, Bill Miller almost half of whose fortune is now made up of cryptocurrency, also stood up to the defense of bitcoin. “It's like an insurance policy. You don't want your house to burn down, and you don't want to get into a terrible accident, but you pay for insurance every year in case it happens,” explained the billionaire.

Tom Lee, co-founder of the analytical firm Fundstrat, called $200,000 a target mark for bitcoin in an interview with CNBC and explained who will facilitate its achievement. And these are not institutional investors at all, but small investors. According to the analyst, the total net worth of US households exceeds $141 trillion. People will look for ways to protect them over the next decade in order not to lose their savings due to inflation, . Therefore, Lee says, the inflow of capital into cryptocurrency can be “huge”.

The high price of this asset is an obstacle to the mass adoption of bitcoin, in his opinion. Therefore, Tom Lee has supported the idea of switching to Satoshi, a millionth of BTC.

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macroeconomics at Fidelity Investments, one of the largest asset management companies, is also optimistic. He is confident that the value of the first cryptocurrency will repeat the growth of Apple's market value. “I compared the network effect of bitcoin to the network effect of Apple computers. As Apple's earnings increase, its share price rises exponentially. I have reason to believe that bitcoin is following the same path. The price of this cryptocurrency will only increase as demand increases.” And according to Trimmer, it will reach $100,000 by 2023.

This expert believes that BTC benefits from its strong difference from all other crypto assets. “Perhaps other digital currencies will look more profitable against the background of bitcoin because of the better scalability, but at the same time they are likely to be less decentralized. For me, bitcoin is like gold, and other cryptocurrencies are more like venture capital.”

Analyst Willy Woo believes that the future of the US dollar in terms of inflation has not yet been determined. Bitcoin's capitalization is currently below $1 trillion, and breaking this mark will give the coin more resilience, and it will grow over the next five years. Further growth to the gold capitalization of almost $11 trillion will be relatively smooth, after which it will slow down. As for the final figure, Willy Woo believes that the capitalization of bitcoin could eventually grow to $40 trillion.

As for the immediate prospects, according to analyst Nicholas Merten, bitcoin is now giving signals of future growth and “its capitalization could reach $4 trillion potentially in October-December 2022.” That is, the asset will show a 220% increase in relation to the previous record high. The previous rally was 392% up and it was 359% up earlier.

“This is a really great signal,” says Merten. “The past resistance level is becoming an upward support. Investors are ready to pay more and more, which indicates the market is ready to return to the formation of another uptrend.”

The fact that BTC/USD was above the 50-day moving average for 10 days really looked like a trend reversal. A breakdown of the 200-day MA at $48,000 could be the next confirmation. Investors were also encouraged by the growth of the Crypto Fear & Greed Index. If at the same BTC price, it was in the zone of Extreme Fear at the level of 20 points a month ago, it reached 52 points on Thursday, February 17.

However, another wave of active sales on Black Friday, February 18 brought another portion of doubts about the bulls' near victory. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell into the Fear zone to the 30 mark. The 50-day MA has again turned from support to resistance, and the total crypto market capitalization has not managed to gain a foothold above the psychologically important level of $2.0 trillion, and it is $1.815 trillion at the time of writing.

In conclusion, it remains only to quote the words of Tom Lee from Fundstrat. “If there is no crystal ball, it is very difficult to be accurate in cryptocurrency,” he joked about the forecasts. According to a proverb, there is some truth in every joke. In this case, this proportion clearly exceeds 50%.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- Expectations of a key rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions are fueling the pessimism of bitcoin investors and increasing the likelihood of selling unprofitable coins. This is the conclusion reached by Glassnode analysts. The bearish trend is confirmed by on-chain indicators: the number of active bitcoin addresses has dropped to the lower boundary of the corridor. This indicates a decrease in demand for the asset. The percentage of profitable bitcoin investors ranges between 65.8% and 76.7%.
Short-term speculators (coin holding period less than 155 days) have purchased 2.56 million BTC. The average acquisition cost is $47,200. Their unrealized loss is about 20%, with the price around $38.000. They are currently a source of sales pressure in the absence of an equivalent increase in demand. Glassnode believes that if the price rises, the pressure of sellers may increase, who will try to leave the market without losses or with a minimum profit.

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that the new “crypto winter” can help the industry become stronger. However, he is not yet sure that this period has really come, Bloomberg writes.
Buterin emphasized in an interview with the agency that in fact, people “deeply immersed in the cryptocurrency industry” welcome periods of the bear market. This allows you to get rid of weak projects, and also reduces the level of "hype". It is in the “winter” that many weak and harmful projects disappear, and only reliable, important projects remain, with well-thought-out business models and a close-knit team, the developer believes.

- The law legalizing and accepting bitcoin as a means of payment came into force in El Salvador on September 7, 2021. According to the Minister of Tourism Morena Valdes, the tourist flow to the country increased by 30% after that. She said that the recovery in the segment has exceeded expectations, as the country received 1.4 million visitors in November-December, against the forecast of 1.1 million. She also drew attention to the growth in tourism revenues: "We planned $0.8 billion in foreign currencies but received $1.4 billion."
The introduction of cryptocurrency had an impact on the structure of the tourist flow as well. If the bulk of tourists had before been from neighboring Central American countries, up to 60% currently come from the United States, the minister said.

- Indian police have detained suspects in a Rs 400 million (about $5.34 million) cryptocurrency scam, according to the Times of India. Authorities arrested four people in the city of Lanowala during the raid, and seven more in Nagpur a day later.
According to police, the attackers urged potential investors to buy ethereum on the ZebPay platform and then send the cryptocurrency to their Ether Trade Asia platform. Manipulating the data, they demonstrated to investors the imaginary profitability of the project and spent the raised funds on themselves.
Participants in the scheme are also suspected of killing one of the accomplices for refusing to disclose "passwords for important transactions."

- Past price cycles indicate that a new bull market for bitcoin may not occur until late 2024 or early 2025. Du Jun, CEO of Huobi crypto exchange, expressed this opinion in an interview with CNBC. According to him, bitcoin's price cycles are closely related to halvings: periodic block reward halvings embedded in the algorithm, which occur approximately every four years.
The last halving took place in May 2020, and the quotes of the first cryptocurrency reached an all-time high above $68,000 a year later. A similar price movement was observed after the 2016 halving: bitcoin reached record levels in December 2017.
Then deep drops in the price of digital gold followed in both cases, Du Jun recalled.
Based on the trend, Huobi CEO believes that “we are now in the early stages of a bear market” and expects a bullish trend for bitcoin to come only after the next halving in 2024. However, he added that “it is difficult to predict accurately in reality, since there are many other factors that can affect the market, such as geopolitical issues, including war, or the recent COVID.”

- Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of the richest Mexicans, has spoken out in favor of the oldest crypto asset not for the first time. This time, the billionaire recommended strongly to continue buying BTC while the price is low enough, and to hold this asset without even thinking about a possible sale. He is convinced that those who listen to his advice will thank him later.
The first cryptocurrency is separated from its November high by about 45% now, and a number of investors and large companies have taken advantage of the fall to replenish their BTC reserves. For example, this is the step taken by Microstrategy software developer, US Senator Ted Cruz, and El Salvador that made a splash last year.

- David Schwartz, Ripple's CTO and one of the creators of XRP Ledger, continues to be one of the most mysterious characters in the cryptosphere. So much so that many people suspect that he may be the creator of bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, or at least be associated with the Satoshi group.
Although Schwartz has repeatedly denied this, he has admitted to "having optimized" the bitcoin code and working on it very early on, back in 2011. Here is what he had to say about it: “I have almost the entire skill set needed to be Satoshi. It is likely that I was part of a group. But, nevertheless, this is not true. I didn't know about bitcoin until 2011." And to the question: "If you really were Satoshi, would you tell us?", Schwartz replied: "Honestly, I would not speak."
Schwartz's speech at the recent presentation of the XRP Ledger Foundation gave another reason for speculation. Attentive listeners noticed that he spoke about “When I Found Bitcoin…” at the beginning of his speech. The fact is that if the word “Found” had the ending -ed at the end, then it would already sound like “founded” or “created”.

- The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange will pay a premium of $250,000 to a Twitter user nicknamed Tree of Alpha, who discovered a “market nuclear bomb”. Tree of Alpha found a bug in the Coinbase trading platform, with which he managed to deceive the system and sell ethereum under the guise of bitcoins. He transferred 0.0243 ETH from his account, which he sold as 0.0243 BTC, and earned about $1000 instead of $70.
After that, the trader contacted Coinbase management, reporting the vulnerability of the platform. The exchange staff, having checked for the error, eliminated it promptly, and the honest trader who prevented the "bomb explosion" was promised a reward of $250,000.

- While the US federal authorities are thinking about how to conduct financial policy in relation to cryptocurrencies, local authorities are already trying to get ahead of them. It is possible that the state of California will recognize BTC as legal tender, following El Salvador. An expert group is working on the relevant bill at the moment. We should expect an influx of not only new investments in the state economy after its adoption, but also an increase in the number of companies and digital nomads working with cryptocurrencies.
If California recognizes bitcoin, it is likely that other states will begin to consider similar initiatives, which can seriously improve the position of the cryptocurrency.

- The aggravation of geopolitical tensions has led to an increase in the correlation between the first cryptocurrency and the US stock index S&P 500. This is stated in the analytical report of Arcane Research. According to the researchers, the 90-day correlation between BTC and the “barometer of the American economy” reached the highest level since October 2020. On the contrary, the statistical relationship between bitcoin and gold has become negative, as gold acts as a low-risk asset. Arcane Research has also noted that bitcoin spot trading volume on centralized exchanges has fallen to early December 2020 levels.
Analysts are confident that the strongest support range is $28,000-$30,000, as it represents the “bottom of the bear market in the summer of 2021.” They have named $40,000 as an important resistance level.

- Shark Tank business reality show star Kevin O'Leary has recently made his bitcoin prediction. He notes that many institutional investors cannot yet invest in the leading cryptocurrency, as this issue has not yet been resolved at the level of regulators.
O'Leary has noted that anyone who wants to speculate about the cost of BTC at $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 should understand that all this will become possible when institutionalists finally have the opportunity to purchase a crypto asset in accordance with regulatory standards. He notes that he can say this with confidence, as he works with "sovereign wealth funds and pension plans." And although there is a lot of buzz around BTC right now, none of them have a single token. Moreover, they do not even plan investments in this asset yet.
According to O'Leary, it is much better to think of BTC not as a coin, but as software. He has noted that the above institutions have shares in Microsoft and Google, so it will be easier for them to understand if they regard cryptocurrencies as software. At a time when the crypto sector begins to meet all the requirements, these financial institutions will be able to invest 1% to 3% of their capital in bitcoin, and this can happen within the next 2-3 years.


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

EUR/USD: War Is Not Only Blood, But Also Business

The dynamics of European currencies is now determined by what is happening in Ukraine. You can forget about all kinds of macro-economic indicators for a while. Who and how much earned on Russia's invasion of a neighboring country, and who lost and how much, will become clear only when the situation stabilizes finally. And this may not happen soon.

Russia's possible hostilities against Ukraine had been discussed for several weeks. However, the world had expected that they would be limited to two regions in the east of the country, Donetsk and Luhansk. However, Russia launched missile and bomb attacks on all major cities of the country on Thursday, February 24, early in the morning, including the capital city of Kyiv, followed by an offensive by ground forces.

Nobody had expected anything like this (except for Russian President Putin and his inner circle). The markets experienced a real shock, and a stampede began not only from risky assets, but also from European currencies.

A number of European countries, primarily the Baltic ones, are afraid that Russia may invade their territory, following Ukraine. But even if these fears are discarded, Europe's economy has already suffered serious damage.

Due to its proximity, the Eurozone is much more dependent on Russian energy than the United States. Russia accounts for about 40% of gas supplies and 30% of oil supplies to the EU. Moreover, one of the main gas pipelines passes through the territory of Ukraine, where the fighting is going on. This situation instantly raised the prices for blue fuel to cosmic heights and they were eight times higher than similar prices in the United States.

It is clear that for Western Europe this does not portend anything else but falling into a deep recession, or even into stagflation Stagflation is an extremely weak GDP growth coupled with extremely high inflation, which has already reached a record level of 5.1%.

The negative outlook is reinforced by the economic sanctions that the EU imposed against Russia to support Ukraine. They limit the current industrial turnover seriously, and also tighten the banking sector. It is difficult to imagine how the ECB will be able to wind down monetary stimulus and raise interest rates in this situation. As for the US Federal Reserve, this regulator is unlikely to abandon its plans. Although, it is possible that their implementation will be somewhat slowed down for the sake of supporting the stock market. At least in the near future.

The EUR/USD pair was trading at 1.1494 back on February 10. The war in Eastern Europe led to the fact that it found the bottom at the level of 1.1106 just two weeks later, losing 388 points.

The markets recovered somewhat from a powerful shock at the end of the week on Friday, February 25. The old principle, known since Napoleon Bonaparte, “Buy while the blood is shed,” worked. Stock indices went up, supporting the European currency. After the correction, it completed the week at 1.1270.

At the time of writing the review, on February 25, it is unknown how the operation of Russian troops in Ukraine will end. It is unknown either what new sanctions the EU and the US will take against Russia if hostilities do not stop. Therefore, it is President Putin alone who could give the most accurate forecast for the coming week. We can only record the opinions of experts and the readings of indicators at the moment.

The forecast of analysts for the next week looks very uncertain: 65% of them point to the 1.1300 zone, which has been the Pivot Point since mid-November 2021. The remaining 35% vote for the bears and do not rule out that the pair will test the support of 1.1100 again. Trend indicators on D1 are 90% red and 10% green. Among the oscillators, 80% are colored red, 20% are green.

Given the current increased volatility, the nearest resistance is located in a wide area of 1.1285-1.1390. If the bulls do not stop there, their next target will be the highs of January 13 and February 10 at 1.1485, then 1.1525, 1.1570 and 1.1615. Support zones are 1.1185-1.1200 and 1.1085-1.1120. They are followed by the levels of summer 2020, which are hardly worth focusing on in the current unstable geopolitical situation. Although, it can be assumed that the bears will try to at least reach the symbolic horizon of 1.1000.

As for the upcoming week's calendar, it will be quite busy. It is clear that the main focus will be on the events in Ukraine and the new sanctions associated with them from the EU and the US.

In addition, there will be data on the consumer market in Germany and business activity (ISM) in the US manufacturing sector on Tuesday, March 01. There will be statistics on the consumer market of the Eurozone on Wednesday, March 02, and a report from ADP on employment in the private sector will be published in the USA. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will address Congress on the same day. The value of the ISM business activity index in the US services sector will become known on Thursday. And in addition to data on retail sales in the Eurozone, we are traditionally waiting for a portion of statistics from the US labor market, including the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector (NFP) on the first Friday of the month, March 04.

GBP/USD: Great Britain Is Europe as Well

Although the United Kingdom has left the European Union, it has not ceased to be part of Europe. Therefore, everything that has been said about the EU and the Eurozone is also relevant for the UK. The only difference is the numbers. Thus, the maximum volatility of the week for the GBP/USD pair was 366 points (falling from 1.3638 to 1.3272), and the finish, after the correction, fell at 1.3410. We can now forget about consolidation around 1.3600.

Just like the EU, the UK was very quick to impose sanctions on Russia and the Prime Minister issued an extremely tough and angry statement condemning the military operation in Ukraine. The consequences of such a step will be quite serious not only for the Russian, but also for the British economy. Suffice it to say that British Petroleum is one of the largest foreign investors in Russia and a shareholder of Rosneft. And the British banks have very close contacts with the largest Russian corporations and individuals. In addition, both countries have banned flights of national airlines over each other's territories.

Experts' forecast for the GBP/USD pair for the next week is as follows: 40% of them vote for the movement to the north and 40% for the movement to the south, the remaining 20% vote for the sideways trend. Almost all indicators on D1 are colored red. Among trend indicators, these are 100%, among oscillators these are 85%. Only 15% of them have reacted to the upward correction of the pair. Supports are located at 1.3400, 1.3365 and 1.3275-1.3315, then 1.3200 and the low of 08 December 2021, 1.3160. Resistance levels are 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3645, 1.3700-1.3740, 1.3830 and 1.3900.

Following the results of February, we will have a fairly large package of macroeconomic statistics related to the British economy this week. The manufacturing business activity index (PMI) will be published on Tuesday, March 01, the composite index and the index of business activity in the services sector on Thursday, and a similar index in the construction sector - on Friday. The annual budget of the United Kingdom, which will be made public on Wednesday 02 March, is of interest as well.

USD/JPY: Japan Is Not Europe

Japan is the one who practically did not react to the war in Ukraine. This is understandable: Kyiv and Tokyo are separated by 8205 kilometers. Japan, of course, joined the sanctions against Russia, but this made almost no impression on the dynamics of the USD/JPY pair. Rather, it was influenced by the rise in prices for energy resources, on which the economy of this country is quite dependent. As a result, having bounced off the level of 114.40 on Thursday, February 24, the pair rose to a height of 115.75, and put the last chord a little lower, at the level of 115.52. Summing up the results of the week, it can be noted that the fluctuation of the pair's quotes was quite insignificant: only 57 points (115.03-115.60).

Analysts' forecasts for the coming week look like this: 55% are in favor of the pair's growth, 35% are in favor of its fall, and 10% are in favor of a sideways trend. Among the oscillators on D1, 65% are green, 20% are red, and 15% are neutral grey. For trend indicators, 65% look up, 35% take the opposite position. The nearest resistance zone is 115.70. The main goal of the bulls is to renew the high of 116.34 and rise to where the pair has not been seen since January 2017. Support levels are at 115.00, 114.80, 114.15, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70.

No significant economic events are expected in Japan next week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Bitcoin and Ethereum Prove to Be More Reliable Than Stocks



The main factor putting pressure on the crypto market was the expectation of an increase in interest rates by the US central bank a week ago. Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine was number two. It has now moved to the forefront, from assumption to fact.

The aggravation of the geopolitical situation associated with this increased the flight of investors from risky assets and led to a further fall in both stock indices and digital currency quotes. The 90-day correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 reached its highest level since October 2020. This is stated in the analytical report of Arcane Research. The statistical relationship between virtual gold and real gold, on the contrary, has become negative, since gold, unlike BTC, is a low-risk asset. Arcane Research has also noted that bitcoin spot trading volume on centralized exchanges has fallen to early December 2020 levels.

Bitcoin is commonly opposed to the dollar, being called insurance against inflation. But if you look at the charts of the last week, BTC is more likely an insurance within the market for risky assets: stock prices have fallen much faster since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine than the quotes of leading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum. The S&P500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq stock indices fell below the lows of a month ago in a few hours on the very first day of the bombing and rocket attacks, February 24. There is no need to talk about the Russian IMOEX index: it lost almost 50% in just a few hours, after which trading was stopped. Unlike all of them, the BTC/USD and ETH/USD pairs held their positions courageously above the January 24 low.

Of course, this is not a reason to rejoice. Expectations of a key rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions will continue to feed the pessimism of bitcoin investors, and therefore the likelihood of selling unprofitable coins will continue to grow. This is the conclusion reached by Glassnode analysts. The bearish trend is confirmed by on-chain indicators: the number of active bitcoin addresses has dropped to the lower boundary of the corridor. This indicates a decrease in demand for the asset. The share of bitcoin investors in profit is currently in the range between 65.8% and 76.7%.

Short-term speculators (coin holding period less than 155 days) have purchased 2.56 million BTC. The average acquisition cost is $47,200. Their unrealized loss is about 17%, with the price around $39.000. They are currently a source of sales pressure in the absence of an equivalent increase in demand. Glassnode believes that if the price rises, the pressure of sellers may increase, who will try to leave the market without losses or with a minimum profit.

According to Du Jun, CEO of Huobi crypto exchange, past price cycles indicate that a new bull market for bitcoin may not occur until late 2024 or early 2025. According to him, bitcoin's price cycles are closely related to halvings: periodic block reward halvings embedded in the algorithm, which occur approximately every four years.

The last halving took place in May 2020, and the quotes of the first cryptocurrency reached an all-time high above $68,000 a year later. A similar price movement was observed after the 2016 halving: bitcoin reached record levels in December 2017.

Then deep drops in the price of digital gold followed in both cases.

Based on the trend, Huobi CEO believes that “we are now in the early stages of a bear market” and expects a bullish trend for bitcoin to come only after the next halving in 2024. At the same time, he added that “it is difficult to predict accurately in reality, since there are many other factors that can affect the market, such as geopolitical issues, including war, or the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Kevin O'Leary, the star of the Shark Tank business reality show, also announced his forecast. He notes that many institutional investors cannot yet invest in the leading cryptocurrency, as this issue has not yet been resolved at the level of regulators.

O'Leary has noted that anyone who wants to speculate about the cost of BTC at $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 should understand that all this will become possible when institutionalists finally have the opportunity to purchase a crypto asset in accordance with regulatory standards. He notes that he can say this with confidence, as he works with "sovereign wealth funds and pension plans." And although there is a lot of buzz around BTC right now, none of them have a single token. Moreover, they do not even plan investments in this asset yet.

According to O'Leary, it is much better to think of BTC not as a coin, but as software. He has noted that the above institutions have shares in Microsoft and Google, so it will be easier for them to understand if they regard cryptocurrencies as software. At a time when the crypto sector begins to meet all the requirements, these financial institutions will be able to invest 1% to 3% of their capital in bitcoin, and this can happen within the next 2-3 years.

Against this not very joyful background, the interview given by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, to Bloomberg, can be considered the height of optimism. First, he is not yet sure that the “crypto winter” has really arrived. And secondly, he believes that such a “winter” can help the industry become stronger.

Buterin emphasized in the interview with the agency that in fact, people “deeply immersed in the cryptocurrency industry” welcome periods of the bear market. This allows to get rid of weak projects, and also reduces the level of "hype". It is in the “winter” that many weak and harmful projects disappear, and only reliable, important projects remain, that have well-thought-out business models and a close-knit team, the developer believes.

Looking to the near term, Arcane Research analysts believe that the strongest support range lies in the $28,000-$30,000 zone, as the "summer 2021 bear market bottom" is located there. They have named $40,000 as an important resistance level.

At the time of writing this review (Friday evening, February 25), the BTC/USD pair is trading around $39,000. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has dipped a little into the Fear zone, falling from 30 to 27 points in a week, while the total crypto market capitalization has fallen from $1.815 trillion seven days ago to $1.755 trillion.


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

NordFX Brokerage company has summed up the performance of its clients' trade transactions in February 2022. The services of social trading, PAMM and CopyTrading, as well as the profit received by the company's IB-partners have also been assessed.

The first place in the ranking of the most successful traders was taken by a client from Southeast Asia, account No. 1416XXX, who received a profit of 82,636 USD on transactions, most of which were carried out in pairs with bitcoin (BTC/USD), S&P500 and Dow Jones stock indices, and with oil.
The second place belongs to the owner of account No. 1602XXX. This trader earned 22,046 USD during the month, and their earnings were based on operations with bitcoin (BTC/USD), gold (XAU/USD) and silver (XAG/USD).

Another trader from Asia, who took the third step of the podium (account No. 1617XXX), also used the XAU/USD pair as a trading instrument. Their profit for February was USD 18,059.

The situation in NordFX passive investment services is as follows:

- CopyTrading still has an active provider under the nickname KennyFxPro. Signal with the complex name KennyFXPRO - Journey of $205 to $5,000 has shown a profit of 149% since March 2021 with a maximum drawdown of 67%. As before, almost all trades were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD pairs. Such a famous pair as EUR/USD got only 0.27% in their arsenal.
Startup signals include NVT Capital (388% income with 41% drawdown) and Thuytien1707 (25% with less than 10% drawdown). Both signals exist for only 14 days. And such a short life span is an additional risk factor for subscribers.

- In the PAMM service, we once again mark the manager under the nickname KennyFXPRO. They increased their capital on the KennyFXPro-the Multi 3000 EA account by 73% in 400 days with a fairly moderate drawdown of less than 16%. In addition, investors can pay attention to the TranquilityFX-The Genesis v3 account, which showed a profit of 52% in 330 days with a drawdown of 16%, and NKFX-Ninja 136 , which has brought income of 40% since June 11, 2021 with a drawdown of about 15%. Interestingly, the EUR/USD pair is also missing among the trading instruments here. The vast majority of transactions were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD.

Among the IB partners of NordFX, the TOP-3 also includes representatives of Central and Southeast Asia:
- the largest commission, 10.498 USD, was credited to a partner with account No.1593ХXХ;
- the next is the partner (account No. 1371ХХХ), who received 9.410 USD;
- and, finally, the partner with account No. 1336xxx, who received 5.789 USD as a reward, closes the top three.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- According to Bloomberg, the National Security Council of the White House and the US Treasury Department appealed to the operators of the world's largest centralized exchanges with a request to stop any attempts to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The White House spokesman said that cryptocurrencies are not a replacement for the US dollar, which is widely used in the Russian Federation. However, the US authorities intend to combat their misuse. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde also called for increased regulation of digital assets in the euro area.
At least four cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Gemini, have said they will take steps to tighten controls. At the same time, experts interviewed by The New York Times noted that Russian companies have many other tools at their disposal to circumvent the imposed restrictions, including the digital ruble and ransomware.

- The number of bitcoin addresses with balances over 1,000 BTC increased by more than 6% to 2,226 on Monday, February 28. The indicator has not reached this level since March 2021. The number of addresses with a balance of 100 to 1000 BTC also increased on February 28, although not as noticeably. The indicator increased by 1.3% during the day, to 15,929. This is evidenced by the data of the Glassnode service.
Some analysts suggest that such a rapid increase in the number of bitcoin whales is due to the attempts of the Russian elites to withdraw their assets to circumvent the sanctions.

- The dynamics of the cryptocurrencies’ movement between private and exchange wallets indicates the lack of certainty among investors regarding the further developments in the digital asset market. This is written by CoinDesk with reference to the report of Bank of America (BofA).
According to analysts, the tightening of the Fed's policy and macroeconomic factors will limit the growth of cryptocurrencies in the next six months. However, BofA emphasized that this will not be the beginning of a new "crypto winter", as the level of adoption of digital assets by users and the activity of developers has increased significantly.
BofA specialists noted that the observed outflow of bitcoin from exchanges indicates the exhaustion of the sellers' momentum. At the same time, the influx of ethereum to the addresses of these platforms may indicate potential pressure on the price of the cryptocurrency which is second in terms of capitalization.
The bank also added that it will be difficult for the digital asset market to move out of the current price range until fears of a possible recession are discarded.

- Tesla board member Kimbal Musk, brother of the company founder Elon Musk, told TechCrunch that they had no idea about its environmental impact when they made the decision to buy $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin.
“We were very clueless when we invested in bitcoin. We had no idea about the impact on the environment, it seemed to us a good store of value and a way to diversify assets. And it certainly didn't take long to get a million - I'm not kidding, probably no less - messages about what we're doing to the environment." “I don’t really agree with the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies, but I love what it does,” Kimbal Musk added, expressing his hope that, broadly speaking, the blockchain industry will move towards a greener infrastructure.

- According to Voyager Digital CEO Stephen Ehrlich, cryptocurrencies are becoming stronger in the global financial system and will become a haven for future generations. He noted that the overall growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is manifested in increasing programs that allow employees of various organizations to receive part of their salaries in bitcoins. According to Erlich, the fact that people are ready not only to trade in cryptocurrency, but also to work for it, is a clear sign of the growth of the industry.

- A study by recruitment company Deel says that more and more employees of companies are willing to receive part of their salaries in cryptocurrency. Analysts studied more than 100,000 contracts offered to workers living in 150 countries. 52% of respondents in Latin America receive full or partial salary in cryptocurrency, 34% in Africa and the Middle East, and 7% in North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Bitcoin is followed by Ethereum (ETH), Dash (DASH), Solana (SOL) and USD Coin (USDC).
The number of vacancies representing the blockchain industry is also growing rapidly around the world. LinkedIn published a study in January that said that the number of such vacancies soared by almost 400% last year.

- A group of hackers claim to have hacked Nvidia servers. It is currently trying to sell miners data that can be used to easily unlock the “Lite Hash Rate” limiter from RTX 3000 video cards and use them for mining ethereum. The LAPSUS$ hacker group claimed responsibility for the hack, adding that they managed to steal 1 terabyte of data from the company's servers. This is reported by the industry publication PCmag.

- Not only popular bloggers and bank analysts are leaning towards the Hodl strategy at present, but also robots. “Hodling” is a way to accumulate bitcoins and the most correct trading strategy, this is the conclusion of an AI trading robot created by Portuguese software developer Tiago Vasconcelos. The coder "trained the bot, explained the rules, candles, principles when you can either buy or sell, or do nothing." The bot receives one point for each profitable trade and loses it as a "punishment" for unprofitable trades. The robot advisor makes thousands/millions of attempts with this data set, making moves to maximize the trading account balance.
Recall that Hodl is a popular meme in the bitcoin space that originated from a post on the Bitcointalk forum in 2013 with a typo in the word “hold”.

- According to well-known economist and analyst Alex Kruger, “Everyone is investing in precious metals now. This is what the market situation tells us. It could be even worse: China invades Taiwan, Russia takes over even more countries. Then the market will fall further.” “Russia using cryptocurrency to circumvent the sanctions would lead the digital asset market to a bearish scenario. Don't expect this to happen. But be careful what you do,” he wrote.
Kruger suggests that the sanctions circumvention will be enough for U.S. regulators to ban digital assets in order to protect national security. However, if the geopolitical situation does not worsen, investors will soon see their growth.

- Popular Hollywood actor and film producer Ryan Reynolds has joined the list of celebrities who support the crypto industry. he has recently given an interview to the Bloomberg Markets business publication, in which he stated that the sphere of virtual money is doomed to gain a foothold in the global financial market as a serious player and competitor. “I am absolutely not surprised that cryptocurrency has become a major player in the global financial market, it has been going to this for a very long time. Of course, people's fears about some flaws in its security slow down this process significantly. However, in the context of this issue, one cannot underestimate the efforts of companies whose activities are aimed at making the trading of digital assets safer and, more importantly, accessible,” said Reynolds.
It is worth adding that a large number of Ryan Reynolds' colleagues have recently joined the crypto community. For example, Reese Witherspoon invested in ethereum a few months ago, Paris Hilton does not hide her love for bitcoin, Matt Damon, in turn, is the face of the CryptoCom marketing campaign. But there is no information about whether Reynolds himself is a holder of cryptocurrencies. As part of the interview, he answered this question with only a mysterious smile.

- Legendary trader Henrik Zeberg, author of The Zeberg Report and expert on macroeconomic cycles, presented three charts to show that major stocks and cryptocurrencies are poised to rise in Elliot Wave 5. According to Zeberg, the most important stock market indices S&P500 and Nasdaq are approaching bullish reversals on the weekly charts. If his prediction comes true, bitcoin could once again increase its correlation with stocks and indices.

- Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Strategist Mike McGlone gave another forecast for the future value of bitcoin. He assured that the BTC rate will reach $100,000 in 2022. The analyst also emphasized that the price of the flagship digital currency will not drop to $30,000 despite the bearish sentiment in the market.
The expert once again noted that bitcoin is confidently moving towards becoming an international reserve asset. Against the background of the policy of the US Federal Reserve and the war between Russia and Ukraine, this main cryptocurrency is getting closer to the full status of digital gold. The strategist also believes that such coins as Dogecoin must lose their influence in order for bitcoin to finally establish itself as a reliable tool for protecting money savings.


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.

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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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EUR/USD: The Fate of the Euro Is Decided in Ukraine



Macro statistics were mixed last week. But few people pay attention to it at the moment. The dynamics of European currencies is determined by what is happening in Ukraine for the second week now. The escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict is intensifying, increasing the demand for risk-free assets. And it is the dollar that acts as such, not the pan-European currency.

The difference in the monetary policies of the Fed and the ECB pushed the EUR/USD pair down both in 2021 and in January-February 2022. The tragic events of recent days have only given it an additional downward impetus. How else can the market react, say, to a rocket attack in the area of Europe's largest Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine? The fire that arose not far from its power units was extinguished, but this did not make it any easier: Chernobyl has not been forgotten in Europe yet, and no one wants a new nuclear catastrophe that could claim millions of lives.

The negative outlook is reinforced by the extraordinarily tough economic sanctions that the EU has imposed against Russia to support Ukraine. They create huge problems in the supply of Russian energy resources to the EU, seriously limit industrial trade, and tighten the banking sector in a grip. It is difficult to imagine how, in such a situation, the ECB will be able to curtail monetary stimulus and raise interest rates. As for the US Federal Reserve, this regulator is unlikely to abandon its plans.

Speaking in Congress on Wednesday, March 02, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell named a number of advantages of the US currency. The first is the flight of investors from risk to such safe-haven assets as the dollar due to the events in Ukraine. Other trump cards include divergence in monetary policy with European countries and the growth of the US economy. By the way, such an important indicator as the number of new jobs created outside the US agricultural sector (NFP) has confirmed Powell's words, showing real growth to 678K against a forecast of 400K (481K a month ago).

Also, the US Central Bank believes that due to the events in Ukraine and the influence of Russia on commodity markets, inflation will be higher than previously predicted. And this, as Jerome Powell said, will require a more vigorous increase in interest rates. That is, they may be even higher by the end of 2022 than the market expects.

The previous week's forecast suggested that the EUR/USD pair would retest support at 1.1100, after which the bears would try to reach the landmark horizon of 1.1000. Such a scenario seemed very bold and almost unbelievable on February 25. But the events described above led to the fact that the pair easily broke through the seemingly "impenetrable" support of 1.1000 and collapsed to 1.0885, having lost 385 points in a week. The last chord, after a small correction, sounded at the level of 1.0932.

Amid mounting geopolitical tensions, the euro has lost more than 600 points to the dollar since February 10 and is now rapidly approaching the 2020 lows. And it is not far to parity 1:1. It is extremely difficult to predict where the bottom will be in the current situation. It was at around 1.0635 in 2020, the pair was falling to 1.0325 in 2016. Perhaps these values will become support levels.

As for the bulls, taking into account the increased volatility, their immediate goal is a return to the 1.1000 zone, followed by resistance in the 1.1100-1.1125 area, then a wide zone of 1.1280-1.1390, then - the highs of January 13 and February 10 in the 1.1485 area. However, the pair will be able to achieve them only if hostilities cease or, at least, when a stable truce is concluded. Most analysts hope for the best: 65% of them vote for the fact that EUR/USD will be able to return to at least 1.1200 within March. But trend indicators and oscillators on D1 have a completely different opinion: they are all colored red, although 25% of the latter are in the oversold zone.

As for economic statistics, data on retail sales in Germany will be published on Monday, March 07, then the data on GDP in the Eurozone on Tuesday. The event of the week can be Thursday, March 10, when the ECB meeting will take place. The interest rate is likely to remain the same at 0%, so the subsequent press conference of the regulator's management will be of more interest. Data on the US consumer market will come out on the same day, and we will find out the values of the harmonized consumer price index in Germany and the US University of Michigan consumer confidence index at the very end of the week, on Friday, March 11.

GBP/USD: Great Britain Is Europe as Well

The EU's dependence on Russian gas was about 45-50% before the introduction of sanctions. Unlike the countries of the European Union, the UK is practically independent of Russian gas supplies: this figure is less than 3%. Its trade turnover with the Russian Federation is much lower as well. And geographically, it is separated from the zone of the armed Russian-Ukrainian conflict by about 2,000 kilometers.

All these factors helped the GBP/USD pair to stay in a sideways trend for several days. But against the backdrop of events around the Zaporizhzhya NPP, it still could not resist and updated the February 24 low, dropping to the level of 1.3201. The week finished at 1.3246.

The experts' forecast for the pair for the next week is as follows: 50% of them vote for moving north and 25% for further movement to the south, the remaining 25% vote for a sideways trend. The indicator readings on D1 fully coincide with the readings for the EUR/USD pair. Strong support lies at 1.3170 (December 2021 lows), followed by 2020 supports. Resistance levels are 1.3270-1.3325, 1.3400, 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3640.

Highlights of the upcoming week include the release of retail sales data for the UK on Tuesday March 08, and the release of UK output and GDP on Friday March 11.

USD/JPY: Yen or Dollar: Which Safe Haven Is Better?

Japan is even further from Ukraine than the UK, as much as 8,000 kilometers. Although it has joined the sanctions against Russia, this has not ceased to be a safe haven for investors. Therefore, everything that literally makes Europe feverish does not affect the dynamics of the USD/JPY pair. It continued to move along the 115.00 horizon last week, fluctuating in the range of 114.65-115.77. And it completed the five-day working week not far from its lower border, at 114.81. This decrease occurred on Friday, March 04, not because of the shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, but because of the fall in the yield of US Treasury bonds.

That is, when the dollar rose against the euro and the pound, it fell against the yen. Competition between these two safe-haven assets will undoubtedly continue next week. 75% of analysts believe that the pair will return to the upper limit of the channel, while 25% believe that it may fall further down. As is usually the case in such situations, disagreements immediately arise among the indicators. Among the trend indicators on D1, 65% are for selling, 35% for buying. Among the oscillators, 20% vote for the purchase, 25% vote for the neutral status and 55% are for the sale, but at the same time, a quarter of them have signaled that the pair is oversold. The nearest resistance zone is 115.00-115.25, then 115.70. The main goal of the bulls is to renew the high of 116.34 and rise to where the pair has not been seen since January 2017. Support levels and zones: 114.40-114.65, 114.15, 113.75, 113.45, 113.20, 112.55 and 112.70.

The release of any significant macro statistics on the state of the Japanese economy, with the exception of data on GDP on Wednesday, March 09, is not expected next week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Sanctions, Bitcoin and What Robots Choose

Immediately after the Bank of Russia asset freeze due to hostilities in Ukraine, bitcoin trading volumes increased sharply on Monday, February 28, and the coin itself jumped in price by almost 17% (from $37,840 to $44,220). The number of bitcoin addresses with balances over 1,000 BTC increased by more than 6% to 2,226. The indicator had not reached this level since March 2021. The number of addresses with a balance of 100 to 1000 BTC also increased on February 28, although not as noticeably. The indicator increased by 1.3%, to 15,929 over the day. This is evidenced by the data of the Glassnode service.

Some analysts suggest that such a rapid increase in the number of bitcoin whales is due to the attempts of the Russian elites to withdraw their assets to circumvent the sanctions and convert the depreciating rubles into cryptocurrency.

According to Bloomberg, the National Security Council of the White House and the US Treasury Department appealed to the operators of the world's largest centralized exchanges with a request to stop any attempts to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia. The White House spokesman said that cryptocurrencies are not a replacement for the US dollar, which is widely used in the Russian Federation. However, the US authorities intend to combat their misuse. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde also called for increased regulation of digital assets in the euro area.

At least four cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase and Gemini, have said they will take steps to tighten controls.

According to well-known economist and analyst Alex Kruger, if Russia uses cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions, this will be enough for US regulators to ban digital assets altogether. "Don't expect this to happen. But be careful in your actions,” he warned, adding that if the geopolitical situation does not worsen, investors will soon see the growth of the crypto market.

The dynamics of the cryptocurrencies’ movement between private and exchange wallets indicates the lack of certainty among investors regarding the further developments in the digital asset market. This is written by CoinDesk with reference to the report of Bank of America (BofA).

According to analysts, the tightening of the Fed's policy and macroeconomic factors will limit the growth of cryptocurrencies in the next six months. However, BofA emphasized that this will not be the beginning of a new "crypto winter", as the level of adoption of digital assets by users and the activity of developers has increased significantly.

The bank also added that it will be difficult for the digital asset market to move out of the current price range until fears of a possible recession are discarded.

After the jump on February 28, the upward movement of the BTC/USD pair slowed down on March 01-02, when approaching the strong $45,000 resistance zone. And then, after an unsuccessful attempt to break further up, it turned back to the south. (Recall that this resistance had already sent the pair down several times in January-February).

If the flagship currency still manages to rise above $45,700 at some point, we can expect its further growth to $47,000-50,000 due to the triggering of a large number of buy orders.

Legendary trader Henrik Zeberg, author of The Zeberg Report and expert on macroeconomic cycles, presented three charts to show that major stocks and cryptocurrencies are poised to rise in Elliot Wave 5. According to Zeberg, the most important stock market indices S&P500 and Nasdaq are approaching bullish reversals on the weekly charts. If his prediction comes true, bitcoin could once again increase its correlation with stocks and indices.

At the time of writing (the evening of March 04), the BTC/USD pair is trading around $39,300, the total market capitalization, after rising to $1.963 trillion, returned to the values of a week ago at $1.755 trillion, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index grew by only 6 points (from 27 to 33 points), having firmly stuck in the zone of Fear.

Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Strategist Mike McGlone reiterated that bitcoin is well on its way to becoming an international reserve asset. He assured that the BTC rate will reach $100,000 in 2022. The analyst also emphasized that the price of the flagship digital currency will not drop to $30,000 despite the bearish sentiment in the market.

McGlone also believes that such coins as Dogecoin must lose their influence in order for bitcoin to finally establish itself as a reliable tool for protecting money savings.

An AI robot advisor created by Portuguese software developer Tiago Vasconcelos has supported Bloomberg Intelligence's chief strategist's point of view. The coder "trained the bot, explained the rules, candles, principles when you can either buy or sell, or do nothing." The bot receives one point for each profitable trade and loses it as a "punishment" for unprofitable trades. having talen thousands/millions of steps to increase the balance of the trading account, the robot advisor eventually opted for a “hodling” strategy, that is, accumulating bitcoin. (Recall that Hodl is a popular meme in the bitcoin space that arose from a message on the Bitcointalk forum in 2013 with a misprint in the word “hold”).



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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CryptoNews of the Week



- US President Joe Biden will sign a decree regulating the digital assets. Bloomberg writes about this citing informed sources. The document will instruct federal agencies to study potential changes in legislation, as well as the impact of cryptocurrencies on national security and economy. Analysts believe that the decree was the result of fears that organizations and individuals could use digital assets to circumvent sanctions against Russia due to military actions in Ukraine.

- The sanctions imposed by the world community against Russia can cause a rapid increase in the price of bitcoin. This was stated by legendary billionaire investor and founder of Miller Value Partners Bill Miller in an interview with CNBC.
“Russia keeps 16% of its reserves, which are estimated at $640 billion, in dollars, and 32% in euros. Almost 50% of its reserves are held in currencies controlled by people who want to harm it. This is not the best situation, from Russia's point of view," Miller said.
The billionaire called the current geopolitical situation “unique” and emphasized that this is an “extremely bullish signal” for bitcoin. He also believes that the Russian government may try to use digital gold as a reserve currency.

- Well-known businessman and writer, author of the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, Robert Kiyosaki accused Joe Biden of “destroying the dollar” and gave people advice on how to fend off inflation.
“Biden likes inflation,” he said. “In response to his criminal actions, I am investing in oil companies from Texas and North Dakota. I have just purchased a gold mine in Utah. I buy apartments and houses in Texas. I am saving gold, silver and bitcoins...” “Invest like a capitalist,” Kiyosaki summed up.

- The world of digital assets has been recently stirred up by the news that the journalist of the authoritative American magazine Forbes, Laura Shin, released the book “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze”. The author shows the cryptocurrency market as it really is in this book. The writer focuses on the large-scale struggle of the rich for influence and leadership in the coming revolution 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.

- 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.

- A cryptanalyst known as Dave the Wave stated In May 2021 that bitcoin will not be able to rise to the level of $100,000 before the end of the year. He turned out to be right. His forecast looks somewhat more optimistic now. According to it, 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. However, the analyst does not rule out that the bitcoin rate may fall to $25,000 before it goes up.

- Well-known crypto analyst and trader Michael van de Poppe believes that bitcoin may continue its fall to $30,000 against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe. "Why?" he asks. 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.

- Kimbal Musk, younger brother of billionaire Elon Musk, said in a recent interview that the main problem with digital currencies is their impact on the environment. Therefore, they are doomed to failure in the form in which crypto assets currently exist. The planet will face an ecological crisis if humanity does not figure out how to make them safer for nature.
Kimbal Musk not only sits on the board of directors of Tesla and SpaceX, but also runs The Kitchen, a chain of “green” restaurants, and is the founder of Big Green DAO, a “decentralized charity” project. The businessman's net worth exceeds $700 million.

- Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and former White House Communications Director, believes that any investor should invest at least a little of their capital in bitcoin. The businessman 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. The entrepreneur stores about $1 billion in bitcoins at the moment.
The former White House communications director is confident that the United States will not seek to tighten regulation of cryptocurrencies: “I don’t think the US wants to lose 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.”

- “The scaling up of bitcoin is accelerating the process of building a new financial system. We have witnessed a global evolution of the payment infrastructure,” said Zoltan Pozar, strategist at Credit Suisse. In his opinion, the structure that was formed after the Second World War is gradually being destroyed, and geopolitical tensions have only accelerated this process. While it is difficult to say in what direction the global economy will develop, however, according to the Credit Suisse strategist, bitcoin has a very good chance of becoming the main payment instrument.

- A similar point of view is shared by billionaire and CEO of Galaxy Digital Mike Novogratz, according to whom 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,” Novogratz said.


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.

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EUR/USD: Mega Event of the Week: US Federal Reserve Meeting

As expected, the main event of the past week was Thursday, March 10th, thanks to the meeting of the European Central Bank. The interest rate was left at the same level of 0%, and this was no surprise to anyone. But despite the absolute predictability of this decision, the EUR/USD pair first soared to 1.1120 after the statement of the regulator, and then fell below 1.1000. It's all about the failed attempt to "feed" both hawks and doves.

On the one hand, the ECB surprised everyone with its hawkish decision to roll back QE more quickly. Asset buyback volumes under QE will be reduced from €40bn in April to €30bn in May and to €20bn in June, which is significantly ahead of the previous forecast. It had been Previously assumed that the reduction to €20 billion could occur only by October.

However, the position of the ECB on the issue of raising the interest rate has become even more dovish than it was. The regulator stated Earlier that a very small time gap is planned between the QE curtailment and the subsequent rate hike. Now, according to the head of the Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, "any adjustment of the ECB key rate will occur only some time after the end of bond purchases and will be gradual." Such a dovish statement disappointed investors and pushed the EUR/USD pair down.

An additional impetus to the sell-off of the euro came from the inflation report in the US, where consumer price growth reached a 40-year high. Thus, in monthly terms, the consumer price index increased from 0.6% to 0.8%, and in annual terms, inflation accelerated from 7.5% to 7.9%. These data further confirmed the markets in confidence that the increase in the US federal funds rate will take place already at the next Fed meeting, which is to be held next Wednesday, on March 16. Moreover, Jerome Powell, the head of the US Central Bank, said that he plans to propose a 0.25% rate increase at this meeting.

Naturally, inflation is growing not only in the US, but also in Europe. The ECB raised its growth estimates in 2022 from 3.2% to 5.1%. And according to experts at Goldman Sachs, this figure could rise to 8%. But the divergence in monetary policy and economic prospects is clearly not on the EU's side. The geographical factor should also be taken into account: proximity to the zone of armed conflict in Ukraine, as well as Europe's dependence on Russian energy carriers.

At present, Europe bears the main losses from the sanctions imposed against Russia. Analysts believe that it is facing a steady stagflation. The US is not immune from slowing economic growth either. But it is one of the world's leading oil suppliers and have significant shale gas reserves, so it will be much less affected by skyrocketing energy prices. In addition, savings accumulated by American households during the COVID-19 pandemic are now at an all-time high. This financial cushion dampens inflationary pressures, allowing the Fed to pursue a tighter monetary policy.

The EUR/USD pair slightly won back the losses of February over the past week and completed the five-day period at the level of 1.0911. However, in the event of an escalation of hostilities in Ukraine and an increase in mineral fuel prices, the nearest strategic target for the bears will no doubt be a retest of the March 07 low of 1.0805. This will be followed by the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325. In the previous review, we already expressed the idea that the quotes may be at the level of 1.0000 at some point. This forecast was supported by ABN Amro bank strategists, who consider the fall of the pair to parity as the baseline scenario.

On the other hand, even a slight hint of a diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine, not to mention the complete cessation of hostilities, can provide serious support to the common European currency and lead to its growth. Given the increased volatility, the nearest target for the bulls is a breakdown of the resistance zone around 1.1000. Then there are zones 1.1100-1.1125, 1.1280-1.1390 and the highs of January 13 and February 10 in the area of 1.1485.

Analysts' opinions are distributed as follows. 50% of them vote for the fact that EUR/USD will be able to return to at least 1.1200 within March. 25% side with the bears, and the remaining 25% have taken a neutral position. Oscillators on D1 are 90% red, 10% are neutral gray. Trend indicators are 100% on the side of the bears.

As for the calendar for the upcoming week, as already mentioned, the US Fed meeting on Wednesday, March 16 will be a mega event. And statistics on retail sales in the United States will be released a few hours before the release of the final commentary and the press conference of the regulator's leadership. Attention should be paid to the speech of the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde the next day, on Thursday, March 17, as well as to data from the consumer market of the Eurozone and from the US labor market.

GBP/USD: What to Expect from the Bank of England?

The EU's dependence on Russian gas was about 45-50% before the imposition of sanctions. Unlike the countries of the European Union, the UK is practically independent of Russian gas supplies: this figure is less than 3%. Its trade turnover with the Russian Federation is also much lower. And geographically, it is separated from the zone of the armed Russian-Ukrainian conflict by about 2,000 kilometers. All these factors enable the Bank of England, in contrast to its colleagues from the ECB, to act more decisively in the normalization of its monetary policy.

There will also be a meeting of the Bank of England on March 17, the day after the Fed meeting. And it is quite possible that the decision of the UK regulator on the interest rate will depend on how much the US Central Bank will raise (or not raise) its rate on the eve. This is an additional factor of uncertainty when predicting the exchange rate of the British currency.

Recall that the Bank of England was the first to raise the rate, raising it to 0.5%. But it is still unclear how long its hawkish fuse will last.

Experts' forecast for the GBP/USD pair for the next week is as follows: 35% vote for the movement to the north, 35% - for further movement to the south, the remaining 20% vote for the sideways trend. However, when moving to a monthly forecast, bull supporters get a clear advantage: those are 65%, with 15% of the votes cast for bears and 20% of abstentions. All 100% of the indicators on D1 are facing south at the time of writing the review, however, 30% of the oscillators signal that the pair is oversold.

The pound finished the weekly trading session at 1.3035. The nearest support is located in the zone 1.2985-1.3025, followed by the 2020 supports. Resistance levels are 1.3080, 1.3145, 1.3200, 1.3270-1.3325, 1.3400, 1.3485, 1.3600, 1.3640.

Aside from the Bank of England meeting, next week's events include the publication of data from the UK labor market on Tuesday, March 15, including the average wage level in the country, as well as changes in the number of applications for unemployment benefits.

USD/JPY: Markets Have Chosen the Dollar



Forex and Cryptocurrency Forecast for March 14 - 18, 20221

We put the question: “Yen or Dollar: Which Safe Haven Is Better?” in the title of the previous USD/JPY review, implying that when the market is in a panic, investors start looking for the safest place to store their capital.

The dollar won this dispute last week. It not only won, but by a wide margin. Having started at 114.81, on Friday March 11, the USD/JPY pair peaked at 117.35, and the last chord of the week sounded a little lower at 117.25. Recall that the vast majority of experts (75%) predicted the growth of the pair, but almost no one expected the breakthrough to be so powerful and all-destroying. As a result of this blitzkrieg, the pair not only renewed the January-February high of 116.35 but reached the zone where it had been traded for a very, very long time, at the turn of 2016/2017.

Experts cite the fact that the Bank of Japan still prefers to refrain from cutting economic stimulus, as the reason for such weak demand for the yen. As we have already written, the regulator believes that tightening monetary policy in the current conditions can bring more harm than good to the economy. Moreover, the country has also joined the sanctions against Russia, which deprives its export-oriented companies of a serious share of income.

Against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is also noteworthy that a peace treaty between Russia and Japan was never concluded at the end of World War II, and the countries are still formally at war. The reason is the disagreement regarding the ownership of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. And this issue has been raised again in recent days.

Weak statistics played against the yen last week as well. Japan's GDP fell from 1.3% to 1.1% in the Q4 2021 instead of growing to 1.4%. In annual terms, this figure fell from 5.4% to 4.6%, which disappointed investors.

As for the forecast, 80% of analysts believe that the pair's growth potential has already been exhausted, 20% adhere to the opposite point of view. There is almost complete unanimity among the indicators on D1, after such a powerful breakthrough to the north. 100% of trend indicators, as well as 90% of oscillators are looking up, although a third of them are already in the overbought zone. The remaining 10% of oscillators have taken a neutral position.

Experts name 117.35, 117.70, 118.00 and 118.60 as resistance levels. Supports are located at levels and zones 117.00, 116.75, 116.35, 115.75, 115.00, 114.40-114.65, 114.15, 113.75.

A regular meeting of the Bank of Japan will take place on Friday, March 18. But if the Bank of England has something to answer the US Federal Reserve, nothing of the kind can be expected from the Japanese regulator with its always negative (minus 0.1%) rate. The yen, as a safe-haven currency, is usually supported by investors running away from risky assets. However, judging by the events of the past week, they may give preference to the dollar.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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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

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.

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.

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.

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

NordFX Brokerage company has summed up the performance of its clients' trade transactions in March 2022. The services of social trading, PAMM and CopyTrading, as well as the profit received by the company's IB-partners have also been assessed.

Representatives of Central and South-East Asia took all three steps of the podium in March.
- The highest monthly profit, 128,026 USD, was received by a client, account No.1620XXX, mainly on transactions with gold (XAU/USD). It should be noted that this trader is not new to our rating. So, they occupied second place with a score of 22.046 USD in February.
- This time, the second step has been taken by the owner of account No.1403XXX, who earned 70,910 USD on transactions on BTC/USD, XAU/USD and USD/CAD pairs.
- And, finally, the third place is occupied by a trader, account No.1594XXX, with a profit of 17,791 USD, whose main trading instrument is gold (XAU/USD).

The situation in NordFX passive investment services is as follows:
- CopyTrading still has an active provider under the nickname KennyFxPro. Signal with the complex name KennyFXPRO - Journey of $205 to $5,000 has shown a profit of 225% since March 2021 with a maximum drawdown of 67%. They increased their capital by almost 31% in March alone. As before, almost all trades were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD pairs. Such a famous pair as EUR/USD took only 0.21% in their arsenal. Another signal from the same supplier, KennyFXPRO-Prismo 2K, is two months younger than the first one, the profit on it is less - 112%, but the drawdown has also been lower - about 45%.
- The leaders in the PAMM service have not changed over the past month either. Here we mark the manager under the nickname KennyFXPRO once again. True, the aggressiveness of their trading on the PAMM account is much lower than in CopyTrading. They increased their capital on the KennyFXPro-the Multi 3000 EA account by 92% in 432 days with a fairly moderate drawdown of less than 21%. TranquilityFX-The Genesis v3 account, which showed a 67% profit in 330 days with a similar maximum drawdown of less than 21%, and NKFX-Ninja 136, which has generated 54% income since June 11, 2021, with the same drawdown of about 21%, are also among the leaders. The EUR/USD pair is still invisible among trading instruments. The vast majority of transactions were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD. It should also be noted that the maximum drawdown showed a slight increase in March: it increased by about 5% for all three listed accounts.

Among the IB partners of NordFX, the TOP-3 also includes representatives of Central and Southeast Asia:
- the largest commission, 8.952 USD, was accrued to the partner with account No.1336XXX, who moved from third place to first in a month and now leads the rating;
- the next is the partner (account No.1229ХХХ), who received 3,881 USD;
- and, finally, the partner with account No. 1336xxx, who received 5,789 USD as a reward, closes the top three.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- Miners mined the anniversary 19 millionth bitcoin On Friday, April 01. This event took place at block 730.002. At the time of writing, 90.48% of the total digital gold issue has been mined, which is limited to 21 million BTC.
According to the algorithm laid down by Satoshi Nakamoto, the reward is reduced by 50% every 210,000 blocks. The next halving is expected in 2024. (For reference: the 18 millionth coin was mined on October 19, 2019).

- The trend towards the accumulation of bitcoins among various market participants continued last week. Such well-known companies as Luna Foundation Guard and MicroStrategy are among them. Analysts from the Glassnode company noticed that, in addition to the “whales”, the so-called “shrimp” (addresses with a balance of less than 1 BTC) also contributed to the accumulation. Since the January 22 low, they have accumulated 0.58% of the market supply, bringing their share to 14.26%.
At the moment, miners have already mined 19 million coins out of the 21 million provided by the algorithm, and the accumulation has become many times higher than the emission. Thanks to this, bitcoin may soon become a scarce asset. According to Glassnode, the rate of outflow of coins from centralized platforms has increased to 96,200 BTC per month, which is extremely rare in historical retrospect. Exchange balances fell to the levels of August 2018, breaking through the plateau observed since September 2021. The number of coins in bitcoin addresses that tend to accumulate rose by 217,000 BTC since December 04, 2021, to a record 2,854,000 BTC.
Based on the figures presented, it is possible to obtain a daily accumulation rate of 1800 BTC, which is twice the emission rate. And this is despite the fact that the market has been under the pressure of the bears for most of this period.

- The German Federal Criminal Police confiscated the German servers of the Hydra darknet marketplace. 543 BTC were also seized as part of the international operation with a total value of about 23 million euros. The investigation into the case has been ongoing since August 2021 with the participation of the US authorities. Hydra operators and administrators are suspected of providing opportunities for drug trafficking, fraudulent documents and money laundering.
According to the police, the users of the darknet marketplace included about 17 million customers and more than 19 thousand sellers. Hydra accounted for 75% of all dark web revenue in 2020, at least 1.23 billion euros. The platform entered the top 10 platforms in terms of cryptocurrency turnover, beating the Kraken, OKX and Poloniex exchanges.

- 21% of US residents have traded or invested in cryptocurrencies at least once, according to a survey conducted by NBC News. Only 19% of those surveyed expressed their positive attitude towards digital assets, 56% are neutral or cautious position, and 25% view them in a negative way. The agency explained this distrust by the lack of clear legislative regulation of this industry.

- US Senate Banking Committee member Elizabeth Warren compared the digital asset market to the 2008 economic crisis in an interview with NBC. “The whole digital world is like a bubble. What is the basis for its growth? People tell each other that everything will be fine, as it was with the real estate market before it fell,” Warren explained. The senator added that bitcoin will be regulated by the authorities sooner or later. However, she did not specify how the government plans to achieve such control.

- According to analysts at the investment company VanEck, the price of bitcoin could reach $4.8 million if the cryptocurrency becomes a global reserve asset. Such a forecast was obtained taking into account the M2 money supply, that is, the amount of cash in circulation and all kinds of non-cash funds. There is also a lower range - $1.3 million per 1 BTC, calculated based on the M0 money supply, which does not include non-cash funds.
VanEck analysts warn that their forecast is only intended to serve as a starting point for investors who want to estimate the possible value of bitcoin in one of the unlikely scenarios. At the same time, according to the authors of the forecast, it is not bitcoin at all, but the Chinese yuan that is the primary contender for the status of world reserve currency.

- A report from analytics firm IntoTheBlock says that long-term investors continue to hoard bitcoin. According to the results of Q1 22, the total amount of coins in the wallets of these market participants reached 12 million BTC, worth about $551.37 billion. “Long-term investors now own a record amount. This indicates an accumulation phase, helps ease selling pressure, and may help reinforce faith in bitcoin as a store of value,” IntoTheBlock said.
Bitcoin is now showing an almost complete cyclical correlation with the S&P500, which recently hit 0.9. At the same time, the cryptocurrency with its inherent volatility rises faster and falls just as faster than the stock market. The company's analysts note that "bitcoin has now recovered most of its quarterly losses, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ended the first quarter with returns of -3.4% and -7.65%, respectively."

- Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has revised his bitcoin outlook. He believes that the arrival of new investors and innovations, developments in politics and the economy, and the acceptance of bitcoin by the authorities improve the forecasts for BTC for 2022. “Initially, I said that bitcoin would have an unstable year, that the price would fluctuate in the range of $30,000 to $50,000. But given how the markets are trading, new investors and innovation, the development of the Web3 and the metaverse, I'm more optimistic. Therefore, I won’t be surprised if cryptocurrencies grow significantly by the end of 2022,” the billionaire said.
In his opinion, the adoption of bitcoin will continue, as everyone understands what an unstable world we live in. “Bitcoin began to write a new history at a time when Europe and the United States blocked Russia's financial flows. The military action in Ukraine creates a lot of inflationary pressure, generates a lot of risks and worries, but adds confidence to crypto investors and accelerates the adoption of digital assets,” the CEO of Galaxy Digital said.

- Raoul Pal, a former Goldman Sachs employee and current Real Vision CEO, shares a similar opinion. He said in the MetaLearn podcast that the world is ready for a new wave of bitcoin adoption, and a further fall in the market will have a beneficial effect on its growth. “Sovereign states, especially wealth funds, will start looking for a long-term asset that will provide some security. Therefore, bitcoin will be studied by them and we will see its further adoption - not necessarily as a currency, but as an asset. I think this is a very interesting solution: the global use of bitcoin as a protective collateral reserve asset."
According to Raul Pal, the macroeconomic situation suggests that the chances of another bitcoin sell-off are slim. Therefore, most market participants are likely to stick to a long-term strategy and not actively trade cryptocurrencies.

- Cryptocurrency analyst and trader Cheds believes that a breakout of the ascending triangle pattern will take bitcoin to $58,000. “We have $46,000... and an ascending triangle,” Chads writes. - It is most logical to consider it as a bullish sign, since such a triangle is usually a bullish continuation pattern. The measured move will be the height of the triangle, which will bring us from $56,000 to $58,000.”
At the same time, the expert advises traders to keep a close eye on the 200-day moving average as this technical indicator is currently acting as resistance. Chads believes that if the bulls manage to keep BTC above $45,000, the cryptocurrency will be ready to storm the SMA-200 resistance for a further 26% gain. Otherwise, the bulls face the risk of a sell-off.


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

EUR/USD: Three reasons for the Strengthening of the Dollar

The proponents of a stronger dollar won by a very small margin in the previous forecast. 50% of analysts voted for its growth, 40% were against and 10% took a neutral position. The reason for such uncertainty and disagreement was that the market seemed to have already taken into account the increase in the dollar interest rate in 2022 for the quotes. However, despite this, the US currency has continued its growth. The DXY index has gained about 2% over the last week, and the EUR/USD pair, as predicted by bearish supporters, has broken through the support in the 1.0950-1.1000 zone and is aiming at the March 07 low of 1.0805. True, it has not yet managed to reach it, and the pair finished at 1.0874.

So why is the dollar continuing to gain strength? There are three reasons for this. The first is the Fed's monetary policy, which is becoming increasingly tight. We are now talking about reducing the balance sheet, which the US regulator intends to reduce by more than $1 trillion a year. And this is equivalent to an additional 3-4 increases in the refinancing rate in 2022-23, 25 basis points each. US Treasury yields will also rise, making the dollar more attractive.

The second and third causes are located on the other side of the Atlantic, in Europe. These are the presidential elections in France and new sanctions against Russia because of the armed conflict in Ukraine.

The first round of elections will be held on Sunday 10 April. French opposition leader Marine Le Pen is Eurosceptic. Please note that she almost called for the exit of the country from the Eurozone in 2017. And even if the opposition loses the election, it will still put a spoke in the wheels of European integration. But if Marine Le Pen comes to power, the pan-European currency will certainly not do well. According to some analysts, the EUR/USD pair may fall to the level of 1.0500 or even lower.

As for sanctions, we have repeatedly said that they negatively affect not only the Russian economy, but also the EU. First of all, because of the strong dependence of the European Union on Russian energy resources. In addition, one can add here the risks of Russia using nuclear weapons and the fact that military operations could turn into a catastrophe many times greater than Chernobyl.

The most important event of the coming week will be the ECB meeting and the subsequent press conference of its leadership on Thursday April 14. The probability that the interest rate will remain at the previous zero level is very high. However, investors hope to receive signals on how the European regulator plans to respond to internal and external challenges.

In the meantime, 45% of analysts vote for further strengthening of the dollar. The opposite opinion is shared by 35% and the remaining 20% of experts have taken a neutral position. All trend indicators and oscillators on D1 are colored red, although 25% of the latter give signals that the pair is oversold.

The nearest target for EUR/USD bears will be March 7 low 1.0805. And if they manage to break through this support, they will then aim for the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325.

The bulls will try to lift the pair above the level of 1.1000, to overcome the resistance at 1.1050 and, if possible, to reach the zone of 1.1120-1.1137. Their next target is the March 31 high of 1.1184.

In addition to the European Central Bank meeting, next week's economic calendar includes the release of German consumer data on Tuesday, April 12 and US consumer data on April 12 and 14. April 15 in the United States and most European countries is a day off, Good Friday.

GBP/USD: Fed Hawks and Bank of England Doves

The key and very strong support for the pair is the low of March 15 (and at the same time of 2021-2022), 1.3000. The GBP/USD bears went to break through it, reaching 1.2981 on April 08 during the US session. It seems that European traders, including British ones, are hesitant. But the Americans treat European currencies with disdain, to put it mildly, and continue to put pressure on them against the backdrop of the hawkish minutes of the Fed meeting and the comments of the top leaders of this regulator. As for their colleagues from the Bank of England, the latest comments of these officials were very soft, and raised doubts in the market as to whether the Bank will be able to justify the expectations of tightening monetary policy.

The last chord of the week after the rebound sounded at 1.3031. If the GBP/USD pair still manages to consolidate below 1.3000, this will open the way for it to the November 2020 lows around 1.2850, and then to the lows of September 2020 in the 1.2700 zone. This development is supported by only 35% of analysts. The remaining 65% are waiting for a correction to the north, and here the levels 1.3050, 1.3100 and the zone 1.3185-1.3215 will act as resistance, then 1.3270-1.3325 and 1.3400. All indicators on D1, as in the case of EUR/USD, point south, 15% of oscillators signal the pair is oversold.

As for the events concerning the economy of the United Kingdom, we can highlight the publication of data on the country's GDP and industrial production on Monday April 11, as well as on retail sales on Tuesday April 12. We will receive a package of information from the UK labor market on the same day, and we will get information from its consumer market on Wednesday, April 13.

USD/JPY: Japanese Are Against A Weak Yen

We titled our previous review as “125.09: No More Anti-Records?”. After a week, we can say that not yet, there will not be. And although the USD/JPY pair was moving north for a while, it fixed a local maximum at 124.67 this time, and ended the trading session at 124.36.

Recall that due to the super-soft monetary policy of the Bank of Japan, the yen continued to weaken, and the USD/JPY pair reached a record multi-year level of 125.09 on March 28, which is not far from the 2015 high of 125.86.

There are no expected releases of any important statistics on the state of the Japanese economy this week. The only thing that can be noted is the speech of the head of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, on Wednesday, April 13. But it is unlikely to pull on a sensation. Although here one should take into account the statement of Hideo Hayakawa, the former chief economist of this organization, that against the background of the weakening yen, the Japanese Central Bank may adjust the parameters of monetary policy in July. “While the Bank of Japan has repeatedly said that the weak yen is positive for the economy as a whole, in reality this impact is close to 50/50, and household discomfort will increase further as inflation in Japan rises as well. The vast majority of Japanese do not welcome the weak yen,” Hideo Hayakawa said on April 8. In his opinion, "it is too naive for the Bank of Japan to say that a weak yen is good when the government takes measures to solve the problem of rising prices and limiting gasoline prices."

Strategists at Rabobank also believe that a quick USD/JPY jump above 125.00 increases seriously the likelihood that the Japanese regulator will revise its quantitative easing (QE) program.

At the moment, the probability that the pair will try a second test of resistance in the 125.00-125.09 area is estimated as 50/50. However, when moving from a weekly forecast to a forecast for the second half of April and May, 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, as in the previous two cases, there is complete unanimity: 100% of trend indicators and 100% of oscillators look up, although 25% of the latter are in the overbought zone. Given the high volatility of the pair, the zones 123.65-124.05, 122.35-123.00 and 121.30 can be identified as supports. Then follow the zones 120.60-121.30, 119.00-119.40, 118.00-118.35.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Correction or the Beginning of a New Collapse



Miners mined the anniversary 19 millionth bitcoin On Friday, April 01, out of the 21 million provided by the algorithm. That is, less than 10% is left to be mined. And this is it. Thanks to this, bitcoin, as conceived by its creator (or creators), will become a super-scarce asset, which will push its value further and further up. This is what many market participants are counting on.

The trend towards the accumulation of digital gold has continued lately. Analysts from the Glassnode company noticed that, in addition to the “whales”, the so-called “shrimp” (addresses with a balance of less than 1 BTC) also contributed to the accumulation. Since the January 22 low, they have accumulated 0.58% of the market supply, bringing their share to 14.26%.

The volumes of accumulation began to exceed emission many times over. According to Glassnode, the rate of outflow of coins from centralized platforms has increased to 96,200 BTC per month, which is extremely rare in historical retrospect. Exchange balances fell to the levels of August 2018, breaking through the plateau observed since September 2021. The number of coins in bitcoin addresses that tend to accumulate rose by 217,000 BTC since December 04, 2021 to a record 2,854,000 BTC. Based on the figures presented, it is possible to obtain a daily accumulation rate of 1800 BTC, which is twice the emission rate.

This trend is confirmed by the report of the analytical company IntoTheBlock. According to it, the total amount of coins in the wallets of long-term investors reached a record 12 million BTC in Q1 2022 worth more than $551 billion. “This indicates a phase of accumulation, which can help strengthen faith in bitcoin as a store of value,” IntoTheBlock believes.

The most fantastic forecast regarding the future of the main cryptocurrency has been given by analysts from the investment company VanEck. According to their calculations, the price of bitcoin could reach $4.8 million if the cryptocurrency becomes a global reserve asset. Such a forecast was obtained taking into account the M2 money supply, that is, the amount of cash in circulation and all kinds of non-cash funds. There is also a lower range - $1.3 million per 1 BTC, calculated based on the M0 money supply, which does not include non-cash funds.

VanEck analysts warn that their forecast is only intended to serve as a starting point for investors who want to estimate the possible value of bitcoin in one of the unlikely scenarios. At the same time, according to the authors of the forecast, it is not bitcoin at all, but the Chinese yuan that is the primary contender for the status of world reserve currency.

Even the most notorious crypto fans understand that millions of dollars per coin are still infinitely far away. However, as for the foreseeable future, a number of scenarios look quite optimistic here. Thus, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes that the arrival of new investors and innovations, developments in politics and the economy, and the acceptance of bitcoin by the authorities improve the forecasts for BTC for 2022. “Initially, I said that bitcoin would have an unstable year, that the price would fluctuate in the range of $30,000 to $50,000. But given how the markets are trading, new investors and innovation, the development of the Web3 and the metaverse, I'm more optimistic. Therefore, I won’t be surprised if cryptocurrencies grow significantly by the end of 2022,” the billionaire said.

In his opinion, the adoption of bitcoin will continue as everyone understands what an unstable world we live in. “Bitcoin began to write a new history at a time when Europe and the United States blocked Russia's financial flows. The military action in Ukraine creates a lot of inflationary pressure, generates a lot of risks and worries, but adds confidence to crypto investors and accelerates the adoption of digital assets,” the CEO of Galaxy Digital said.

Raoul Pal, a former Goldman Sachs employee and current Real Vision CEO, shares a similar opinion. He said in the MetaLearn podcast that the world is ready for a new wave of bitcoin adoption, and a further fall in the market will have a beneficial effect on its growth. “Sovereign states, especially wealth funds, will start looking for a long-term asset that will provide some security. Therefore, bitcoin will be studied by them and we will see its further adoption - not necessarily as a currency, but as an asset. I think this is a very interesting solution: the global use of bitcoin as a protective collateral reserve asset."

According to Raul Pal, the macroeconomic situation suggests that the chances of another bitcoin sell-off are slim. Therefore, most market participants are likely to stick to a long-term strategy and not actively trade cryptocurrencies.

However, digital gold stopped rising after reaching a high of $48,156 on March 28. The bulls have not been able to push the BTC/USD pair above the 200-day moving average, and at the time of writing, on the evening of April 08, it is trading around $43,000. The total market capitalization is below the important psychological level of $2 trillion, having fallen from $2.140 trillion to $1.985 trillion during the week. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index also began to feel worse, falling from neutral 50 to 37 points, which are already in the Fear zone.

Renowned analyst and trader Cheds views the ascending triangle that has been forming since January 24 as a bullish sign. Such a triangle, he says, is usually a bullish continuation pattern. And in the event of an upside breakout, “the measurable move will be the height of the triangle, which will bring from $56,000 to $58,000.”

At the same time, the expert advises traders to keep a close eye on the 200-day moving average as this technical indicator is currently acting as resistance. Chads believes that if the bulls manage to keep BTC above $45,000, the cryptocurrency will be ready to storm the SMA-200 resistance for a further 26% gain. Otherwise, the bulls face the risk of a sell-off.

As mentioned, BTC/USD is currently trading at $43,000, below Cheds' support. However, given the volatility of the flagship cryptocurrency, the victory of the bears cannot yet be considered complete. A breakthrough to the south may be false. Moreover, bitcoin has ceased to be independent. It was in 2010, when 10,000 BTC could buy two pizzas, when it lived its own life. Now it has matured and become part of the global economy. Bitcoin is now showing an almost complete cyclical correlation with the S&P 500, which has recently hit 0.9. And it falls after the US stock market. And the latter, in turn, depends on the risk appetites of global investors.

If the craving for risky assets recovers, the crypto market will also go up. Otherwise, according to some experts, we can expect the BTC/USD pair to decline to March lows near $37,000 per coin. The probability of quotes falling even lower, to $30,000, is also quite high.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- Bitcoin remains hyper volatile, but its turnover is inferior to other assets, which does not allow us to talk about the high “speculativeness” of the first cryptocurrency. This, according to Financial News, was stated by Tom Lee, co-founder of the analytical firm Fundstrat. According to Lee's calculations, the turnover of bitcoins is 2:1, while that of the US dollar is 96:1, and that of a barrel of oil is 31:1. “Today, with […] penetration rates so low, one would expect bitcoin to be hyper volatile. But as 9 out of 10 households invest in the first cryptocurrency, its price fluctuations will weaken,” the specialist explained.

- David Rubenstein, co-founder of the investment fund Carlyle Group, admitted that he had been skeptical about cryptocurrencies, but his opinion changed over time. He emphasized that he did not buy cryptocurrencies, but “invested in companies that serve the industry.” "The genie is out of the bottle, and I don't think the industry is going to disappear anytime soon," the billionaire said.
He also pointed to the crisis in Ukraine as an additional reason for his current optimism. “If you are in Ukraine or Russia and the country is in a lot of trouble, having some crypto will probably make you feel better as you have something out of government control,” Rubenstein noted.

- The cryptocurrency industry will become the twelfth sector of the S&P 500 index in the next decade. This was stated by investor and star of the television show Shark Tank Kevin O'Leary.
Currently, the S&P 500 benchmark includes 11 sectors of the economy, and most experts advise investing no more than 20% of the portfolio in any of them. According to O'Leary, he adheres to this strategy when investing in cryptocurrencies. The millionaire said that he holds 32 positions in the digital asset sector, and none of them takes more than 5% of the prescribed 20%.
O'Leary stressed that investment diversification is one of the founding principles because "you have no idea what might work." In his opinion, even two successful bets out of ten can recoup unprofitable investments.

- According to Bloomberg analysts, the value of the flagship cryptocurrency may soon fall to $26,000. The experts emphasized that if the technical analysis pattern called “bear flag” works, then such a scenario will be inevitable.
In their opinion, the BTC rate is now on its way to testing a key support level around $37,500. If it does not hold above this mark, the market is in for a disaster.
Bloomberg specialists also noted that they took into account the Coinglass report. According to this company, about $439 million worth of crypto positions were liquidated on April 12. At the same time, more than 88% of closed orders accounted for long positions. Bitcoin futures contracts for $160 million were also closed.

- Philosopher and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Jordan Peterson spoke at at the Bitcoin-2022 conference in Miami and called the first cryptocurrency revolutionary but causing concern. As a sociologist, Peterson worries about getting money out of the control of the political system. According to him, new ideas can bring unforeseen consequences, and not only positive ones.
“I am not suggesting that you do anything as a result of this warning. I'm just saying that the unbridled enthusiasm is based on the assumption that the new system will only do good. It's unreasonable," Peterson said.

- Group-IB specialists identified 36 fraudulent YouTube streams dedicated to investing in cryptocurrencies in the period from February 16 to February 18. They brought the scammers about $1.7 million during these three days.
The attackers edited videos from old speeches by famous representatives of the crypto community and entrepreneurs. More often than others, the images of Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, Changpeng Zhao and Cathy Wood were used. On average, the audience of one such stream ranged from 3,000 to 18,000 people. And the fake stream with Buterin gathered more than 165,000 viewers. During the broadcast, users were offered to transfer cryptocurrencies to the specified wallet and allegedly receive them back in double. To receive an “additional bonus”, the attackers offered the investor to provide the seed phrase of their crypto wallet. If the victim agreed, the scammers withdrew all the funds on it.
In total, the deceived viewers made 281 transactions. Ethereum turned out to be the most popular among scammers. Most of the domains involved in the broadcasts appeared through the Russian registrar Reg.ru.

- Geoffrey Halley of Oanda stated that the flagship cryptocurrency continues to trade within the established range, the lower limit of which is at $36,500. If BTC falls even more, it can lead to serious losses for traders and investors. However, if the price of bitcoin soars in the near future above the upper limit of the range of $47,500, this will be a prerequisite for reaching a new record high.

- Crypto trader known as Cheds told their 45,100 YouTube followers that the bears are now in control and any bounce is an opportunity to go short on BTC. Cheds also believes that the next rally is likely to be a bear trap rather than a trend reversal.

- One of the by-products of bitcoin mining is the excess heat from the operation of crypto farms, which Jonathan Yuan took advantage of. He has kids who love swimming in the pool. However, they almost did not do this because the water was too cold. Yuan himself is actively involved in mining, and drew attention to the fact that his equipment generates too much heat. He purchased a heat exchanger and used it to install a system for heating water. According to him, thanks to this invention, the temperature in the pool can be maintained at approximately 32° C.
At the same time, the Yuan crypto farm thus received a water-cooling system. However, when the inventor pushed his ASIC miners to the limit, the temperature in the pool rose above 43°C, which also did not please his children.
Jonathan Yuan notes that almost everything can be heated according to this principle: living premises, garages and so on. It is assumed that the heating temperature can reach a maximum threshold of 60°C.

- Well-known writer and investor Robert Kiyosaki fully agrees with the opinion of analysts who believe that the US dollar and other markets are on the verge of collapse due to rising food, oil and energy prices, as well as widespread inflation. The author of the bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad assured that what is happening in the world of finance is a sign of a coming crisis, and this process will simply destroy half the US population. He noted that cryptocurrencies in this situation are a good tool to reduce risks, but not all people resort to using this asset class.
Kiyosaki emphasized that now 40% of Americans do not even have $1,000 in their savings. The inflation rate is rising, and this figure will soon exceed 50%. Then, according to the investor, a revolution will begin.

- Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, a company known for investing in bitcoin, and Cathie Wood, CEO of investment firm Arch Invest, contacted at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami. Both participants of the panel discussion still believe in bitcoin and are waiting for its growth, and the current situation in the market does not upset them at all. In their opinion, the Fed's monetary policy will continue to be inflationary, pushing prices up. In such a situation, according to Cathie Wood, bitcoin, as a means of hedging, has great potential for growth and its price could reach a record $1 million per coin. “It takes quite a bit of effort to do this,” the head of Arch Invest said. "We don't need much. All we need is for 2.5% of all assets to be converted to bitcoin.”
Both panellists believe that regulators are getting better at the flagship cryptocurrency. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke mostly negatively about bitcoin a year ago, referring to “money laundering, criminals, environmental damage” and so on. However, a lot has changed since then. “Someone whispered in her ear: if you want to lose, and if you want the US to lose, keep saying that. And she changed the record,” Wood shared an "inside info".

- As part of the Bitcoin-2022 conference, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez presented a statue of a “crypto bull”. According to him, the installation symbolizes the transformation of the city into the “world capital of the crypto industry”.
In contrast to its Wall Street's famous Charging Bull sibling, the Miami bull is cybernetically inspired and has the now-famous "laser eyes." The crypto community seems to like the new statue. Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano wrote that “the bulls are in control,” while Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called the installation “pretty cool.”

- Morningstar analysts posted a report claiming that cryptocurrencies are no match for the stock and bond markets in terms of returns. At the same time, they note that bitcoin “is still too risky to be compared to gold.” The authors of the report argue that, despite the prospect of significant profits that the cryptocurrency market can offer its participants, one must be very careful with it.
“Every breathtaking rally has led to an equally brutal crash at the end. Cryptocurrencies lack a fundamental anchor, such as the face value of bonds or the discounted cash flows of stocks,” Morningstar notes.


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

EUR/USD: Fed's Apples and ECB's Oranges

The dollar continues to strengthen, while the EUR/USD pair moves down. A week's low was recorded at 1.0757 after the ECB meeting on Thursday, April 14. After correction, the final chord, sounded at around 1.0808.

We named three reasons for the growth of the US currency in the previous forecast. The first is the difference between the monetary policies of the Fed and the ECB. Now, the probability of further tightening the position of the US Central bank has increased even more against the background of the latest data on inflation in the United States: the consumer price index has exceeded the forty-year high and reached 8.5%. Such an acceleration of inflation may force the regulator to act more vigorously and to revise its plans to raise the key rate and reduce the balance sheet in May.

New York Fed President John Williams, who is also vice chairman of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), said in an interview with Bloomberg that it makes sense for the Fed to bring interest rates to a neutral level as soon as possible, which, not stimulating, it does not hinder economic growth, and is in the range from 2% to 2.5%. Therefore, a 0.5% increase in federal borrowing costs at the May FOMC meeting looks quite realistic.

In contrast to the Fed's hawks, their European counterparts remain extremely dovish. The ECB left the interest rate unchanged at 0% at its meeting on April 14, which, in fact, was expected. Moreover, the Bank's representatives have already said earlier that the growth in the cost of lending in the context of continuing economic uncertainty could do more harm than good.

The head of the regulator, Christine Lagarde, confirmed at a press conference that followed the meeting that the ECB is moving more slowly than the Fed, and that the Eurozone will be hit harder by the military actions in Ukraine. The American and European economies, according to Ms. Lagarde, are as incomparable as apples and oranges. Such a fruity allegory made a strong impression on the market, as a result of which the EUR/USD pair collapsed to the zone of two-year lows.

Indeed, the current economic situation in the euro area does not inspire optimism and, according to many experts, will continue to worsen in the future. The German economic sentiment index published last week fell to a new multi-month low: minus 41.0 (minus 39.3 a month earlier). The index of current economic conditions of this locomotive of the European economy also fell to minus 30.8 in April (minus 21.4 in March). Against this background, the German GDP growth forecast for 2022 was lowered from 4.5% to 2.7%.

The situation may become even more complicated, as the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell announced their intention to include restrictions on the export of hydrocarbons from Russia in the next package of anti-Russian sanctions. Thus, the risk of stagflation in Europe remains at a fairly high level.

We mentioned another reason for the pressure on the euro - the presidential elections in France in the previous review. Their first round took place on Sunday April 10. So far, the incumbent President Emmanuel Macron is leading with 27.84% of the vote. Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally Party, gained 23.15%. The gap is not very large and there is still a possibility that the opposition may win in the second round on April 24. Its leader Marine Le Pen is a Eurosceptic. Please note that she called for almost the exit of the country from the Eurozone back in 2017. And if this lady comes to power, the EUR/USD pair, according to a number of analysts, may fall to the level of 1.0500, or even lower.

There is another factor pushing the pair south, which is the deterioration of global risk appetite. The S&P500 stock index has been falling for the third week in a row, while demand for safe-haven assets such as the dollar and US Treasuries, on the contrary, is growing.

At the moment, 50% of analysts vote for further strengthening of the dollar. The opposite opinion is shared by 40% and the remaining 10% of experts have taken a neutral position. All trend indicators and oscillators on D1 are colored red, although 15% of the latter give signals that the pair is oversold.

The nearest support is located at the level of 1.0800. The nearest target for EUR/USD bears will be April 14 low at 1.0757. And if they manage to break through this support, they will then aim for the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325. The bulls will try to lift the pair above the 1.1000 level and, if possible, reach the 1.1050 zone. But to do this, they first need to overcome the 1.0840 and 1.0900-1.0930 resistances.

The upcoming week's calendar includes speeches by Fed and ECB heads Jerome Powell and Christine Lagarde on Thursday April 21. Data on unemployment and manufacturing activity in the US will also be published on this day. As for the indicators of business activity in Germany and the Eurozone as a whole, they will become known on Friday, April 22.

GBP/USD: Battle for 1.3000

In the previous forecast, most experts (65%) supported the correction of the GBP/USD pair to the north and were absolutely right. It seemed at the beginning of the week that the victory was on the side of the bears: they managed to overcome the support in the 1.3000 zone and lower the pair to 1.2972.

Recall that 1.3000 is a key support/resistance level as it is not only the March 15 low, but also the 2021-2022 low. The bulls managed to seize the initiative on Wednesday, April 13, break through this resistance, reach the height of 1.3147 and complete the week also above it, at around 1.3060.

The pound was supported by a possible tactical victory of the Bank of England over the FRS in the fight for raising interest rates. Inflation in the UK increased from 6.2% to 7.0%. The Bank of England predicted that it would peak in April, accelerating to 7.2%. However, a number of banks did not agree with the regulator's opinion, believing that inflation will not stop at this point, reaching 9.0% in April, and then its growth will continue. Therefore, the Bank of England will have to do something about it. And this “something” is, of course, another increase in interest rates. It was this prospect that pushed the British currency to growth.

We can expect the battle for 1.3000 to continue next week. If the victory is on the side of the bears, they will try to update the April 13 low of 1.2972 and open the way to the November 2020 lows around 1.2850, and then to the September 2020 lows in the zone 1.2700. The nearest support is 1.3050. 30% of analysts vote for the victory of the bears, while the majority (70%) side with the bulls. The resistance levels are 1.3100, 1.3150 and the zone 1.3190-1.3215, then 1.3270-1.3325 and 1.3400. Among the indicators on D1, the advantage of the reds is evident. Among the oscillators, 75% are colored in this color, another 15% are green and 10% are neutral gray. Trend indicators have 100% on the red side.

Among the events concerning the economy of the United Kingdom, we can highlight the speeches of the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey on April 21 and 22. Data on business activity in the manufacturing and services sectors of the UK will also be published on Friday, April 22.

USD/JPY: Do We Expect New Anti-records from the Yen?



It seems that nothing can stop the fall of the yen and the growth of the USD/JPY pair. The Japanese currency sets an anti-record after an anti-record, and the pair recorded another high at 126.67. The last time it climbed so high was on May 01, 2002, that is, 20 years ago.

We noted in the last review that the majority of Japanese people are against the weak yen. However, despite this, the Bank of Japan still refuses to raise the key rate and reduce monetary easing. The regulator believes that maintaining economic activity is much more important than fighting inflation. And this divergence with the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy is pushing the USD/JPY further north.

The pair closed the week's trading session at 126.37. 45% of analysts vote for maintaining the uptrend next week. A little more, 55%, remembering a powerful correction to the south after a similar rally in the last week of March, expect something similar now. It should be noted here that when switching to the forecast for may-June, the number of supporters of the dollar strengthening increases to 80%. We have already cited Rabobank strategists who believe that a quick USD/JPY jump above 125.00 will seriously increase the likelihood that the Japanese regulator will revise its quantitative easing (QE) program. And this jump took place last week.

There is complete unanimity among the indicators on D1: 100% of trend indicators and 100% of oscillators look up, although 35% of the latter are in the overbought zone. Without a doubt, the main support in the coming days will be the levels of 126.00 and 125.00. Then, taking into account the high volatility of the pair, we can single out the zones 123.65-124.05, 122.35-123.00 and 120.60-121.30. As for the plans of the bulls, they will try to update the high of April 15, and rise above 127.00. An attempt to designate their subsequent goals, focusing on the levels of 20 years ago, will rather look like fortune telling.

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

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: April 12: Space Flight Day. But not for bitcoin.

It is impossible to call the first half of April successful for the crypto market. And if bitcoin was still trying to jump over the 200-day SMA two weeks ago, on April 04, then the bulls completely capitulated and a local low was recorded at $39.210 on April 12. It is noteworthy that Cosmonautics Day is celebrated on this day: Yuri Gagarin went into space and circled the planet Earth on April 12, 1961, for the first time in the world. The BTC/USD pair did not make a breakthrough to the stars. Rather, we observed a fall from orbit.

As of this writing, on the evening of Friday, April 15, the pair is trading around $40,440. The total market capitalization has slightly decreased and is still below the important psychological level of $2 trillion, at the level of $1.880 trillion. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index did not stay in the previous orbit either: it fell from 37 to 22 points and returned to the Extreme Fear zone.

We wrote earlier that bitcoin has become a part of the global economy and now demonstrates a strong correlation with stock indices. Therefore, its quotes chart is largely congruent, first of all, with the S&P500 chart. So, as of March 2022, according to Arcana Research, the correlation coefficient between BTC and S&P500 was 0.497. The main cryptocurrency falls and rises after the stock market. And that, in turn, falls or rises depending on the actions of the US Federal Reserve. There is no longer any question of bitcoin's independence.

As we have already mentioned, there has recently been a clear trend towards the accumulation of digital gold. The volumes of accumulation began to exceed emission many times over. According to Glassnode, the rate of outflow of coins from centralized platforms has increased to 96,200 BTC per month, which is extremely rare in historical retrospect. In addition to the “whales”, the so-called “shrimps” (addresses with a balance of less than 1 BTC) also contributed to the accumulation. So why doesn't hodle sentiment lead to higher prices?

The answer is simple: no new investors. The old ones either go into the state of long-term holders of coins, or get rid of them. Approximately $439 million worth of crypto positions were liquidated on April 12 alone, according to Coinglass. At the same time, more than 88% of closed orders accounted for long positions. Bitcoin futures contracts for $160 million were also closed. But there is no strong inflow of new investments into the crypto sector.

Investors have lost their appetite for risk since the end of March, the DXY dollar index and US 10-year bond yields reach new highs on a regular basis. Due to rising inflation, which reached 8.5% in the US in March, the markets are waiting for the US Central Bank to raise interest rates again at the May meeting, and not by 0.25%, but immediately by 0.5%. This is the reason why interest from high-risk assets flows to more conservative instruments.

According to Bloomberg analysts, the value of the flagship cryptocurrency may soon fall to $26,000. The experts emphasized that if the technical analysis pattern called “bear flag” works, then such a scenario will be inevitable. In their opinion, the BTC rate is now on its way to testing a key support level around $37,500. If it does not hold above this mark, the market is in for a disaster.

Analyst Jeffrey Halley's forecast sounds slightly more optimistic. He believes that the flagship cryptocurrency continues to trade within the established range, the lower limit of which is at $36,500. If BTC falls even more, it can lead to serious losses for traders and investors. However, if the price of bitcoin soars in the near future above the upper limit of the range of $47,500, this will be a prerequisite for reaching a new record high.

There are also influencers who are not worried or upset by the current market situation at all. These include Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, a company known for its investments in bitcoin, and Cathie Wood, head of investment company Arch Invest, who still believe in bitcoin and look forward to its growth.

Saylor and Wood spoke at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami and concluded that the Fed's monetary policy will continue to be inflationary, pushing prices up. In such a situation, according to Cathie Wood, bitcoin, as a means of hedging, has great potential for growth and its price could reach a record $1 million per coin. “It takes quite a bit of effort to do this,” the head of Arch Invest said. "We don't need much. All we need is for 2.5% of all assets to be converted to bitcoin.”

Well-known writer and investor Robert Kiyosaki has a similar opinion, he believes that the US dollar and other markets are on the verge of collapse due to rising food, oil and energy prices, as well as widespread inflation. The author of the bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad assured that what is happening in the world of finance is a sign of a coming crisis, and this process will simply destroy half the US population. He noted that cryptocurrencies in this situation are a good tool to reduce risks, but not all people resort to using this asset class. Kiyosaki emphasized that now 40% of Americans do not even have $1,000 in their savings. The inflation rate is rising, and this figure will soon exceed 50%. Then, according to the investor, a revolution will begin.

Morningstar analysts posted a report claiming that cryptocurrencies are no match for the stock and bond markets in terms of returns. At the same time, they note that bitcoin “is still too risky to be compared to gold.” The authors of the report argue that, despite the prospect of significant profits that the cryptocurrency market can offer its participants, one must be very careful with it. “Every breathtaking rally has led to an equally brutal crash at the end,” Morningstar notes.

It is difficult to argue that speculation or investment in digital assets is quite risky. But there are certain things in this business, as in any other, that allow you to get additional benefits. It is about them that we regularly talk about in our crypto life hacks section. This time it's about heat energy and a man named Jonathan Yuan who has kids who love to swim in the pool. However, they almost did not do this because the water was too cold.

Yuan himself is actively involved in mining and drew attention to the fact that his equipment generates too much heat. He purchased a heat exchanger and used it to install a system for heating water. According to him, thanks to this invention, the temperature in the pool can be maintained at about 32° C, and the crypto farm receives a water cooling system. Jonathan Yuan notes that almost everything can be heated according to this principle: living premises, garages and so on. It is assumed that the heating temperature can reach a maximum threshold of 60°C.

There are nuances here, however. When the inventor pushed his ASIC miners to the limit, the temperature in the pool rose above 43°C. His children did not like it either and they stopped swimming again. So, the ancient Greek “father” of medicine, Hippocrates, was right, saying “good things in small doses”.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- According to Arcane Research, the correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq Composite Index has reached its highest since July 2020. The similar indicator (30-day moving average) between the first cryptocurrency and gold has fallen to a historical low, the one between the first cryptocurrency and the dollar - to a minimum since March 2020.
Experts have explained such dynamics by tightening the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve. An increase in interest rates leads to a strengthening dollar and a fall in high-tech stocks. Accordingly, the growth in the price relationship between bitcoin and the Nasdaq Composite index reflects that digital gold belongs to the category of risky assets.
Physical gold is currently acting as a hedge against inflation, while bitcoin ETPs are recording an outflow of funds. If the current pace is maintained, the historical anti-record of July 2021 when investors withdrew 13,849 BTC will be updated by the end of the month. Recall that BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has predicted a drop in bitcoin to $30,000 by the end of the second quarter due to the decline in the Nasdaq index.

- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency (CISA), the FBI and the US Treasury have issued a joint warning regarding North Korean hackers. The authorities have said they are seeing attacks targeting the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors, including exchanges, DeFi protocols, venture capital funds, individual large crypto asset holders and NFTs.
According to a report by Chainalysis, North Korean hackers carried out at least seven cyberattacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, stealing about $400 million worth of digital assets.

- Analyst software provider MicroStrategy intends to “strongly pursue” its strategy and continue to build up bitcoin reserves. This was stated by CEO Michael Saylor in a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
MicroStrategy is the first public company to invest part of its own capital in digital gold. According to the entrepreneur, this decision increased the value of the company for customers and shareholders. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the software provider holds 129,218 BTC worth $5.17 billion in reserves. MacroStrategy made its last $190.5 million purchase in early April. For comparison, Tesla, which is in second place after MicroStrategy, owns 43,200 BTC worth about $1.7 billion.

- The price of the first cryptocurrency may rise above $100,000 over the next 12 months. This forecast was given by Antoni Trenchev, CEO of the Nexo crypto-landing platform, in an interview with CNBC. At the same time, he noted that he was “concerned” about the short-term prospects for bitcoin. In his opinion, the rate may fall along with traditional stock markets as a result of the US Central Bank curtailing the monetary stimulus program.
Trenchev stated in January 2020 that the cryptocurrency would “easily reach” $50,000 by the end of the year. He recalled that everyone laughed at him then. However, the forecast came true, albeit with some delay: the price of digital gold reached the designated mark in February 2021.

- Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, predicts similar dynamics of the flagship cryptocurrency. This specialist believes that bitcoin will be “much higher” than $50,000 by the end of 2022. However, he admits a sharp drop in prices in the near future. “At the moment, we are living in conditions of, I would say, global uncertainty in the markets, not only cryptocurrencies, but also stock markets,” Ardoino said.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Nicholas Merten believes that BTC could set new record highs as early as next year. According to him, the bulls still have not lost control despite the current market fluctuations: “The market is currently far from impressing investors, but this situation is always observed during the beginning of accumulation. This is how the structure of the trend begins to form.”
According to Merten, the fact that bitcoin has begun to make higher lows and higher highs confirms that the bulls are at the helm, no matter how things look at the moment. The analyst believes that since this situation persists, then the BTC rate has every chance of reaching $150,000 and even $200,000 within the next year.

- A well-known analyst aka PlanB has identified two catalysts that could cause the next bitcoin rally. “It is definitely difficult to say what will help move to the qualitatively next level of implementation. But if we draw logical conclusions, then the second or the third El Salvador can really change the situation. If little El Salvador were not alone in introducing bitcoin in Latin America, and Mexico, Brazil or Argentina joined it, then the situation would be different, and it would be much more difficult for the IMF to put pressure on countries.”
The second catalyst is the everyday adoption of cryptocurrencies by ordinary people, especially if the process is supported by institutional market participants.

- “The NFT bubble is starting to burst,” said Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of the "Black Swan", who predicted the approach of the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Speaking to Fortune, Taleb cited the recent NFT (non-fungible token) sale of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as an example. His first online tweet was sold as an NFT last year for nearly $3 million. Today, it costs only a few thousand, more precisely, a little over $18,000.
Taleb's theory of "black swans" is associated with the appearance of ultra-rare events (like a black swan in nature), for which the market is not ready. In 2007, such an event was a sharp drop in house prices, and in 2022, the end of the era of low interest rates and “easy” money that had formed the basis of monetary policy during the pandemic.

- According to a new survey by Engine Insights, children aged 13 to 17 will spend their money differently than their parents. If they had money to invest, their first choice would be stocks (39%) followed by cryptocurrencies (29%) and real estate (29%).
At the same time, more than half of teenagers (51%) admitted that they do not understand the cryptocurrency industry as well as they would like to. The main source of information for 51% of respondents is online video. This is followed by relatives (32%) and websites of investment companies (32%). Parents are only in fourth place: they act as a source of information for 30% of adolescents. However, the school's position is even worse: only 21% of teenagers have learned about investments from their teachers.

- Cryptocurrency market expert Ali Martinez analyzed the price chart of bitcoin and stated that its value could fall to $27,000. It is important for the bulls to stay above the critical support level in order to prevent this from happening. According to the Fibonacci levels, this support is in the $38,530 area. If a breakdown occurs, then the rate of digital gold will fall to $32,853 or even $26,820. Martinez also believes that one should not focus only on technical analysis and discard the fundamental one. A lot depends on the geopolitical situation in the world currently, so it is very difficult to give accurate price forecasts.
Cryptocurrency analyst and trader Michael van de Poppe believes that bitcoin could drop to a record low below $30,000 amid geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe before starting to rise again.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen believes that bitcoin is approaching “the point of choosing the direction of the trend.” Cowen elaborates that this has happened before: “In 2013, bitcoin made a low, then a second, then a third, and eventually began to rise. And then in 2018, when there were higher lows, we thought that the same thing would happen as in 2013, but in the end, bitcoin fell to a new low.”
According to the analyst, in order to restore the bullish trend and reduce the likelihood of a bearish one, bitcoin needs to rise above the 200-day SMA, which at the time of writing is at about $47,500. “If bitcoin can muster the courage to rise above its 200-day SMA and move to the $50,000 level, then that would look pretty optimistic. But what happens if the market drops to $30,000 and then bitcoin goes up again? There's a good chance we'll get back to $40,000 or maybe $43,000,” said Benjamin Cowen.

- According to Coincub specialists, Germany has displaced Singapore from the position of the most crypto-friendly country. Authors of the report for the Q1 2022 have ranked 46 countries based on a range of factors, including new categories such as the number of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in each country, the prevalence of fraud and the availability of cryptocurrency education courses, etc. Germany's rise in the rankings comes after crypto exchange KuCoin released a report showing that 16% of the country's population aged 18 to 60 own or have traded crypto in the past six months. 41% of these investors intend to increase their investments in the crypto industry in the next six months. Interestingly, Germany was only in fourth place on the Coincub list last year.

- Strike payment service CEO Jack Mallers believes that payment services must constantly improve, and bitcoin does it best. In his opinion, the use of bitcoins as a payment network "is superior to the systems of traditional payment services and banks." In addition, the head of Strike compared the first cryptocurrency with the Internet, saying that they provide freedom: anyone can use both. Jack Mallers also advises cryptocurrency holders not to spend bitcoin as the asset is meant to be a long-term investment.


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.

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EUR/USD: Words Drive Trends

The main drivers of the past week were statements by important ECB and FRS officials. However, the beginning of the five-day period was relatively calm: the Easter weekend had its effect. Unlike the United States, Europe rested not only on Friday April 15, but also on Monday 18. The dollar was slightly supported on Monday by the comments from the representatives of the American regulator. According to Rafael Bostic, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the base interest rate may be about 1.75% by the end of 2022, and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans believes that it will reach 2.25-2.50%. And the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, announced a possible rise in the key rate by 0.75% immediately at the May meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee).

The situation changed dramatically on Tuesday: the EUR/USD pair reversed and, having soared by 175 points, reached the height of 1.0935 on Thursday, April 21. It was not the dollar but the euro that was supported this time by hawkish comments from the members of the European Central Bank Governing Council. Thus, the head of the Central Bank of Latvia, Martins Kazaks, said on Wednesday that an increase in the ECB rate is possible as early as July. His colleague, the head of the National Bank of Belgium, Pierre Wunsch, gave an interview to Bloomberg the next day, in which he noted that interest rates could become positive this year. ECB Vice-President Luis de Guindos confirmed this possibility, according to him the quantitative easing (QE) program may be completed in July, after which the path to raising rates will be open.

An additional impetus to the pair was given by the improvement in risk sentiment and the decline in the yield of American Treasuries. This sent the DXY dollar index down 1% after hitting a two-year high on Tuesday.

The situation changed for the third time on Thursday afternoon. The dollar went on a new offensive, assisted by a rise in the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds, which rose to 2.974%, the highest level since December 2018. This happened thanks to Jerome Powell. Speaking at a meeting within the framework of the International Monetary Fund spring session, the head of the Fed confirmed the high probability of raising the interest rate by 0.5% at the next FOMC meeting on May 3-4. Such a move is under consideration, Powell said, as the U.S. job market is already "overheated." He did not rule out either that the rate could be increased by another 0.5% in June.

As for the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, speaking at the same IMF event, she refused to comment on the likelihood of an increase in the euro rate in July. “This will depend on the economic performance,” Ms. Lagarde said vaguely, after which the EUR/USD pair flew down.

The head of the ECB decided to slightly tighten her position on the last day of the working session, April 22. Ыhe did not deny at this point that the European Central Bank's purchase program could end at the beginning of Q3 and added that interest rates could rise as early as 2022. Her words sounded more hawkish compared to Thursday's, but that didn't help the euro. The pair found its bottom only at 1.0770, after which there was a slight correction to the north and a finish at 1.0800.

The euro was slightly supported by the results of the televised debate between French President Emmanuel Macron and opposition leader Marine Le Pen. As the poll data showed, 56% of respondents considered that the incumbent president was more convincing in the debate than his rival.

The second round of the presidential elections in France will be held on Sunday 24 April. Emmanuel Macron won 27.84% of the vote in the first round. Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally Party, received 23.15%. Recall that she belongs to the Eurosceptics, and had called for almost the exit of the country from the Eurozone back in 2017. And if this lady comes to power, the EUR/USD pair, according to a number of analysts, may fall to the level of 1.0500, or even lower.

At the time of writing the review, the results of the election are still unknown, so the majority of analysts (50%) did not make any forecasts. 35% believe that the dollar will continue to strengthen. The opposite opinion is shared by only 15%. All trend indicators and oscillators on D1 are colored red, although 15% of the latter give signals that the pair is oversold. The nearest support is located at the level of 1.0770. The next EUR/USD bear target will be the April 14 low at 1.0757. And if they manage to break through this support, they will then aim for the 2020 low of 1.0635 and the 2016 low of 1.0325. Immediate resistance zone is 1.0830-1.0860, followed by 1.0900, the April 21 high of 1.0935 and 1.1000.

As for the release of macro data, the volume of orders for capital goods and durable goods in the US will be known on Tuesday, April 26. Data on GDP and the state of consumer markets in Germany and the Eurozone will be received on Thursday, April 28 and Friday, April 29. In addition, preliminary annual data on US GDP will be released on Thursday.

GBP/USD: The Battle for 1.3000 Is Lost. Will there be a counterattack?

We assumed in the previous review that we are in for the continuation of the battle of bulls and bears, and the front line will pass in the zone of 1.3000. Recall that 1.3000 is a key support/resistance level as it is not only the March 15 low, but also the 2021-2022 low.

And now we must say that the bulls have lost this battle. Having raised the GBP/USD pair to the height of 1.3090, they finally weakened, and it flew down. The local bottom was fixed at 1.2822 on Friday, and the final chord sounded a little higher, in the zone of 1.2830.

The reasons for this collapse of the pound lie on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. On the one hand, this is the hawkish position of the US Federal Reserve and the growth of US Treasury yields. On the other hand, there are cautious comments from the Bank of England (BoE) and weak macro statistics from the UK.

Commenting on the state of the economy on Thursday, the head of the British regulator, Andrew Bailey, said that the inflationary shock in the United Kingdom has more in common with the Eurozone than with the US. "We shouldn't be complacent about inflation expectations," Bailey added, reiterating that they were dealing with "a very tight line between fighting inflation and the impact of a shock on real incomes."

The day after the speech of the head of the Bank of England, the UK Office for National Statistics dealt another blow to the pound. It reported that retail sales fell 1.4% in March. This indicator followed the February decline of 0.5% and turned out to be much worse than the forecast, according to which the fall should have been only 0.3%.

Such a massive failure will most likely send investors into a shock and it will take time to restore their appetite for British currency purchases. The bears will try to build on their success and push the GBP/USD pair further down. 65% of analysts vote for this development, the remaining 35% expect the pair to correct to the north.

There is a total advantage of the red ones among the indicators on D1: 100% both among trend indicators and oscillators. True, as for the latter, a third is in the oversold zone. The immediate goal of the bears is to overcome the support of 1.2800, update the October 2020 lows around 1.2760 and open their way to the September 2020 lows in the zone 1.2685-1.2700. More distant targets for the pair's decline are located at the levels of 1.2400, 1.2250, 1.2085 and 1.2000. As for the bears, they will try to regain the initiative and fight again for 1.3000. However, they will need to overcome the resistances of 1.2860 and 1.2915 on this way. In case of a successful assault on 1.3000, resistance levels 1.3100, 1.3150 and the zone 1.3190-1.3215 will follow.

There are no significant data releases on the UK economy for the coming week. The only thing that can be noted is the release of data on the housing market of this country on Friday, April 29.

USD/JPY: Will the Bank of Japan Stand Its Ground?

The Japanese currency is hitting one anti-record after another, and the expectation that the past week would bring another one proved to be absolutely correct. The USD/JPY pair recorded another high at 129.39 on Wednesday, April 20. The last time it climbed this high was in May 2002, that is, 20 years ago.

The reasons for the fall of the yen are the same: divergence from the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve. Despite the fact that the majority of the Japanese are against the weak yen, the Bank of Japan still refuses to raise the key rate even to zero and does not want to cut monetary stimulus. The regulator believes that maintaining economic activity is much more important than fighting inflation.

The regular meeting of the Japanese Central Bank will take place next week, on Thursday, April 28. According to strategists of Singapore's UOB Group (United Overseas Bank), the regulator will once again leave the parameters of its monetary policy unchanged. “We are confident,” write UOB economists, “that the BOJ will maintain its current loose monetary policy unchanged throughout 2022, and will also maintain massive stimulus, possibly until fiscal year 2023 at least.”

The yen received some support from reports that Treasury Secretary Shunichi Suzuki discussed the idea of coordinated foreign exchange intervention with his counterpart, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. And it seems that "the American side sounded as if it would positively consider this idea." However, a source from the Japanese Ministry of Finance dampened hopes for a joint effort between the two countries, refusing to comment on the details of the conversation between Suzuki and Yellen.

Having renewed a multi-year high, the pair USD/JPY bounced back a little in the second half of the five-day period and ended it at the level of 128.53. 40% of experts vote for the bulls to storm new heights, 30% have taken the opposite position and 30% adhere to neutrality. Among indicators on D1, 100% of trend indicators look north, among oscillators, these are 90% of them (a third are in the overbought zone), the remaining 10% point south. The nearest support is located at 127.80-128.00, followed by 127.45, 126.30-126.75 zone and levels 126.00 and 125.00. The resistances are located at levels 128.70, 129.10 and 129.39. An attempt to designate the subsequent targets of the bulls will rather be like fortune telling. The only thing we can assume is that they will set a high of January 01, 2002, 135.19, as a distant target. Taking into account the fact that the pair has risen by 1400 points over the past 7 weeks, it can reach this height in a month and a half if this pace is maintained.

Aside from the BOJ meeting and its monetary policy report, there is no other important information on the state of the Japanese economy expected this week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: BTC from $30,000 to $200,000



Throughout 2022, bitcoin has been moving along the Pivot Point around $40,000, trying to either reach $50,000 or fall to $30,000. The reason for such fluctuations, of course, is the US Federal Reserve. Investors cannot finally decide how to behave in the face of tightening monetary policy and rising dollar interest rates. As a result, their appetite for risk falls and flares up again. First of all, this applies to the stock market, along with which digital gold fluctuates as well.

We have repeatedly considered the correlation of the BTC/USD pair with the shares of technology companies. So, according to Arcane Research, the correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq Composite index reached its high since July 2020. The same indicator between the first cryptocurrency and gold has fallen to a historic low. It is physical gold that has recently been acting as a hedge against inflation, and its price came close to its historical maximum, reaching $2.070 per ounce on March 08 (the maximum price of $2.075 was recorded on August 2, 2020).

Bitcoin-ETP (Exchange Traded Product) shows an outflow of funds. If the current pace is maintained, the historical anti-record of July 2021 will be updated by the end of the month, when investors withdrew 13,849 BTC. The number of active addresses on the bitcoin network has dropped to 15.6 million, about 30% less than the January 2021 high. Many short-term (less than 155 days) holders and speculators have already parted with their BTC holdings, according to Glassnode data.

The market is currently supported by long-term holders (LTH). As we already wrote, there has recently been a trend towards the accumulation of digital gold among them. The volumes of accumulation began to exceed emission many times over. According to Glassnode, the rate of outflow of coins from centralized platforms has increased to 96,200 BTC per month, which is extremely rare in historical retrospect. In addition to the “whales”, the so-called “shrimp” (addresses with a balance of less than 1 BTC) also contributed to the accumulation, bringing their share to 14.26% of the market supply.

At the moment, about 15% of long-term holders are losing, but they not only continue to store coins, but also acquire new ones, counting on their growth in the future. For example, analytics software provider MicroStrategy intends to “strongly pursue” its strategy and continue to build up reserves in bitcoin. This was stated by CEO Michael Saylor in a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, MicroStrategy holds 129,218 BTC worth $5.17 billion in reserves. The company's division made its last purchase of $190.5 million in early April. For comparison, Tesla, which is in second place after MicroStrategy, owns 43,200 BTC worth about $1.7 billion.

At the time of this writing, Friday evening, April 22, the total crypto market capitalization is still below the important psychological level of $2 trillion, at $1.850 trillion ($1.880 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index slightly improved its readings: it rose from 22 to 26 points and returned from the Extreme Fear zone to the Fear zone.

The BTC/USD pair is trading around $39,700. The chart of the past four months, with its rising highs and lows, gives investors hope for a further rise in price. However, everything will depend on the May Fed meeting and investor risk sentiment. Recall that BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has predicted a drop in bitcoin to $30,000 by the end of the second quarter due to the decline in the Nasdaq index. The same figure of $30,000 is also mentioned by cryptocurrency analyst and trader Michael van de Poppe, although he points to another reason: geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

Many other experts do not expect anything good from the BTC/USD pair in the near future either, although they build optimistic forecasts for the medium and long term. So, according to Anthony Trenchev, CEO of the Nexo crypto-landing platform, the price of the first cryptocurrency may rise above $100,000 over the next 12 months. However, he is "worried" about the short-term outlook for bitcoin. In his opinion, the rate may fall along with traditional stock markets as a result of the US Central Bank curtailing the monetary stimulus program.

Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, predicts similar dynamics of the flagship cryptocurrency. This specialist believes that bitcoin will be “much higher” than $50,000 by the end of 2022. However, he admits a sharp drop in prices in the near future. “At the moment, we are living in conditions of, I would say, global uncertainty in the markets, not only cryptocurrencies, but also stock markets,” Ardoino said.

Cryptocurrency market expert Ali Martinez analyzed the price chart of bitcoin and said that its value could fall to $27,000. It is important for the bulls to stay above the critical support level in order to prevent this from happening. According to the Fibonacci levels, this support is in the $38,530 area. If a breakdown occurs, then the rate of digital gold will fall to $32,853 or even $26,820. Like most analysts, Martinez also believes that one should not focus only on technical analysis and discard the fundamental one, since much depends on the geopolitical situation in the world now.

Cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen is confident that bitcoin is approaching "the point of choosing the direction of the trend." Cowen elaborates that this has happened before: “In 2013, bitcoin made a low, then a second, then a third, and eventually began to rise. And then in 2018, when there were higher lows, we thought that the same thing would happen as in 2013, but in the end, bitcoin fell to a new low.”

According to the analyst, in order to restore the bullish trend and reduce the likelihood of a bearish one, the BTC/USD pair needs to rise above the 200-day SMA, which is at around $47,440 at the time of writing. “If bitcoin can muster the courage to rise above its 200-day SMA and move to the $50,000 level, then that would look pretty optimistic. But what happens if the market drops to $30,000 and then bitcoin goes up again? There's a good chance we'll get back to $40,000 or maybe $43,000,” said Benjamin Cowen.

Most likely, the prospect of the return of the flagship cryptocurrency from $30,000 back to $40,000 in the current situation will not please investors very much, since the coin is currently trading in the region of $40,000. Therefore, to cheer them up, we will quote another specialist, Nicholas Merten from DataDash, who believes that BTC can set new record highs as early as next year. According to him, the bulls still have not lost control despite the current market fluctuations: “The market is currently far from impressing investors, but this situation is always observed during the beginning of accumulation. This is how the structure of the trend begins to form.”

According to Merten, the fact that bitcoin has begun to make higher lows and higher highs confirms that the bulls are at the helm, no matter how things look at the moment. The analyst believes that since this situation persists, then the BTC rate has every chance of reaching $150,000 and even $200,000 within the next year.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- The financial company Fidelity Investments plans to provide customers with the opportunity to accumulate bitcoins on pension savings. The Wall Street Journal writes about it. The option will become available this summer to employees of the 23,000 companies that use Fidelity to manage their $2.7 trillion retirement plans. The addition of other cryptocurrencies is not ruled out in the future, but the share of digital assets in the portfolio should not exceed 20%.

- The innovative strategy of using bitcoin as the main reserve asset will bring a “bright future” to the software provider MicroStrategy for the coming years. Michael Saylor, CEO of the company, said this in a letter to shareholders. “As of April 14, 2022, MicroStrategy remains the largest bitcoin holder among publicly traded companies. Together with affiliates, it owns 129,218 BTC, purchased for $3.97 billion at an average price of about $30,700,” the head of the firm said. According to him, the company's cryptocurrency strategy not only increased its value, but also led to greater recognition, helping to attract customers.

- The price of bitcoin will be $65,185 by the end of 2022. This forecast was given by financial experts interviewed by Finder. According to them, bitcoin will cost $179,280 on December 31, 2025, and $420,240 at the end of 2030. More than two-thirds of those surveyed believe that now is the time to buy the first cryptocurrency. Only 9% were in favor of exiting the asset.
Half of the experts believe that bitcoin will be eventually displaced from the position of the most popular cryptocurrency by a more advanced blockchain. 38% are sure that digital gold will stay on the throne.
Experts were asked to name the top five most effective cryptocurrencies. 87% of respondents included ethereum in it. Bitcoin was in second place with 71%, and Solana was third with 55%. Avalanche and Terra close the top 5 with 31% and 30%, respectively.

¬- Businesses will turn to cryptocurrencies as a neutral financial instrument due to rising geopolitical tensions. This opinion was expressed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. He noted that the world is becoming more and more fragmented, and the US is using the dollar for sanctions pressure. "The dollar is one of the strongest instruments the US has," Zhao said.
According to him, the resulting geopolitical situation will lead to greater acceptance of cryptocurrencies. Companies and even countries will start using them because of the risk of freezing accounts and other obstacles due to sanctions. As a result, this will reduce the dollar's global influence, as the rest of the world is likely to switch to cryptocurrency, albeit in the long run.

- Hollywood film company Scott Free Productions intends to film the book The Infinite Machine, dedicated to ethereum and Vitalik Buterin. It was written by Camilla Russo, a well-known journalist in the crypto industry. The book was published in 2020 and tells how the 19-year-old Buterin rallied a group of developers around the idea of creating a “world computer”. The book tells the story of the team's challenges, from increased regulatory scrutiny to the rise of Wall Street interest.
Ridley Scott who is known for his blockbusters Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner and The Martian will co-produce the movie. Camilla Russo and Francisco Gordillo, co-founder of the cryptocurrency hedge fund Avenue Investment, will help him with this.

- Cryptocurrency trader and analyst Tony Weiss has updated his forecast. According to him, bitcoin has broken support levels, so the risks of another strong fall are high. The coin needs to hold around $39,500 for this not to happen. “If bitcoin closes below $39,500, I will be extremely bearish for the next week and month. This is a very bad signal because the 4-day and the week charts will be completely bearish,” Weiss said.

- Cryptocurrency trader nicknamed Kaleo also believes that bitcoin has not yet reached the level that can be considered a bottom with confidence. According to him, the main cryptocurrency is preparing to retest the lows last seen in mid-2021. bitcoin is currently inside the “big wedge” pattern, and it will be broken in the coming weeks, the asset itself is expected to fall by about 28%. In addition, Kaleo warned that a break of the $38,500 level could trigger another round of bitcoin's decline and a bounce above $41,000 would not change the situation much.

- Kevin O'Leary, entrepreneur and star of the reality show Shark Tank, believes that the global tightening of mining regulation will force companies to switch to green energy. “The old ways of mining, the era of ignoring politicians, governments, the Securities and Exchange Commission, is over,” O'Leary said. He stated in an interview with First Mover that nuclear and hydropower could take an important place in the crypto mining industry in the future.

- According to analyst Kevin Swenson, one should follow the weekly volume of bitcoins on the Coinbase crypto exchange in order to accurately predict trend reversals. This indicator has correctly pointed him to the price peaks and bottom of bitcoin since 2017. “Weekly volumes on Coinbase are my favourite, and this indicator has almost never let me down before.” says the specialist.
Swenson noted that investors need to see a significant increase in volume after the correction to be completely sure of a bottom: “There is a small chance that large volumes will be observed when the rate bounces. It takes time to form a bullish trend. The bulls work together to raise the price, while the bear is usually alone.”

- Another analyst, Jason Pizzino, explained under what conditions the bitcoin rate will reach $1 million. At the same time, the expert expressed confidence that this will happen sooner or later. To do this, firstly, the flagship cryptocurrency needs to get rid from the dependence on the Nasdaq index. If this dependence continues, bitcoin and ethereum will lose value. In addition, it is important for bitcoin to stop associating itself with the blockchain. This cryptocurrency must be more like gold than part of the technology sector in order to become a global reserve asset.
The specialist said that he fully agrees with the opinion of the head of ARK Invest Catherine Wood and CEO of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor, who believe that the flagship cryptocurrency will definitely reach the $1 million price mark. According to their forecasts, this will happen closer to 2030. Pizzino emphasized that the growth in the value of the flagship cryptocurrency by 25 times looks fantastic at the moment. However, the asset price increased 22 times between December 2018 and November 2021, so nothing is impossible in such a rally.

- According to Chainalysis, crypto investors worldwide earned $162.7 billion in 2021, up 400% from the previous year ($32.5 billion), as the prices of the two main cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, rose to record levels. In terms of profitability, ethereum is ahead of bitcoin with $76.3 billion, which brought investors $74.7 billion. At the same time, American investors earned the most, making a profit of $47 billion, which is more than their colleagues from the UK, Germany, Japan and China. For comparison, British investors earned "only" $8.2 billion.

- Former stockbroker Jordan Belfort has reconsidered his attitude to the cryptocurrency market. Recall that this American entrepreneur pleaded guilty to stock market fraud and stock scams in 1999, for which he served 22 months in prison. He published a memoir in 2007, The Wolf of Wall Street, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 2013.
Now Belfort has said he is a firm believer in cryptocurrencies and blockchain, despite once making a YouTube video in which he called bitcoin a collective delusion. He changed his attitude towards cryptocurrency because he learned how it works. However, he is somewhat distressed by the problem of fraud in this industry. The financier admitted that he himself was robbed of about $300,000 worth of crypto assets. He saw the transfer of funds, but could not cancel the transaction, which was very frustrating. And that's why he now actively advocates for tighter regulation of the crypto industry.


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.

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EUR/USD: Euro Updates Five-Year Low, We Are Waiting for the Fed (FOMC) Meeting



The DXY index that measures the US dollar against a basket of six other major currencies updated its 20-year high on Thursday, April 28. The reason for this growth is still the same, and we have repeatedly written about it: the Fed began to tighten its monetary policy earlier than other major central banks. It is expected that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) may raise the key interest rate by 0.5% at the next meeting on May 4. This is the minimum. For example, James Bullard, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, did not rule out that the rate could be raised by 0.75% straight away.

Other national regulators are moving much more slowly (or not at all) amid the US Fed's hawkish activity. Their economies are showing weaker recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this does not allow central banks to quickly curtail monetary programs incentives (QE) and increase borrowing costs.

Of course, this applies to the European Union as well, which also suffers additional economic losses caused by the sanctions imposed on Russia due to the military invasion of Ukraine. Recall that the dependence of the EU countries on Russian energy resources is very high.

Against this background, the dollar continued to push the European currency, and the EUR/USD pair rewrote the five-year low, falling to 1.0470 on April 28. Thus, the losses of the European currency has exceeded 700 points in April alone. There was a slight rebound at the very end of the five-day period and a finish at the level of 1.0545.

The level of 1.0500 plays the role of a support, which may lead to a reduction in the volume of short positions and, as a result, to a fairly strong correction to the north. If this does not happen, then the next target for the bears will be the 2016 low of 1.0325. It is possible that we will see the parity of the euro and the dollar 1:1 soon. However, much depends on what happens to the interest rate at the US Federal Reserve meeting on May 4, and what will be said by the management of this regulator at the subsequent press conference.

At the time of writing, analysts' votes are almost evenly divided. 35% are confident that the dollar will continue to strengthen, 30% have the opposite opinion, the remaining 35% have taken a wait-and-see attitude. Not surprisingly, with the current dynamics of the pair, 100% of the trend indicators and oscillators on D1 are colored red, although 25% of the latter give signals of the pair being oversold. The nearest support is located at 1.0500, followed by the April 28 low of 1.0470, and the bears' further goals for EUR/USD are described above. The nearest resistance zone is 1.0550-1.0600, 1.0750-1.0800, 1.0830-1.0860, 1.0900-1.0935 and 1.1000.

As for the coming week, in addition to event No. 1, the Fed meeting, the calendar includes the release of data on retail sales in Germany and business activity in US manufacturing sector (ISM) on Monday, May 02. ECB President Christine Lagarde is expected to speak the next day. We will find out the volume of retail sales in the European Union as a whole on Wednesday, May 04. The ADP report on US private sector employment will be published on this day as well. Another portion of data from the US labor market will arrive on Friday, May 06, including such an important indicator as the number of new jobs outside the agricultural sector (NFP).

GBP/USD: The Pound Updates its Two-Year Low, We Are Waiting for the Meeting of the Bank of England

We stated in the previous review that the bulls' battle for 1.3000 is lost. Answering the question whether there will be a counteroffensive, the majority of experts (65%) answered that no, there won't be, and the pound will continue to fall. This forecast turned out to be absolutely correct, and despite the oversold signals, the GBP/USD pair reached a local bottom at 1.2410 on Thursday, April 28. The last time it was at this level was in June 2020. As for the last chord of the week, it sounded in the 1.2575 zone.

Next week will see not only the meeting of the US Federal Reserve, but also that of the Bank of England. According to forecasts, the regulator of the United Kingdom may raise the interest rate from 0.75% to 1.0%. However, since its meeting will be held on May 5, that is, a day later than the Fed, the nine members of the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) of the Bank will have time to adjust their position depending on the decision of their overseas colleagues.

In the meantime, the vast majority of experts (70%) remain neutral ahead of both meetings. 15% of them have taken the liberty of predicting a further weakening of the British pound, the same amount expects the pair to correct to the north. There is still a total advantage of the red ones among the indicators on D1: 100% among both trend indicators and oscillators. The immediate target of the bears is to overcome the support at 1.2500, further targets for the pair's decline are located at the levels of 1.2400, 1.2250, 1.2075 and 1.2000. As for the bulls, if they manage to seize the initiative, they will face resistance in the zones of 1.2600, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

Regarding the release of statistics on the economy of the United Kingdom, the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) in the manufacturing sector will be published on Tuesday, May 3. The Composite PMI and the PMI in the services sector will be announced the next day, a little ahead of the Bank of England meeting. The publication of PMI in the UK construction sector on Friday 06 May will complete the picture of business activity.

USD/JPY: The Yen Updates a 20-Year low. What else to expect?

A new anti-record for the Japanese currency was fixed at 131.25 yen per dollar. The USD/JPY pair made a correction to the south in the first half of the week­: up to the level of 126.92. But then, following the meeting of the Bank of Japan, we witnessed a new rally of 433 points. This was followed by a rather powerful bounce by 190 points and a finish at 129.75.

Some experts expected that the Japanese regulator might step back a bit from its ultra-soft monetary policy. Moreover, before that, various government officials had talked a lot about the fact that Japanese households are unhappy with the surge in inflation, and that, given the actions of the US Federal Reserve, it would be time to adjust their monetary policy. But the Bank of Japan remained true to itself, leaving the negative interest rate (-0.1%) unchanged and declaring its readiness to buy an unlimited number of bonds each session as needed.

According to many analysts, the Central Bank will maintain its soft monetary policy unchanged throughout 2022, and will also maintain massive incentives, perhaps at least until fiscal year 2023.

The yen was further hit by rising US 10-year Treasury yields, which rose 48 bp to 2.83% in April alone, widening the gap with similar Japanese securities. And here is the result: if the pound fell to a two-year low, the euro - to a five-year low, the yen fell to the lowest values in the last twenty years!

35% of experts vote for the fact that the bulls will storm new heights, 50% have taken the opposite position. The remaining 15% are neutral, waiting for the May meeting of the Fed. Among trend indicators and oscillators on D1, 100% are looking north, but among oscillators, 15% signal that the pair is overbought.

The nearest support is located at 129.00-129.40, followed by 127.80-128.00, 127.45, 126.30-126.75 zone and levels 126.00 and 125.00. Resistances are located at the levels of 130.00-130.35 and 131.00-131.25. An attempt to designate the subsequent targets of the bulls will rather be like fortune telling. The only thing that can be assumed is that they will set the January 01, 2002 high of 135.19 as their goal. If the pair's growth rate is maintained, it can reach this height as early as in June.

No important information regarding the state of the Japanese economy is expected to be released this week. Traders also need to keep in mind the two upcoming holidays: Japan celebrates Constitution Day on Tuesday, May 03, and the Greenery Day on Wednesday May 04.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Trends, Forecasts and Hollywood

Bitcoin has been moving along the Pivot Point around $40,000 throughout 2022, trying to either reach $50,000 or fall to $30,000. The fight between bulls and bears continued last week as well. Looking at the chart of the BTC/USD pair, it is clear that the bears have had a clear advantage over the past five weeks. Bulls, of course, are making attempts to turn the tide, but no success is yet to be seen.

At the time of writing, Friday evening, April 29, the total crypto market capitalization is still below the important psychological level of $2 trillion: at $1.752 trillion ($1.850 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has slightly worsened its readings: it has dropped from 26 to 23 points and has returned from the Fear zone to the Extreme Fear zone. The BTC/USD pair is trading around $38,700.

The correlation of the flagship cryptocurrency with stock indices such as the S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite is still very strong. The correction in US tech companies began late last year, and many of the industry's stocks are currently trading 50-70% below their highs. Investors, anticipating a sharp rise in interest rates by the Fed, switched to the US dollar, losing their appetite for risk assets, which hit the stock and cryptocurrency markets. The high risk of stagflation in many developed countries, the new coronavirus outbreak in China, the escalation of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and other processes affecting the global economy do not add optimism. So, there are many chances for bitcoin to go down to $30,000 per coin.

According to trader and analyst Tony Weiss, the main cryptocurrency has broken support levels, so the risks of another big fall are high. The coin needs to hold around $39,500 for this not to happen.

Cryptocurrency trader nicknamed Kaleo also believes that bitcoin has not yet reached the level that can be considered a bottom with confidence. According to him, the cryptocurrency is preparing to retest the lows last seen in mid-2021. (Recall that the BTC/USD pair found a bottom at $29.066 on June 22, 2021). Bitcoin is currently inside a big wedge pattern and according to Kaleo, it will be broken in the coming weeks, with the asset itself expected to fall by about 28%. In addition, the expert warned that even if we see a bounce above $41,000, it will not change the situation much.

Analyst Kevin Swenson has suggested a way to accurately predict trend reversals. According to him, it is necessary to monitor the weekly volume of bitcoins on the Coinbase crypto exchange. This indicator has correctly pointed for Swenson to the price peaks and bottom of bitcoin since 2017. Swenson noted that investors need to see a significant increase in volume after the correction to be completely sure of a bottom: “There is a small chance that large volumes will be observed when the rate bounces. It takes time to form a bullish trend. The bulls work together to raise the price, while the bear is usually alone.”

But, despite the current bearish trend, not everything is so sad. The price of bitcoin may reach $65,185 by the end of 2022. This forecast was given by financial experts interviewed by Finder. According to them, bitcoin will cost $179,280 on December 31, 2025, and $420,240 at the end of 2030. More than two-thirds of those surveyed believe that now is the time to buy the first cryptocurrency. Only 9% were in favor of exiting the asset.

87% of respondents included ethereum in the list of the most effective cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was in second place with 71%. Half of the experts believe that bitcoin will be eventually displaced from the position of the most popular cryptocurrency by a more advanced blockchain, 38% are sure that digital gold will stay on the throne.

Recall that giving a long-term forecast, the head of ARK Invest, Katherine Wood, and CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, expressed the opinion that the flagship cryptocurrency will definitely reach the price mark of $1 million. According to them, this will happen closer to 2030.

The same figure of $1 million was voiced by another specialist, Jason Pizzino last week, who explained under what conditions the coin will reach this mark. To do this, firstly, the flagship cryptocurrency needs to get rid from the dependence on the Nasdaq index. If this dependence continues, bitcoin and ethereum will lose value. In addition, it is important for bitcoin to stop associating itself with the blockchain. This cryptocurrency must be more like gold than part of the technology sector in order to become a global reserve asset.

Pizzino emphasized that the growth in the value of the flagship cryptocurrency by 25 times looks fantastic at the moment. However, the asset price increased 22 times between December 2018 and November 2021, so nothing is impossible in such a rally.

Chainalysis experts indirectly confirmed Jason Pizzino's bullish sentiment. According to them, crypto investors earned $162.7 billion in 2021, which is 400% more than in the previous year, 2020 ($32.5 billion). This happened because the prices of the two main cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, rose to record levels. At $76.3 billion, ethereum outperformed bitcoin, which brought in $74.7 billion to investors. American investors earned the most, making a profit of $47 billion, which is more than their colleagues from the UK, Germany, Japan and China. By comparison, British savers earned "only" $8.2 billion.

And at the end of the review, some news from the world ... of books and movies. Firstly, the film company Scott Free Productions intends to film the book The Infinite Machine, dedicated to ethereum and Vitalik Buterin. It was written by Camilla Russo, a well-known journalist in the crypto industry. The movie will be co-produced by such a Hollywood luminary as Ridley Scott, known for his work on the blockbusters Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner and The Martian.

Another newsmaker of the week was former stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Recall that this American entrepreneur pleaded guilty to stock market fraud and stock scams in 1999, for which he served 22 months in prison. He published a memoir in 2007, The Wolf of Wall Street, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 2013. And now this financial “wolf” admitted that he himself was recently robbed of about $300,000 worth of crypto assets. He saw the transfer of funds, but could not cancel the transaction. The irony of fate...


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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CryptoNews of the Week

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- Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel hedge fund, said his company will enter the digital asset market as a liquidity provider. According to Griffin, despite his skepticism about cryptocurrencies, he is forced to recognize their value. The billionaire compared these digital assets to his collection of American abstract paintings, noting that bitcoin is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. “Why is a painting worth $10 million? This is oil on canvas. So, the value is in the eye of the beholder,” he explained.

- Another billionaire, Warren Buffett, said he sees no value in bitcoins, CNBC reports. “What would I do with them? One way or another, I would have to sell them back to you. It won't do anything. Apartments will bring rent, and farms will produce food. Assets must produce something, bring real benefits,” the legendary investor explained.
Buffett is known for his negative attitude towards bitcoin. In February 2020, he called the first cryptocurrency "complete zero" with no value. The billionaire had earlier predicted the collapse of the crypto industry. When talking about bitcoin, he used terms like “rat poison squared” and “illusion without unique value.”

- One of the largest banks in Argentina, Banco Galicia, has opened access to cryptocurrencies for its clients. Users can purchase bitcoin, ethereum, ripple and USDC stablecoin on its platform. The organization explained this initiative by demand from the clients. Another Argentine bank, Brubank, also announced the launch of a cryptocurrency service.

- Bitcoin will test the $28,000 level, according to Peter Brandt, trader and head of Factor LLC. The expert drew attention to the pattern that the price of the first cryptocurrency has formed since the beginning of the year, and the breakdown of its lower border. “The completion of a bearish channel usually results in a decline equal to its width. In this case, in a hard test of $32,000 or so, but I think $28,000,” Brandt commented. At the same time, he stressed that the negative outlook does not make him a “bitcoin hater”.

- Arthur Hayes, former CEO and co-founder of BitMEX, predicted in April that bitcoin would fall to $30,000 at the end of the first half of the year. He attributed this to a possible decline in the Nasdaq-100 index, with which digital gold is highly correlated. Analysts at Arcane Research confirmed that this statistical relationship is at its highest since July 2020.
However, fintech experts who took part in the Finder survey expect quotes of the leading cryptocurrency to be above $65,000 at the end of the year with subsequent growth. Hayes himself does not doubt the prospects of bitcoin, predicting a rise in the price of the coin to $1 million by the end of the decade.

- Cryptocurrency trader Benjamin Cowen also believes that there should be a major capitulation of bitcoin before the bullish reversal begins. According to him, it will spur another round of a bullish rally.
As the BTC price dropped below the $40,000 level again, Cowen outlined a scenario for a possible fall. The trader noted the three most important long-term moving averages that keep BTC at the level of support for a multi-year uptrend: 300-, 200- and 100-week SMA. A drop below the 100-week SMA has historically been a great opportunity for bulls: “The 100-week SMA is around $36,000 now, and there is an optimal time to buy BTC every time it goes below it,” Cowen said. But if the fall gains strength, the BTC rate, in his opinion, may collapse even more and test the level of the 200-week moving average, $21,600. “Many people do not believe that this can happen,” the trader says, “but it is possible. I used to buy BTC at $6,000 and then the rate fell to $3,000. Then I bought BTC at $7,000 and $10,000 and the rate fell again to $3,800. So this has happened before and can happen now.”
Bitcoin’s 300-week moving average was briefly touched only once during the COVID-19-driven market crash in March 2020. Cowen doesn't expect a repeat, but notes that its mark is currently around $21,400.

- Unlike Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Cowen, analyst Michael van de Poppe thinks the network data hints at a possible bullish reversal in bitcoin. According to him, “BTC hash rate has reached another all-time high, although there is a tightening in the cryptocurrency space. Thus, the demand for BTC mining is growing, the network is becoming safer, and the asset price should respond to this.”
According to van de Poppe, a serious impulsive wave can be expected due to a possible correction in the US dollar index (DXY). “In my opinion, a serious move up is quite possible, especially if the US dollar shows weakness,” the analyst said. “In the event that the Fed abandons a strong tightening of monetary policy, the dollar will weaken, and this will become the impetus for the upward movement of bitcoin.”

- Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Mike McGlone believes that a sharp correction in the stock market will force the US Federal Reserve to change its position on tightening monetary policy, which will provoke bullish runs in high-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. “The Fed will continue its policy until the stock market drops enough to force the Fed to pause. That's when I think we'll see the rise of bitcoin, ethereum and maybe Solana."
“If you want a good downside indicator for bitcoin and altcoins, these are Fed Funds futures. This is what the market expects from the Fed in a year. They are valued at 3% right now, maybe more, and the actual rate is 1%. As soon as this forward expectation starts to decrease, I think that bitcoin will hit the bottom,” the analyst said.

- Brian Armstrong, speaking at the Milken Institute conference, stated that despite the rather unstable state of the crypto market since the beginning of 2022, he remains optimistic about the future of the industry. Armstrong added that the number of cryptocurrency users will increase 5 times over the next 10-20 years and reach more than 1 billion people.
Armstrong noted a significant increase in the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the United States. According to him, “it is increasingly difficult to meet a real crypto-skeptic in the District of Columbia” and added that more than 50% of the population of Washington support cryptocurrency currently.

- A recently published report by the analytical company DappRadar demonstrates the growth of crypto activity in the US, Russia and Ukraine. And if the increase in demand for digital assets is due to sanctions and a humanitarian catastrophe in the last two states, respectively, the global acceptance of virtual money in the United States is the result of an increase in the number of traders and crypto companies.
According to the results of the study, a record number of new companies related to the blockchain, metaverse, NFT and digital assets was recorded in the United States only in the first quarter of this year. The document says that even the fall of bitcoin does not affect the overall mood in the market.
DappRadar analysts note that the popularity of cryptocurrencies has increased not only in the above countries, but it has also happened all over the world. For example, against the background of the threat of global inflation, the demand for virtual money in Brazil and India has increased by 40% and 45%, respectively.

- The identity and whereabouts of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the first digital currency, is considered one of the greatest mysteries of the cryptocurrency community. Eleven years after Nakamoto last reported to colleagues, the circumstances and reasons for his disappearance continue to concern the community. Another version is that the CIA is behind this.
The editor of Bitcoin magazine Pete Rizzo has recently said that he had established a possible link between Nakamoto's disappearance and former lead crypto developer and current Bitcoin Foundation chief scientist Gavin Andresen's visit to a CIA meeting in June 2011. Andersen was concerned about the attention of the secret service, which has the ability to influence the development of the project and force the developers to do what they do not want. And now Rizzo claims that it was after this visit that Nakamoto was “never seen again.”


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

NordFX Brokerage company has summed up the performance of its clients' trade transactions in April 2022. The services of social trading, PAMM and CopyTrading, as well as the profit received by the company's IB-partners have also been assessed.

The highest profit this month was received by a client from Southeast Asia, account No.1620XXX, who earned 146,396 USD on gold (XAU/USD) trades.

The second place on the podium was taken by a trader from South Asia, account No.1621XXX, with a result of 64,004 USD, which was achieved thanks to transactions with the British pound (GBP/USD).

The third place belongs to the owner of account No. 1619XXX. Having chosen gold (XAU/USD), silver (XAG/USD) and euro (EUR/USD) as trading instruments, they made a profit of 21,184 USD.

The situation in NordFX passive investment services is as follows:

- CopyTrading still has an active provider under the nickname KennyFxPro. Signal with the complex name KennyFXPRO - Journey of $205 to $5,000 has shown a profit of 225% since March 2021 with a maximum drawdown of 67%. As before, almost all trades were made with NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD pairs. Such a famous pair as EUR/USD got only 0.19% in their arsenal. Another signal from the same supplier, KennyFXPRO-Prismo 2K is two months younger than the first one. The profit on it is less, 128%, but the drawdown was also lower, about 45%.

Among the newcomers, we can note the Darto Capital signal, which showed a yield of 197% in just 17 days with a maximum drawdown of 25%. This result is, of course, impressive. However, this is a fairly aggressive trading style, so subscribers should be as careful as possible and not forget about risk management.

- The TOP-3 in the PAMM service has not changed over the past month. The leader is still the same manager under the nickname KennyFXPRO. They increased their capital on the KennyFXPro-the Multi 3000 EA account by 100% in 462 days with a fairly moderate drawdown of less than 21%. TranquilityFX-The Genesis v3 account, which showed a 72% profit in 393 days with a similar maximum drawdown of less than 21%, and NKFX-Ninja 136, which has generated 60% income since June 11, 2021, with the same drawdown of about 21%, are also among the leaders. As in CopyTrading, the vast majority of trades here were made with the NZD/CAD, AUD/CAD and AUD/NZD pairs.

The Ultimate.Duo-Safe Haven account, which started relatively recently, at the end of February, attracted attention. During this time, it brought not the biggest profit of 17%, but the maximum drawdown on it did not exceed 20%.

Among the IB partners, NordFX TOP-3 is as follows:
- the largest commission, 4,683 USD, was credited to a partner from South Asia, account No.1582ХXХ;
- the next is their compatriot, account No.1565XXX, who received 4,529 USD;
- and, finally, a partner from East Asia, account No.1336XXX, who received $4,031 as a reward, closes the top three.

***

Summing up the results of the month, it should be reminded that traders have received another great opportunity to earn money. Another super-lottery for NordFX clients has started this year. There will be 200 cash prizes of 250, 500 and 1,250 USD, as well as 2 super prizes of 10,000 USD each. The total prize pool is exactly 100,000 USD.

It is very easy to take part in the lottery and get a chance to win one or even several of these prizes. All the details are available on the NordFX website.


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

EUR/USD: A week of Many Multi-Year Records

Although some hotheads, such as James Bullard, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, believed that the interest rate could be raised by 0.75% straight away, everything happened as the market expected. Following the May 4 meeting, the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) raised the federal funds rate by 0.5% to 1.0%. This increase was the largest since May 2000, as the US Central Bank has been changing the rate in steps of 0.25% for the last 22 years.

According to the US Federal Reserve, the key interest rate will continue to rise, as the labor market remains quite strong, and inflation is high, reaching its highest levels in 40 years. The regulator also decided to start a “quantitative tightening” from June 1. The pace of the Fed's balance sheet drawdown could rise from $35 billion in June to $65 billion in July, and then to a maximum of $95 billion per month starting in August.

At the same time, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in his comments that the Central Bank is not considering an active increase in interest rates by 0.75% at the upcoming meetings. These words eased concerns about the accelerated pace of monetary tightening, which pushed Treasury yields off their highs. The market felt that the Fed was not aggressive enough, and trading on US stock exchanges on Thursday, May 05 ended with a rise, pulling cryptocurrency quotes along with it.

However, the jubilation of risk asset advocates was short-lived. The very next day, on the morning of May 06, the DXY dollar index reached a multi-year high, rising above 104.00. The last time it climbed this high was 20 years ago.

A massive, wide-ranging sell-off began in the stock and treasury bond markets. Technology stocks were particularly hard hit. The S&P 500 fell 4% to its lowest level since May 2021, while the NASDAQ Composite lost over 5%. At the same time, 10-year Treasury yields rose to their highest level since 2018, rising above 3%.

Some experts called the event "a tug of war between the bond market, which wants more aggressive action by the Fed, and the stock market, which wants the Fed to act more moderately."

Despite the growth of the DXY Index, the EUR/USD pair behaved quite calmly. It has been moving in the side channel 1.0470-1.0640 since April 27, which periodically narrowed to 1.0500-1.0580. In addition to the expected results of the Fed meeting, which had already been included in the quotes, and Jerome Powell's comments, data from the US labor market, received on Friday, May 06, could have brought some revival. However, such an important indicator as the number of new jobs outside the US agricultural sector (NFP) remained unchanged at the level of the previous month, 428K. As a result, the pair hesitated a bit and ended the five-day period in the central zone of the named channel: at the level of 1.0540.

A former senior US Central Bank official suggested earlier that the federal funds cost rate could eventually reach 5.0% after a series of increases. If the market decides it will, the dollar's bullish rally will continue and it could reach 1:1 parity with the euro. In the meantime, analysts' voices are divided as follows: 75% are sure that the dollar will continue to strengthen, while only 25% have the opposite opinion. 90% of trend indicators and 85% of oscillators on D1 which are colored red side with the dollar, respectively, 10% and 15% are colored green. Immediate support is at 1.0500, followed by the April 28 low at 1.0470, the next bearish target for EUR/USD could be the 2016 low of 1.0325. The nearest resistance zone is 1.0570-1.0600, then there are zones 1.0750-1.0800, 1.0830-1.0860, 1.0900-1.0935 and 1.1000.

There will be few significant economic events next week. The calendar could mark Wednesday May 11 and Friday May 13 when the data for the German and US consumer markets come in. Also, changes in the number of applications for unemployment benefits in the United States will become known at the very end of the working week. And we should not forget about the active hostilities that are taking place in Ukraine, in the immediate vicinity of the EU borders, and the “surprises” that the Kremlin may present in response to sanctions imposed on by the European Union.

GBP/USD: Score 1.0-1.0 What's Next?

It was not only the Fed, but also the Bank of England that set a record last week. It raised the interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.0% at its meeting on Thursday, May 04, which is the highest level since 2009. Moreover, 3 out of 9 MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) members of the Bank voted for raising the rate to 1.25% straight away. The number of votes against the rate hike is 0. In addition, it became known that the regulator of the United Kingdom is working on a plan to sell government bonds purchased after the crisis, which currently stand at just under £850 billion.

The Bank of England also sharply raised its inflation forecast for 2022, from 5.75% to 10.25%. (Recall that in March, inflation peaked since 1992 and amounted to 7% (y/y) with a target level of 2%). The main reason is the rise in fuel and transport prices. In April alone, fuel bills in the UK skyrocketed by 54%, and this is not the limit. In addition to the consequences of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation is aggravated by sanctions against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, and new coronavirus lockdowns in China. Inflation forecast for 2023 was also changed for the worse: from 2.5% to 3.5%.

Economic forecasts did not please investors either. And although the Bank of England left its forecast for GDP growth for the current year (+3.75%) unchanged, a recession is expected starting from the Q4. British Central Bank expects GDP contraction by 0.25% In 2023 instead of the previously planned growth of 1.25%. According to the new forecast, GDP will grow not by 1.0%, but by only 0.25% in 2024.

The interest rates of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have reached the same level of 1.0% at the moment. However, if the dollar rate may reach 3.0-3.5% at the beginning of next year, or even higher, the British regulator suggests an increase in the pound rate to 2.5% by mid-2023. and its decline to 2.0% by the end of the forecast 3-year period. Such a difference in the pace of monetary tightening is likely to continue to put pressure on the British pound. However, the Fed should also update its inflation forecasts in June, and things could change.

In the meantime, the GBP/USD pair continued to fall, returning to June 2020 levels and reaching a local bottom at 1.2275. As for the final chord, it sounded at the height of 1.2340;

55% vote for further weakening of the British currency, 30% expect the pair to correct to the north and 15% - to move to the east. As for the indicators on D1, there is still a total advantage of the red ones: 100% both among the trend indicators and among the oscillators look down, although 10% of the latter are in the oversold zone. The nearest targets of the bears are to overcome the support at 1.2250, then at 1.2075, a strong point of support for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. As for the bulls, if they manage to seize the initiative, they will face resistance in the zones of 1.2400, 1.2470-1.2570, 1.2600-1.2635, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

Among the statistics related to the economy of the United Kingdom, the most interesting are the data on the country's GDP, which will be released on Thursday May 12.

USD/JPY: Bulls' Target Is 135.00

The correlation between 10-year US Treasury bills and the USD/JPY currency pair has not been canceled. If the yield of these securities grows, the dollar rises against the Japanese yen. We have seen confirmation of this in the past week. The pair reached a high of 130.80 on May 06 and is now aiming for a new 20-year high of 1.3125. Strategists of the international financial group Nordea expect that it may reach 135.00 by the end of the year. The strengthening of the yen and the fall of the pair, in their opinion, can only be expected in the second half of 2023.

Japanese consumer prices excluding fresh food, a key indicator monitored by the Bank of Japan, rose 2.1% in April, surpassing the 2.0% target for the first time in many years. And if the yen breaks through the level of 140 per $1, inflation in Japan may reach 3.0%, according to BNP Paribas experts. However, the head of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, has repeatedly stated that the Japanese regulator, despite the dissatisfaction of the population with rising prices, will remain faithful to the soft monetary policy.

If the Central Bank does decide to tighten it, this will make it difficult for the country to stabilize and reduce the ratio of public debt to GDP, according to Fitch Ratings. According to Fitch Ratings, this ratio reached 248% in fiscal year 2021, which is the highest among all investment-grade states and is the main credit weakness Japan. (For comparison, Italy, which is in second place, has a figure of about 150%).

The report on the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Japanese regulator will be published next week, more precisely on Monday May 09. However, it is unlikely to affect the balance of power between the dollar and the yen. The scenario in which the USD/JPY pair will continue its movement to the north is supported by 65% of experts, 35% are waiting for movement to the south. 100% of trend indicators and oscillators on D1are looking north, but 15% oscillators signal that the pair is overbought. The nearest support is located at 129.70-130.15, followed by zones and levels 128.60-129.30, 127.80-128.00, 127.00, zone 126.30-126.75 and levels 126.00 and 125.00. The bulls' target is to renew the April 28 high at 131.25. An attempt to designate the subsequent targets of the bulls will rather be like fortune telling. The only thing that can be assumed is that they will set the January 01, 2002 high of 135.19 as their goal. If the pair's growth rate is maintained, it can reach this height as early as in June.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: It All Depends on the Fed



A recently published report by the analytical company DappRadar demonstrates the growth of crypto activity in the US, Russia and Ukraine. And if the increase in demand for digital assets is due to sanctions and a humanitarian catastrophe in the last two states, respectively, the global acceptance of virtual money in the United States is the result of an increase in the number of traders and crypto companies. At the same time, DappRadar analysts note that the popularity of cryptocurrencies has increased not only in the above countries, it has happened all over the world. For example, against the background of the threat of global inflation, the demand for virtual money in Brazil and India has increased by 40% and 45%, respectively. According to some experts, the number of cryptocurrency users will increase 5 times over the next 10-20 years and reach more than 1 billion people.

The specialists note that it is the activity of small investors who continue to believe in the future rise of bitcoin that saves it from a deep drawdown at the moment. Thus, the owners of wallets from 0.1 BTC to 10 BTC doubled their positions in April alone, bringing the total stock to 2.5 million BTC.

As for institutional investors (with investments of more than $1 million), the dynamics here are the opposite and it is primarily due to the actions of the US Federal Reserve. The Central bank has printed more than a third of the new dollars since spring 2020, and its balance sheet has doubled to $9 trillion. While the Fed flooded the market with cheap money, a huge amount of it was invested by investors in risky assets, supporting the stock and cryptocurrency markets. the time has come now to tighten monetary policy, which could not but affect these assets. As a result, the net outflow of investments from crypto funds has reached an all-time high of 14,327 BTC. Moreover, American investors are most active in getting rid of bitcoins, having reduced the volume of investments by 11% in a month. (And this despite the fact that the number of traders and crypto companies in the US is growing).

At the time of writing this review, Friday evening, May 06, the total crypto market capitalization is at $1.657 trillion ($1.752 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has slightly worsened its readings: it dropped by 1 point, from 23 to 22 points, gaining a foothold in the Extreme Fear zone. The BTC/USD pair is trading around $36.100, the week low was fixed at $35.280.

A further rise in interest rates, along with unloading the Fed's balance sheet, the growth of the DXY dollar index and the yield of treasuries, continue to put pressure on the quotes of risky assets. If about 50% of all BTC coins in circulation were profitable for their owners in the middle of the week, this figure will become smaller as quotes continue to fall. So, only 40% of the coins will remain profitable at the level of $33,000, which can cause an avalanche increase in panic.

Trader and Factor LLC CEO Peter Brandt predicts that bitcoin will test the $28,000 level. The expert drew attention to the pattern that the price of the first cryptocurrency has formed since the beginning of the year, and the breakdown of its lower border. “The completion of a bearish channel usually results in a decline equal to its width. In this case, in a hard test of $32,000 or so, but I think $28,000,” Brandt commented.

Another reputable cryptocurrency trader, Benjamin Cowen, also believes that there should be a major capitulation of bitcoin before a bullish reversal begins. According to him, it will spur another round of a bullish rally. Drawing a possible downside scenario, Cowen noted the three most important long-term moving averages that keep BTC at the level of support for a multi-year growth trajectory: 300-, 200- and 100-week SMA. A drop below the 100-week SMA has historically been a great opportunity for bulls: “The 100-week SMA is around $36,000 now, and there is an optimal time to buy BTC every time it goes below it,” Cowen said. But if the fall gains strength, the BTC rate, in his opinion, may collapse even more and test the level of the 200-week moving average, $21,600. “Many people do not believe that this can happen,” the trader says, “but it is possible. I used to buy BTC at $6,000 and then the rate fell to $3,000. Then I bought BTC at $7,000 and $10,000 and the rate fell again to $3,800. So this has happened before and can happen now.”

Bitcoin’s 300-week moving average was briefly touched only once during the COVID-19-driven market crash in March 2020, and Cowen doesn’t expect a repeat of the same.

Arthur Hayes, former CEO and co-founder of BitMEX, predicted in April that bitcoin would fall to $30,000 at the end of the first half of the year. He attributed this to a possible decline in the Nasdaq index, with which digital gold is highly correlated. Analysts at Arcane Research confirmed that this statistical relationship is at its highest since July 2020.

However, fintech experts who took part in the Finder survey expect quotes of the leading cryptocurrency to be above $65,000 at the end of the year with subsequent growth. Hayes himself does not doubt the prospects of bitcoin, predicting a rise in the price of the coin to $1 million by the end of the decade.

Unlike Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Cowen, analyst Michael van de Poppe thinks the network data hints at a possible bullish reversal in bitcoin. According to him, “BTC hash rate has reached another all-time high, although there is a tightening in the cryptocurrency space. Thus, the demand for BTC mining is growing, the network is becoming safer, and the asset price should respond to this.”

According to van de Poppe, a serious impulsive wave can be expected due to a possible correction in the US dollar index (DXY). “In my opinion, a serious move up is quite possible, especially if the US dollar shows weakness,” the analyst said. “In the event that the Fed abandons a strong tightening of monetary policy, the dollar will weaken, and this will become the impetus for the upward movement of bitcoin.”

Mike McGlone, Senior Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, has similar hopes. He hopes that a sharp fall in the stock market will force the US Federal Reserve to change its position on tightening monetary policy, which will provoke bullish runs in high-risk assets. “The Fed will continue its policy until the stock market drops enough to force the regulator to pause. That's when I think we'll see the rise of bitcoin, ethereum and maybe Solana."

“If you want a good downside indicator for bitcoin and altcoins, these are Fed Funds futures. This is what the market expects from the Fed in a year. They are valued at 3% right now, maybe more, and the actual rate is 1%. As soon as this forward expectation starts to decrease, I think that bitcoin will hit the bottom,” the analyst said.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- The number of “whales” among bitcoin holders, whose capital exceeds 1000 BTC, is rapidly declining. This figure has already reached its lows since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the volume of cryptocurrency on the exchanges, on the contrary, is at its maximum over the past three months. According to Glassnode analysts, the average volume of coin inflows to centralized exchanges is now hovering around 1755 BTC.
All this is happening against the backdrop of a rapid fall in the price of the coin: BTC set a new local low at $29,730 on May 10. This is the lowest result in 2022 and is more than 54% below the all-time high. The pressure on the market is exerted by the coin holders themselves, who, due to panic, are ready to get rid of them even at a loss. Crypto Fear & Greed Index has fallen to 10 points out of 100 possible, firmly entrenching itself in the Extreme Fear zone.

- The next few quarters will be volatile for the market due to the negative situation on Wall Street, which will jeopardize the support levels of $30,000 for bitcoin and $2,000 for ethereum. This point of view was expressed by Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz.
As of March 31, Galaxy Digital had $2.7 billion in assets under management, down 5% from its December 31 estimate. Galaxy Digital's net cumulative loss was $111.7 million for January-March, compared with a profit of $858.2 million for the same period last year. This is largely due to losses on digital assets.
“Until we reach a new equilibrium, digital assets will continue to trade in close correlation with the Nasdaq. My intuition tells me that there will still be a drawdown ahead, and this will occur in a very unstable, volatile and complex market,” Mike Novogratz explained. He warned that the negative scenario could be realized if the Nasdaq index fell below 11,000 (12,500 at the time of writing).

- ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes that the growing correlation between cryptocurrencies and traditional assets indicates that the bearish trend will end soon. The businesswoman opined that the depreciation of bitcoin along with the traditional market is a temporary phenomenon: “Cryptocurrency is a new asset class that should not follow the Nasdaq, but that is what is happening. We are currently in a bearish trend where all assets are moving in the same way and we are seeing one market after another capitulate, but cryptocurrencies may be close to completing it.”
The head of ARK Invest believes that the cryptocurrency market will grow exponentially as traditional assets collapse. “The current recession in the stock and bond markets, commodities and cryptocurrency markets is causing negative sentiment among investors. But look at our research… I can’t even tell you how confident we are that our products will change the world and are already on an exponential growth trajectory.” According to Wood, blockchain is in a technology sector that will grow more than 20 times in the next seven to eight years.

- The first cryptocurrency can be very successful, but it can also fail, so betting solely on it is risky. This opinion was expressed by a veteran of the bitcoin industry, a 2020 US presidential candidate, billionaire Brock Pierce in an interview with Fox Business. “Bitcoin could drop to zero. This is a binary result. Either there will be $1 million per BTC, or zero,” he said.
Pierce believes that the current “cryptocurrency landscape” is very similar to the history of the tech companies' bubble. “The situation is very similar to 1999. The market is now in the same phase. So what happened then? After the dot-com bubble, eBay, Amazon and other interesting companies appeared, but a lot of businesses went bankrupt. But this does not mean that digital assets are unrealistic and will not play an important role in our collective future,” the billionaire said.
Pierce admitted that he diversified his portfolio, primarily through ethereum. He also placed a “nine zeros” bet on EOS, converting all of his Block.one shares into cryptocurrency.

- Self-proclaimed creator of the main cryptocurrency, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright has sued cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken. This was reported by the law firm Ontier. He claims that these platforms misrepresent information by offering Bitcoin Core asset to customers under the guise of Bitcoin. According to Wright, the only digital asset “that remains true to the original bitcoin protocol” is Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.
“These and other exchanges have encouraged investors and consumers to trade and invest in Bitcoin Core, passing off this asset as bitcoin, despite it being created in 2017 as a software implementation that is different from the bitcoin protocol established by Dr. Wright when creating the electronic money system more than 13 years ago,” Ontier said in a statement.
Recall that Craig Wright himself claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of bitcoin. According to Wright, he helped create the first cryptocurrency with his friend, the late computer security expert Dave Kleiman.

- BTC is a good insurance against inflation, but not a full-fledged alternative to gold. This position was expressed by the founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio. The billionaire pointed to the obstacles to making bitcoin a reserve asset: “Transactions can be traced. They can be controlled, canceled and made illegal.” At the same time, the businessman expressed optimism about the prospects for the digital industry in the next ten years.

- Bank Of America, on the contrary, questioned bitcoin as a means of escape from inflation. The first cryptocurrency correlates well in its price behavior with the dynamics of the stock market since July 2021. Bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 hit an all-time high on January 31. The new all-time high was also close in correlation with the Nasdaq 100. In contrast, the price relationship between bitcoin and gold has been gradually weakening since 2021 and has turned negative in the last two months. The bank’s specialists emphasized that this trend “became obvious”, so bitcoin is not a full-fledged replacement for gold.

- The crypto community celebrated another mini-anniversary on May 5: bitcoin has overcome exactly half of the way to its next halving. It happened on block 735,000. Halving is reducing mining rewards by half. The event takes place every 210,000 blocks, or approximately every four years. At the same time, the rules of this procedure are written in the cryptocurrency code, which means that it is impossible to influence it without the consent of the majority of blockchain users. There are a little less than 105 thousand blocks left until the next such event.
Halving cycles are one of the main mechanisms of the bitcoin network, which involves halving the BTC reward for miners. Accordingly, the issue of bitcoins is also halved since miners' rewards are the only source of issuing new coins.
From the inception of bitcoin to the first halving, miners were rewarded with 50 BTC per block. Then the amount in bitcoins was reduced to 25 BTC, and in the next cycle to 12.5 BTC. Currently, miners receive 6.25 BTC for mining a block.
The halving date can be predicted to within a couple of days, because the block production time fluctuates around 10 minutes. The previous halving took place on May 11, 2020, and the next one will take place approximately in April 2024.
Halvings are considered very important events for another reason: as observations show, the explosive growth in the price of BTC is associated with them. So, before the first halving, BTC cost about $127, before the second, its price rose to $758, and before the third, to $10,943.


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

EUR/USD: On the Way to 1.0000



The dollar continues to rise, while the EUR/USD pair continues to fall. The DXY dollar index crept close to 104.9 on Thursday, May 12. The last time it climbed this high was 20 years ago. The pair found the bottom at the level of 1.0349, in the area of the lows of December 2016 - January 2017. A little more, and following DXY, it will get to where it traded 20 years ago. And there, parity 1:1 is just a stone's throw away.

The reason for the next strengthening of the US currency was, as usual, two factors: the recovery of the labor market and the growth of inflation. It is these factors that determine the pace of tightening monetary policy by the Fed.

According to the forecast, US jobless claims should have shown a slight increase. But the actual data, released on Thursday May 12, showed that the situation in the labor market is much better than expected. The number of initial requests has grown, but not by 3K, as predicted, but only by 1K. The number of repeated requests, instead of increasing by 3K, decreased by as much as 44K.

A day earlier, on May 11, inflation data appeared. The core consumer price index in the US increased by 0.3% in April and amounted to 0.6%. This growth is much less than the 1.2% increase in March. But this does not mean at all that inflation in the country has reached a peak and will only decrease further. Not at all. Oil prices remain above $100 a barrel, pushing up the cost of goods, transportation costs and household spending. New cars increased in price by 1.1% in April (only by 0.2% in March), while airfare prices rose by 18.6% over the month, showing the largest increase in 60 years. In addition, with a high degree of probability, a series of lockdowns in China due to a new wave of coronavirus will lead to problems with logistics and commodity exchange, which will not help reduce inflation either.

The combination of these factors suggests that the US Federal Reserve is unlikely to change its plans to tighten monetary policy: to reduce the balance sheet and raise rates. Following the head of the regulator Jerome Powell, his colleagues in the FOMC - the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Loretta Mester and the head of the New York Fed John Williams supported the intention to raise the federal funds rate by 0.5% at each of the two upcoming meetings, bringing it to 2.0%.

As for their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic, the ECB's key figures advocating a start to raise interest rates are still in the minority. Most members of the Board of Governors of the Bank are still convinced that the increase in inflation in the Eurozone is a temporary phenomenon, caused primarily by rising energy prices due to sanctions against Russia, which invaded Ukraine.

As a result, a powerful divergence between the clearly hawkish position of the US Fed and the indistinctly dovish position of the ECB continues to push the EUR/USD pair down, forcing new multi-year lows.

At the moment, analysts' voices are divided as follows: 70% of analysts are confident that the dollar will continue to strengthen, the remaining 30% are waiting for the pair's correction to the north. At the same time, when switching from a weekly to a monthly forecast, the number of those voting for the growth of the pair increases to 80%. All 100% of the indicators on D1 side with the dollar, after another fall of the pair. However, 20% of oscillators are in the oversold zone. The nearest resistance is located in the zone of 1.0420, the next target of the bulls on EUR/USD is a return to the zone of 1.0480-1.0580. If successful, they will then try to break through the resistance at 1.0640 and rise to the zone of 1.0750-1.0800. For the bears, the number 1 task is to update the May 13 low of 1.0350, after which they will storm the 2017 low of 1.0340, below are only the support of 20 years ago.

As for the calendar for the coming week, we recommend paying attention to the publication of data on prices and volumes of retail sales in the US on Tuesday, May 17. The speeches of the heads of the ECB Christine Lagarde and of the Fed Jerome Powell are expected on the same day. The Eurozone Consumer Price Index will be known on Wednesday, May 18, and data on manufacturing activity and the state of the labor market in the United States will be received on Thursday, May 19.

GBP/USD: GBP Rate Hike Is Possible, But Not Obvious

As mentioned above, the DXY dollar index has reached 20-year highs. According to experts, it has risen by 5.1% over the past 4 weeks. At the same time, the GBP/USD pair fell 7.4%, outperforming the average by 2.3%. However, not everything is so bad for the British currency.

The Bank of England predicted a rise in inflation from the current 7.0% (30-year high) to 10.25% at its meeting on May 05. And although the regulator left the forecast for GDP growth for the current year unchanged (+3.75%), it expects a recession starting from the Q4. The British Central Bank expects a 0.25% reduction in GDP in 2023 instead of the previously planned growth of 1.25%. According to the new forecast, GDP will grow not by 1.0%, but by only 0.25% in 2024.

This scenario, of course, cannot be called optimistic. However, a week later, on May 12, statistics showed that the country's GDP in the Q1 rose by 8.7% year-on-year, seriously exceeding the previous figure of 6.6%. This dynamics gives investors hope that the regulator will not stop at the current interest rate of 1.0%, and like the Fed, it will go on further raising it in order to fight inflation. And this, in turn, will support the British currency. Or at least keep it from sliding further down.

GBP/USD hit a weekly low at 1.2154, with the last chord at 1.2240. In case of further correction to the north, the pair will have to overcome the resistance in the zone 1.2300-1.2330, then there are zones 1.2400, 1.2470-1.2570, 1.2600-1.2635, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000. When moving south, the first support will be the level of 1.2200, then 1.2154-1.2164 and 1.2075. A strong point of support for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. 85% of experts vote for further weakening of the British currency, 15% expect a rebound upwards. And here it should be noted that when switching to forecasting until the end of the June, the number of the pair's growth supporters increases to 75%. There is still a total advantage of the red ones among the indicators on D1: 100% among trend indicators and 90% among oscillators look down. The remaining 10% among the latter have turned north.

As for the events of the upcoming week concerning the economy of the United Kingdom, we can highlight the publication of data on unemployment and wages in the country on Tuesday May 17. The new value of the Consumer Price Index will become known on Wednesday, May 18, and retail sales in the UK for April at the end of the working week, on Friday, May 20.

USD/JPY: From Return on Capital to Its Safety

The Japanese yen performed better last week than its "colleagues", the euro and the British pound. As most experts expected, the bulls tried to renew the April 28 high at 131.24. However, having risen only 10 pips higher to 131.34, they gave up, and the USD/JPY pair flew down, finding support only at 127.51. Undoubtedly, the current volatility of the pair is impressive: the weekly trading range was 383 points. This is despite the fact that it hovered around 150 points on average in the Q4 2021 - the Q1 2022. The finish of the last week took place in the central zone of the indicated range, at the level of 129.30.

Barring volatility during the coronavirus pandemic, the USD/JPY drop on Thursday May 12 was the biggest one-day swing since 2010. The strengthening of the Japanese currency, according to a number of experts, was due to the increased craving of investors for the most risk-free assets. Up to this point, the dollar has risen on the back of rising interest rates and higher yields on 10-year US Treasury bills. However, if investors continue to prefer capital preservation over returns, USD/JPY will continue to fall.

The yen was also strengthened by the expectation of changes in the policy of the Bank of Japan. Many investors, especially foreign ones, are expecting that, despite the regulator's assurances of commitment to an ultra-soft monetary policy, it may still go for an increase in interest rates. Moreover, there have already been such precedents, albeit in the opposite direction. Markets remember 2016, when the head of the Central Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, first denied the possibility of introducing negative rates categorically, and then suddenly decided to take such a step.

At the moment, experts' forecasts look as uncertain as the pair's quotes. 40% vote for its growth, 50% are in favor of the fall of the pair and the remaining 10% have taken a neutral position. There is a similar discord among the indicators on D1. As for trend indicators, 65% are green, 35% are red. The oscillators have 40% on the green side, 25% on the red side, and 35% hve turned neutral gray. The nearest support is located at 128.60, followed by zones and levels at 128.00, 127.50, 127.00, 126.30-126.75, 126.00 and 125.00. The goal of the bulls is to rise above the 130.00 horizon and renew the May 05 high at 131.34. The January 1, 2002 high of 135.19 is seen as the final goal.

Data on Japan's GDP for the Q1 of this year will be published next week, on Wednesday, May 18. It is expected that this indicator will decrease by 0.4% from the previous value of 1.1%.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: "$1 Million per BTC, or Zero"

If you read the headlines of the last week, you get the strong impression that the cryptocurrencies have only a few months left to live, if not days. “Crypto Market Massacre”, “Bitcoin Requiem”, “Crypto Bubble Burst” are just some of them. But is it all that scary?

Indeed, the market suffers very serious losses. Bitcoin has lost about 45% of its value since the end of March, hitting $26,580 on May 12. Most other coins feel even worse. As has been said many times, the cause of panic is the global drop in investor risk appetite. The crypto market only follows in the wake of the stock market: the correlation between digital asset quotes and stock indices S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq is at its maximum.

The tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, new outbreaks of coronavirus in China, fears about the future of the EU economy: all this has led investors to prefer the dollar over risky assets. An additional driver is rising yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds. This figure has almost doubled since March and rose over 3%: to the highest level since 2018, exceeding the returns of most sectors of the US stock market.

In addition to global factors, the collapse of the third largest stablecoin in terms of capitalization, UST, put additional pressure on the crypto market. It is believed that stablecoins serve to facilitate investment transactions and should be pegged to the real dollar in a ratio of 1:1. The price of UST immediately collapsed to $0.64, casting doubt on the ability of the Terra team to maintain its rate. Against the backdrop of problems with UST, the native Terra LUNA token also went down, losing more than 90% of its price. It cost about $120 back in April, but you can buy it for $5 now. And here it must be borne in mind that the Terra blockchain protocol is a fairly large project that was in the TOP-10 in terms of market capitalization.

The fate of the centralized stablecoin Tether with a capitalization of $82 billion causes some concern as well. An audit of this project conducted in 2021 showed that instead of dollars, which should provide a reserve for the project, there are a lot of securities in the accounts. Against this background, the sale of USDT has intensified: its capitalization has decreased by $1.4 billion in recent days.

The total capitalization of the crypto market continues to fall. At the time of writing this review, Friday evening, May 13, it is at $1.290 trillion ($1.657 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has fallen from 22 to 10 points out of 100, firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone. The BTC/USD pair, after a slight upward rebound, is trading around $30.150. The low of the week, as already mentioned, was fixed at $26.580. The last time the pair was so low was in December 2020.

The number of "whales" among bitcoin holders, whose capital exceeds the bar of 1000 BTC, is rapidly declining. This figure has already reached its lows since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the volume of cryptocurrency on the exchanges, on the contrary, is at its maximum over the past three months. According to Glassnode analysts, the average volume of coin inflows to centralized exchanges is now hovering around 1755 BTC.

Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz expressed doubt that the bulls will be able to defend the $30,000 support levels for bitcoin and $2,000 for ethereum. “Until we reach a new equilibrium,” he wrote, “digital assets will continue to trade in close correlation with the Nasdaq. Intuition tells us that there will still be a drawdown ahead, and this will occur in a very unstable, volatile and complex market.” Mike Novogratz warned that the negative scenario could materialize if the Nasdaq index falls below 11,000 (it hit 11,688 on May 12).

Gold apologist, billionaire Peter Schiff, predicted the main cryptocurrency to collapse below $10,000. And another billionaire veteran of the bitcoin industry, 2020 US presidential candidate Brock Pierce said in an interview with Fox Business that it can be very successful, but it can also fail. “Bitcoin could drop to zero. Here is the binary result. Either there will be $1 million per BTC, or zero,” he said.

Pierce believes that the current “cryptocurrency landscape” is very similar to the history of the tech companies' bubble. “The situation is very similar to 1999. The market is now in the same phase. So what happened then? After the dot-com bubble, eBay, Amazon and other interesting companies appeared, but a lot of businesses went bankrupt. But this does not mean that digital assets are unrealistic and will not play an important role in our collective future,” the billionaire said. Pierce admitted that he diversified his portfolio, primarily through Ethereum. He also placed a “nine zeros” bet on EOS, converting all of his Block.one shares into cryptocurrency.

Unlike other influencers, ARK Invest CEO Katherine Wood continues to express sustained optimism and believes that the growing correlation between cryptocurrencies and traditional assets indicates that the bearish trend will end soon. The businesswoman opined that the depreciation of bitcoin along with the traditional market is a temporary phenomenon: “Cryptocurrency is a new asset class that should not follow the Nasdaq, but that is what is happening. We are currently in a bearish trend where all assets are moving in the same way and we are seeing one market after another capitulate, but cryptocurrencies may be close to completing it.”

The head of ARK Invest believes that the cryptocurrency market will grow exponentially as traditional assets collapse. “The current recession in the stock and bond markets, commodities and cryptocurrency markets is causing negative sentiment among investors. But look at our research… I can’t even tell you how confident we are that our products will change the world and are already on an exponential growth trajectory.” According to Wood, blockchain is in a technology sector that will grow more than 20 times in the next seven to eight years.

Another hope for investors is that bitcoin is already halfway to its next halving. It happened at block number 735,000 on May 05. This event occurs every 210 thousand blocks, or approximately once every four years, with a little less than 105 thousand blocks left until the next one. The halving date can be predicted to within a couple of days, because the block production time fluctuates around 10 minutes. The previous halving took place on May 11, 2020, and the next one will take place approximately in April 2024.

Halving cycles are one of the main mechanisms of the bitcoin network, which involves halving the BTC reward for miners. Accordingly, the issue of bitcoins is also halved, since miners' rewards are the only source of issuing new coins. From the inception of bitcoin to the first halving, miners were rewarded with 50 BTC per block. Then the amount in bitcoins was reduced to 25 BTC, and in the next cycle to 12.5 BTC. Currently, miners receive 6.25 BTC for mining a block.

And if miners suffer losses due to halving, investors, on the contrary, earn. As observations show, before the first halving, BTC cost about $127, before the second, its price rose to $758, and before the third, to $10,943. It remains to wait for not so long, less than two years, to find out whether there will be a similar explosive rise in the price of BTC in 2024.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- Due to the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies, investors need more protection, otherwise they may lose confidence in the markets. This was stated by the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler. As a rule, buyers of cryptocurrencies do not receive the amount of information that is typical for other asset classes, the official said. For example, this applies to the trading platforms they use or whether users actually own funds in their digital wallets.
According to him, cryptocurrency markets are considered decentralized, but in reality, most of the activity takes place on a few large trading platforms. Regarding crypto platforms, he recalled the need to comply with the basic principles of the market, such as “fighting fraud, countering manipulation and insider practices, ensuring a real, not fictitious, order book.” Gensler noted that the SEC will continue to work to cover all types of cryptocurrencies with supervision. “There is a lot to be done here, and investors are not so well protected so far,” he concluded.

- FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried questioned bitcoin's ability to become a popular payment system due to the inefficiency and high environmental costs of its blockchain. This is reported by the Financial Times. The top manager pointed out that it is not possible to scale the network “to millions of transactions” [per second]. “Blockchain must be extremely efficient, lightweight and have low energy costs. We should not scale bitcoin to such an extent that the consumption of electricity by miners has increased a hundred times,” he explained. The CEO of FTX, who is already being called the “new Zuckerberg”, stressed that the first cryptocurrency can remain in the status of an asset, a commodity and a store of value.

– Rich Dad Poor Dad bestselling author and entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki called the bitcoin crash “great news” and predicted a test of the $17,000 level. “As I said earlier, I expect bitcoin to fall to $20,000. Then we will wait for the bottom test, which may be $17,000. Once that happens, I'll go big. Crises are the best time to get rich,” he said.
Earlier, Robert Kiyosaki explained sarcastically why he is confident in the long-term success of digital gold: “Bitcoin will win because America is led by three puppets.” He ranked US President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell among them.

- Crypto strategist known as DonAlt believes that after breaking the key psychological support area of $30,000, Bitcoin is ready to show a serious move. “Over the next 3 months, we will either see the capitulation that everyone is waiting for, or bitcoin will close the range and start moving up to $58,000,” the expert writes. – In my opinion, the probability of going down is higher. According to my calculations, the next support is at $14,000, after which a recovery of more than 2 times to the high of the range is possible.”
DonAlt noted that the current structure of the bitcoin market may hint that the bottom has already been reached. However, he fears the strong correlation of BTC with the stock market and the possibility of a collapse in the S&P 500 index.
The trader known as Rekt Capital agreed with the opinion that bitcoin is expected to fall further. The specialist believes that the coin needs to lose another 25% of its value before the expected local minimum.

- One of the main critics of bitcoin, president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. Peter Schiff believes that the cryptocurrency has an opportunity for a further strong fall. The businessman drew attention to the fact that bitcoin has lost an important support level near $33,000. And the cryptocurrency will have to fall to $8,000 to touch the next level. “The support line has been broken. There is a high probability of movement to the lower support line. The chart shows two patterns at once: a double top and a head-shoulders pattern. This is an ominous combination. We have a long way down,” Peter Schiff wrote on his blog.

- But an analyst nicknamed Pentoshi expects a bitcoin rally soon, as the situation, in his opinion, is in favor of the bulls. According to Pentoshi, the bears are making serious efforts to lower the price of bitcoin, but they are not succeeding in achieving the desired result. “A lot of coins change hands with a lot of effort. But do the sellers receive appropriate remuneration? It doesn't look like it.
As an example, he looked at an inverted chart of bitcoin, which shows extremely high trading volume, coupled with a small exchange rate movement. As Pentoshi believes, the failure of the bears to depreciate BTC despite strong selling pressure suggests that the momentum is about to turn in favor of the bulls.

- During a discussion of the impact of cryptocurrencies on the country's economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said that they could lead to dollarization, as well as have a negative impact on the banking system. Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das stated that "this seriously undermines the RBI's ability to control the country's monetary policy."
The official fears that cryptocurrencies can become a medium of exchange and replace the national currency in financial transactions both domestically and abroad. “Almost all cryptocurrencies are denominated in dollars and are issued by foreign individuals. This, in the end, can lead to the dollarization of part of our economy, which is contrary to the sovereign interests of the country,” Shaktikanta Das said.
According to various estimates, there are from 15 to 20 million cryptocurrency investors in India with a total volume of crypto assets of about $5.34 billion.

- The cryptocurrency market has recently been actively selling coins, as investors get rid of risky assets amid global economic turmoil. Cryptocurrency billionaires have suffered the most.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's net worth has decreased from $13.7 billion to $2.2 billion. This was not only due to the fall in digital asset prices, but also due to the fall in Coinbase shares, the price of which fell by more than 80%.¬ The capital of the CEO of the FTX crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried has halved and now stands at $11.3 billion. The well-known founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency trading platform, the brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, have individually lost more than $2 billion, which is equivalent to almost 40% of their total fortune.

- American billionaire investor Bill Miller announced in January that half of his capital was invested in the largest cryptocurrency by capitalization. And now some of his coins were sold on a margin call.
In an interview with CNBC, the head of Miller Value Partners said he still remains bullish for the long term. According to him, for the first time he bought an asset in the range of $200-300 and during this time he went through at least three drops in BTC by more than 80%. Despite this, he still views bitcoin as an insurance policy against financial disaster.

- The US Department of State, the Treasury Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have issued a joint warning stating that North Korean IT professionals are trying to get jobs in cryptocurrency projects by posing as citizens of other countries. The authorities have noticed that coders from the DPRK pretend to be citizens of the United States very often.
The statement emphasizes that many of them receive income that contributes to the creation of weapons of mass destruction and the military buildup of North Korea in circumvention of the sanctions imposed on it. In addition, the document says that for the same purpose, some IT professionals from the DPRK have developed virtual currency exchangers or have created analytical tools and applications for cryptocurrency traders.


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

EUR/USD: Growth of the Pair as a Result of DXY Correction

The DXY dollar index hit a multi-year high of 105.05 on Friday, May 13 after a six-week rise. The last time it climbed this high was 20 years ago. However, a reversal followed, and the DXY was below the 103.00 horizon on May 19-20. According to a number of analysts, such a drop is more likely the result of a technical correction, and not a consequence of changes in fundamental factors. The latter still remain on the side of the American currency. However, there are already some alarming signals here, as the sharp tightening of the Fed's monetary policy increases concerns about the growth of the US economy and increases the likelihood of a recession.

But, once again, the fundamental factors are still on the side of the dollar. Thus, data on retail sales in the US released on May 17 showed an increase in consumer activity in April by 0.9%, which is higher than the forecast of 0.7%. Industrial production exceeded the forecast as well: it grew by 1.1% instead of the expected 0.5%.

Last week, the head of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell once again confirmed his intention to raise the key rate by 0.5% at the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meetings in June and July. Recall that the US regulator has already raised the rate twice this year. This, of course, led to an increase in costs for various types of loans not only for industry, but also for the population, including mortgage lending, consumer loans, interest on credit cards etc.

However, on Tuesday May 17, Jerome Powell stated unequivocally that the Fed would continue to tighten and back off from aggressive rate hikes only when it received "clear and compelling evidence" of a slowdown in inflation. And if the rate of inflation decline does not suit the Central Bank, it may not limit itself to a rate of 3.0%, but increase it to 4.0% within 12-15 months. That will give the dollar additional advantages over other currencies in the DXY basket, including the euro.

Unlike the US economy, investors are much more concerned about the prospects for the European economy. This concern is primarily due to the strong dependence of the European Union on Russian energy resources. On Monday, May 16, EU countries started negotiations on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. It is known that we are talking, among other things, about the introduction of an embargo on the purchase of Russian oil and gas. It is not yet clear whether such an embargo will be total or partial, when it will be introduced and what exceptions there will be, but it is already clear that it will create serious problems not only for the Russian, but also for the European economy. And this cannot but cause concern for investors.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen added additional uncertainty to this complex situation. She stated that the G7 countries are discussing the idea of establishing the maximum possible duties on energy from Russia. On the one hand, it makes no sense to impose an embargo on their supplies in this case. But on the other hand, this will hit hard on the pockets of European consumers who want to avoid energy hunger.

The situation with inflation in the Eurozone remains unclear. According to data published on Wednesday May 18, it remains at a record level of 7.4%, that is, 3.7 times the ECB's target level of 2.0%. The head of the Central Bank of Finland, Olli Rehn, said that in such a situation, members of the ECB Governing Council agree on the need for a “fairly quick” move away from negative interest rates. Recall that the deposit rate in the euro area is now minus 0.5%, and has been negative for 8 years, since 2014. However, "fairly quick" exit is a very vague wording, in contrast to the specific decision of the US Federal Reserve to raise the dollar rate by another 1.0% in the next two months.

This divergence between the specifically hawkish monetary policy of the Fed and the vaguely dovish ECB suggests that the US currency will continue to strengthen its position. Although the opposite happened last week: the dollar lost about 150 points to the euro from May 16 to May 20 and the EUR/USD pair ended the trading session at 1.0557. However, according to some experts, what happened is a consequence of the general correction of the DXY index and fits into the medium-term downtrend of the pair.

At the time of writing, on the evening of May 20, the opinions of experts are divided as follows: 45% of analysts are sure that the EUR/USD pair will return to the movement to the south, the same number is waiting for the continuation of the correction to the north, and the remaining 10% have taken a neutral position. There is a certain discrepancy in the readings of indicators on D1 caused by a correction. Among the trend indicators, 40% side with the reds, 60% side with the greens. The oscillators have a clearer picture: 70% are colored green, 20% red and 10% neutral gray. The nearest resistance is located in the zone 1.0600, if successful, they will try to break through the resistance 1.0640 and rise to the zone 1.0750-1.0800. For the bears, task number 1 is to break through the support in the 1.0500 area, then 1.0460-1.0480, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to storm the 2017 low of 1.0340, there is only support from 20 years ago below.

As for the calendar for the coming week, it will be useful to pay attention to the publication of data on business activity (Markit) in Germany and the Eurozone as a whole on Tuesday, May 24. US orders for capital and durable goods will be released on Wednesday. The minutes of the last FOMC meeting of the Fed will be published on the same day, and preliminary US GDP indicators for the Q1 2022 will be known on Thursday, May 26.

GBP/USD: Inflation Continues to Rise

Of course, the dynamics of the GBP/USD pair was dominated by what happened to the DXY dollar index last week. However, certain adjustments were also made by specific factors related to the economy of the United Kingdom.

The Bank of England published a forecast about two months ago that inflation should have peaked in April. The data published on Wednesday, May 18, confirmed this forecast, with the exception of one very big “but”. The regulator predicted that the peak would be reached at 7.2%, but it turned out to be 9.0%, which is the highest over the past 40 years. And in this case, to paraphrase the great English playwright William Shakespeare, it is time to exclaim: “Is this a peak or not a peak? That's the question!". Apparently, there is no talk of any slowdown in inflation yet, and it is precisely this that is the main “toothache” of the UK economy.

GBP/USD hit 1.2524 at a weekly high. Two pieces of news kept the pound from weakening. First, according to the UK Office for National Statistics, retail sales in the country unexpectedly rose by 1.4% in April, while the market expected a fall of 0.2%. And in addition, the British currency was supported by the chief economist of the Bank of England Hugh Pill, who said that the regulator has yet to continue tightening monetary policy, as bullish risks for inflation still prevail, and it is projected to rise to double digits in 2022.

As a result, the pair ended the five-day period at 1.2490 where it traded in late April - early May, and where it has already been in 2016, 2019, and 2020. Will it continue to fall? 20% of experts answered this question positively, 25% answered negatively. The majority (55%), not knowing how to react to the words of the chief economist of the Central Bank, shrugged their shoulders. As for the indicators on D1, then, as in the case of EUR/USD , their opinions are divided. Among the trend indicators, 50% point to the growth of the pair, exactly the same number points to the fall, among the oscillators the balance of forces is somewhat different: only 20% are looking south, 80% are looking north, although a quarter of them are already in the overbought zone. Supports are located at 1.2435, 1.2400, 1.2370, 1.2300, 1.2200, then 1.2154-1.2164 and 1.2075. A strong point of support for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. In case of further correction to the north, the pair will have to overcome the resistance in the zone 1.2500-1.2525, then there are zones 1.2600-1.2635, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

UK economic developments in the coming week include a speech by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Monday May 23 and the release of the PMI Composite and Markit Manufacturing and Services PMIs on Tuesday May 24.

USD/JPY: Why the Yen Is Strengthening



According to officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), "in general, the depreciation of the yen is helping Japan." The same could be repeatedly heard from the leaders of the Bank of Japan. The IMF also believes that the control over the yield curve applied by the Japanese regulator is quite effective, and the dynamics of the yen "are in line with medium-term fundamentals."

However, contrary to the statements of high officials, we have seen not weakening, but strengthening of the Japanese currency over the past two weeks. And on May 20, it is exactly where it was on April 20: at the level of 127.85, without having updated the maximum of May 09 at 131.34. According to a number of experts, the strengthening of the Japanese currency was due to the increased craving of investors for the most risk-free assets. However, this is not the only reason.

Inflation in the country continues to grow, which causes discontent among the population. The rise in consumer prices is recorded for the eighth month in a row. In April, they increased by 2.5% compared to the same month a year earlier, showing the highest growth rate since October 2014. As noted by Dow Jones, inflation has exceeded the 2.0% mark for the first time since September 2008, and this is without taking into account the effect of the consumption tax increase. It was 1.2% in March. Naturally, all this causes discontent among the citizens of the country, to which politicians are already actively reacting. But at some point, there should be a reaction from the Central Bank of Japan. Many investors, especially foreign ones, expect that, despite the regulator's assurances of its commitment to an ultra-soft monetary policy, it will still be forced to increase the interest rate. And, apparently, it is this expectation that provides the yen with additional support.

At the moment, 55% of analysts vote for the yen to continue to strengthen and USD/JPY to continue moving south, 40% vote for the resumption of the uptrend to the north, and 5% expect movement in the sideways. At the same time, supporters of technical analysis pay attention to the fact that a classic figure has formed on the chart: a "double top" (or "head - shoulders"). Among the indicators on D1, the alignment of forces is as follows. Oscillators have 80% red, 10% green, and 10% neutral gray. Among trend indicators, the parity is 50% to 50%. The nearest support is located at 127.50, followed by zones and levels at 127.00, 126.30-126.75, 126.00 and 125.00. The goal of the bulls is to rise above the horizon of 128.00, then overcome the resistances of 129.00, 129.60, 130.00, 130.50 and renew the high of May 09 at 131.34. The high of January 01, 2002, 135.19, is seen as the ultimate goal.

Of the upcoming week's events, one can pay attention to the speech of the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday, May 25, although it is unlikely to bring any surprises and at least somehow affect market sentiment. But what if something does happen? Markets remember 2016, when Haruhiko Kuroda first categorically denied the possibility of changing rates, and then suddenly decided to take such a step…

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: End of the Digital Gold Rush?

The BTC/USD bulls have been desperately trying to hold the line in the $30,000 zone since May 11. The struggle took place in the $28,650-31,000 zone all last week. And even though the S&P500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq stock indices rebounded on May 18, putting additional pressure on bitcoin, it continued to resist.

In general, decoupling bitcoin from stock indices, primarily from the S&P500, is the dream of many supporters of the first cryptocurrency. On the other hand, these same people dream that as many institutions as possible will come to the crypto market, and that bitcoin, along with stocks, will take its rightful place in their investment portfolios. But in order to become a full-fledged participant in financial markets, a cryptocurrency must obey the rules and laws established on it. And if large investors get rid of risky assets, one should not expect that, by dumping shares of Microsoft, Apple or Amazon, they will invest the dollars received not in treasuries, but in bitcoin or ethereum.

Another dream is for bitcoin to establish itself as a store of value on par with physical gold. However, the concept of "digital gold" at the moment is nothing more than a compliment towards the first cryptocurrency. Or a marketing ploy to increase its value in the eyes of small investors. But the importance of the precious metal for humanity has been confirmed for thousands of years, while the history of bitcoin is not even 15 years old. And its value lies only in its limited emission and thirst for profit.

Back in 2010, BTC was worth 5 cents, and its price reached $69,000 at its peak in November 2021. It is clear that the prospect of quickly and easily turning $100 dollars into $138,000,000 attracted a huge mass of people willing to get rich quickly. So what happened in the last 10-12 years can be called the “Digital Gold Rush”, by analogy with the Gold Rush in the USA in the second half of the 19th century. But then many, instead of getting rich, on the contrary, lost their money. The same can be observed now: bitcoin, having fallen to $26.579 on May 12, updated the low of the current year and returned to the values of December 2020, having lost about 60% of its value in just 6 months.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's net worth has decreased from $13.7 billion to $2.2 billion. This was not only due to the fall in digital asset prices, but also due to the fall in Coinbase shares, the price of which fell by more than 80%. ­The capital of the CEO of the FTX crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried has halved and now stands at $11.3 billion. The well-known founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency trading platform, the brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, have individually lost more than $2 billion, which is equivalent to almost 40% of their total fortune. Well, what means of "savings and hedging" can we talk about in such a situation?

Another advantage of bitcoin that its proponents like to talk about is its decentralized nature and the anonymity of its holders. However, it seems that this is just a fake. The head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, explained that although cryptocurrency markets are considered decentralized, in reality, most of the activity takes place on a few large trading floors. Regulators and law enforcement officers are closely watching them. And the fact that the wallets belonging to the Russians were blocked after the imposition of sanctions against Russia, says a lot.

Finally, the fourth opportunity to raise the value of BTC is its widespread use as a means of payment. Although not everything is so smooth here. For example, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, has recently expressed doubts about the ability of bitcoin to become a popular payment system. The top manager pointed to the lack of the ability to scale the network "to millions of transactions" per second due to the inefficiency and high environmental costs of his blockchain.

Returning from wishful thinking to reality, we must state that the total capitalization of the crypto market continues to fall. At the time of writing this review, Friday evening, May 20, it is at $1.248 trillion ($1.290 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone and is at around 13 points. Moreover, it fell to 8 points on Tuesday, May 17, the lowest level since March 28, 2020. The BTC/USD pair is hardly kept in the "war zone", at the level of $29.325.

Gold advocate, president of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. Peter Schiff believes that bitcoin has already lost an important support level near $33,000. And the cryptocurrency will have to fall to $8,000 to touch the next level. “The support line has been broken. There is a high probability of movement to the lower support line. The chart shows two patterns at once: a double top and a head-shoulders pattern. This is an ominous combination. We have a long way down,” this “gold bug” wrote in his blog.

Rich Dad Poor Dad bestselling author and entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki called the bitcoin crash “great news” and predicted a test of the $17,000 level. “As I said earlier, I expect bitcoin to fall to $20,000. Then we will wait for the bottom test, which may be $17,000. Once that happens, I'll go big. Crises are the best time to get rich,” he said.

But according to the crypto strategist nicknamed DonAlt, the question of where bitcoin will move after breaking the key support area of $30,000, has not yet been resolved. “Over the next 3 months, we will either see the capitulation that everyone is waiting for, or bitcoin will close the range and start moving up to $58,000,” the expert writes. In his opinion, the probability of going down is higher, and the next support is at $14,000. DonAlt notes that the current structure of the bitcoin market may hint that the bottom has already been reached. However, he fears the strong correlation of BTC with the stock market and the possibility of a further collapse of the S&P500 index.

The trader known as Rekt Capital agreed with the opinion that bitcoin is expected to fall further. The specialist believes that the coin needs to lose another 25% of its value before the expected local minimum.

Analyst nicknamed Pentoshi, on the other hand, expects a bitcoin rally soon, as the situation, in his opinion, is in favour of the bulls. According to Pentoshi, the bears are making serious efforts to lower the price of bitcoin, but they are not succeeding in achieving the desired result. “A lot of coins change hands with a lot of effort. But do the sellers receive appropriate remuneration? It doesn't look like it.

As an example, he looked at an inverted chart of bitcoin, which shows extremely high trading volume, coupled with a small exchange rate movement. As Pentoshi believes, the failure of the bears to depreciate BTC despite strong selling pressure suggests that the momentum is about to turn in favor of the bulls.

American billionaire investor Bill Miller also looks optimistic. According to him, he survived at least three bitcoin drops by more than 80%. And despite the fact that some of his coins have been currently sold on a margin call, he remains bullish in the long term.

As follows from the above, there is no consensus among influencers and experts at the moment. What to do in such a situation? Of course, you can sit and wait with your hands down. Or you can, for example, engage in active trading. Moreover, trading on the CFD principle, you can earn both on the growth and fall of the crypto market. Moreover, you do not need to have a real cryptocurrency for this: in the NordFX brokerage company, in order to open a transaction of 1 bitcoin, you will only need $150, and $15 for a transaction of 1 ethereum. Why is this not a crypto life hack?


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

For the second time, NordFX has received the BIZZ AWARDS, an award that the World Confederation of Businesses annually awards to companies that have achieved outstanding business success.

The World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB) has been playing a leading role as an international business organization for over 15 years, promoting business development in over 130 countries and encouraging the growth of companies and entrepreneurs through THE BIZZ AWARDS. NordFX received its first such award in 2020, and now there is a new success.

“On behalf of the World Confederation of Businesses,” the organization's president, Jesus Moran, wrote in their letter, “we extend our most sincere congratulations to you and your team NORDFX, for being selected as a winner of of this important business excellence award.

Your company has been selected for consistently exceeding the evaluation criteria noted in our Business Excellence Questionnaires: Business Leadership, Quality of Products and Services, Management Systems, Innovation and Creativity, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Results Achieved. For this reason, we would like to extend our congratulations once more in recognition of this outstanding achievement. WORLDCOB wishes you to continue the excellent work your team is doing."


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- The collapse of LUNA and the general weakening of the market affected the expectations of crypto derivatives market participants. According to Glassnode, the ratio of open puts and calls in bitcoin has increased from 50% to 70%, indicating an increased desire of investors to secure positions from continued negative dynamics.
The largest open interest (OI) in call contracts with expiration at the end of July this year is concentrated around the $40,000 mark. However, participants give the greatest preference to put options, which will bring profit in case of price reduction to $25,000, $20,000 and $15,000. In other words, until the middle of the year, the market focuses on hedging risks and/or speculating on a further price reduction.
Optimists predominate over the longer distance. Contracts maturing at the end of the year have the most open positions in the range of $70,000 to $100,000. In the put option, the largest OI is concentrated between $25,000 and $30,000, that is, it is in the zone of current values.

- The rate of burning ethereum through EIP-1559 fell to a record low. 2,370 ETH was withdrawn from circulation Last week, which is 50% less than in early May. The share of coins not subjected to this procedure reached a record 81.6%, which has also put pressure on the price.

- Most Americans consider digital assets as an investment tool, not a means of payment. This is stated in the annual Fed report on the state of US households. According to the document, 12% of adult citizens of the country have owned or interacted with cryptocurrencies. But only 2% have used them for purchases, and only 1% have used them to send funds.

- Against the background of the increase in the key interest rate and the tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, the price of bitcoin may fall below $8,000. Guggenheim Partners investment director Scott Minerd said this in an interview with CNBC. “When you “break through the $30,000 level, $8,000 is the ultimate bottom. So, I think we still have a lot of room to decline, especially with the Fed acting tough,” he said.
The investment director of the Guggenheim compared the situation in the crypto market to the dot-com bubble. According to him, most digital assets are “junk”, but bitcoin and ethereum will survive the crypto winter.
Minerd emphasized that the digital asset industry has not yet come to the right design for cryptocurrencies. In his opinion, the currency should store value, be a means of exchange and a unit of account. “There is nothing like that, they [cryptocurrencies] have not even come to a single basis,” he concluded.

- The PayPal payment company is making every effort to implement “all possible” integrations with blockchain and cryptocurrencies into its services. This was stated by PayPal's Vice President Richard Nash during the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We are looking to work with other [projects] to cover everything we can, whether it be the coins we have today in PayPal digital wallets, private digital currencies or CBDCs in the future,” Nash said.
The payments giant’s VP also hinted that he has also invested in crypto assets: “I have a lot of things that I work on at PayPal and I enjoy using the services myself, so I think it’s natural.”

- Unidentified people hacked into the Twitter account of Mike Winkelman, an artist known under the pseudonym Beeple, posting phishing links on it. Users were invited to a website purporting to be Beeple's partnership with Louis Vuitton fashion house.
Clicking on this link resulted in an unauthorized withdrawal of funds from the user's wallet. The cybercriminals got 135 ETH and 45 NFTs worth about $438,000. The hackers retained control of the artist's account for approximately five hours before he managed to get it back.

- The crypto strategist aka Credible believes that, despite the general bearish mood in the markets, BTC is ready to take off. According to him, bitcoin has been in a bull market for the last decade, and the bear markets of 2014 and 2018 became periods of correction: “After the peaks of 2013 and 2017, there were major bear markets and it took 3 years to return to the highs. The current corrections are somewhat smaller, and this will be proven when BTC soars to new all-time highs in a few months.”
Credible uses the Elliott wave theory for technical analysis, which predicts the behavior of the rate based on the psychology of the crowd, which manifests itself in the form of waves. This theory assumes that a bull market cycle goes through 5 impulse waves, with the asset correcting during the 2nd and 4th waves and rallying during the 1st, 3rd and 5th waves. In addition, each major wave consists of 5 smaller sub-waves.
According to the analyst, bitcoin is now in the middle of the main 5th wave that began at the start of 2019. In addition, BTC is currently still in the 5th sub-wave, which can push the asset to a new all-time high above $100,000. “I understand that my approach is controversial,” says Credible. “Most do not expect a new record high until the next halving in 2024, and I expect it sooner.”

- According to another crypto analyst nicknamed Rager, given the length of BTC’s bearish cycles in 2014 and 2018, the asset has a long way to go to the bottom, from 6 to 8 months. “If BTC is declining and rebounding from the 200-week moving average, as in past bearish cycles, then this is a good sign. There will be a decline of only 68% from the maximum, although it had reached 84% in the past. If we take the current realities, a pullback of 84% will lead to the rate of $11,000.”
Rager believes that the price of bitcoin will depend on the strength or weakness of the US stock market in the short term: “You should not look at the bitcoin chart, it is better to watch the chart of the S&P 500 index. There is limited upside potential for BTC right now, but it won’t get stronger until the stock markets turn around.”

- Rekt Capital, one of the most followed analysts on Twitter with over 300,000 followers, has warned that bitcoin could briefly drop 28% below its 200-week moving average. He explained that this SMA is playing the role of an ever-growing latest support. Bitcoin has fallen below this line in the past, but these periods of capitulation were very short-lived. The weekly candlestick has never closed below this SMA yet, but its shadows were as high as 28%. If this happens again now, the cryptocurrency rate will be at the level of $15,500. The 200-week moving average is currently in the $22,000 zone.

- Galaxy Digital CEO and bitcoin proponent Mike Novogratz believes that even despite a significant drop from their all-time highs, altcoins risk losing more than half of their value.
Novogratz defines the outlook for the entire financial market as bleak, which means that a further decline in crypto assets should be expected. However, despite the bearish macroeconomic background, the head of Galaxy Digital remains optimistic and believes in the recovery of the crypto market in the future: “Cryptocurrency is not going away. The number of new users is not decreasing, the pace of creating decentralized infrastructure is not slowing down, the GDP of projects in the metaverse is growing. The crypto community is resilient, it believes in innovation and believes that the markets still provide early entry opportunities.”

- The analytical company Santiment has published the data of its Weighted indicator, which calculates negative and positive comments on an asset in social networks. Based on this information, a kind of mood of the crypto community is determined. According to the readings of this instrument, bitcoin has already reached the global bottom and can be expected to rise in the coming weeks.
“History shows that prices most often rise when investor sentiment is low. Now is the moment when bitcoin has every chance of a limited strengthening,” analysts at Santiment believe.


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

EUR/USD: Fed's "Boring" FOMC Protocol

The DXY dollar index hit a multi-year high of 105.05 on Friday, May 13, after a six-week rise. The last time it climbed this high was 20 years ago. However, a reversal followed, and it was already at the level of 101.50 exactly two weeks later. Following the general trend, the EUR/USD pair has also been growing since May 13, reaching the height of 1.0764 on May 27. The euro has pushed the dollar by 415 points during this time. And this is not at all the European currency that did it, but the American one. More specifically, the US Federal Reserve.

The minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting released on Wednesday May 25 did not bring any surprises. It had only what everyone already knew about. The content of the document simply confirmed the intention of the regulator to raise the refinancing rate by 0.5% at each of the next two meetings. Fed officials also unanimously approved a plan to start reducing the asset portfolio, which currently stands at $9 trillion, from June 1. The absence of any surprises in the FOMC protocol hurt the dollar, but it helped the shares: the stock indices S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq went straight up.

The Eurozone macroeconomic calendar remained almost empty last week. As for the statistics from the US, it came out rather multidirectional. Initial jobless claims for the week fell to 210K, which is less than the expected 215K. Orders for durable goods rose by 0.4%, indicating further growth in consumer activity, which is the main driver of economic growth. However, on the other hand, US GDP for the Q1 was revised down to negative -1.5%, which is worse than both the previous estimate of -1.3% and the forecast of -1.4%.

Among medium-term factors, the aggressive policy of the US Central Bank continues to play on the side of the dollar. Its head, Jerome Powell, has repeatedly confirmed his intention to raise interest rates in order to curb inflation and prevent the economy from overheating. US annual inflation (CPI) hit 8.3% in April, more than four times the target of 2%. At the same time, according to analysts, a record rise in energy prices will continue to push inflation further upward in the coming months. And this, in turn, may push the Fed to further tighten monetary policy.

The US currency also continues to be supported by its status as a protective asset. As the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is expected to escalate, demand for it will continue to grow, as investors are concerned about the threat of stagflation in Europe. Rising tensions between China and Taiwan have increased craving for safe haven assets as well.

EUR/USD completed the past week at 1.0701. At the time of writing the review, on the evening of May 27, the voices of experts were divided as follows: 30% of analysts are sure that the pair will return to the movement to the south, 50% of analysts are waiting for the continuation of the ascent to the north, and the remaining 20% have taken a neutral position. There is no unity in the readings of the indicators on D1. Oscillators are 80% green, 10% red, and 10% neutral gray. At the same time, a quarter of the "green" is already in the overbought zone. There is parity among the trend indicators: 50% vote for the growth of the pair, 50%­ vote for its fall. The nearest resistance is located in zone 1.0750-1.0800. If successful, the bulls will try to break through the resistance of 1.0900-1.0945, then 1.1000 and 1.1050, after which they will meet resistance in the 1.1120-1.1137 zone. For the bears, task number 1 is to break through the support at 1.0640, then 1.0480-1.0500, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to storm the 2017 low of 1.0340, there is only support from 20 years ago below.

A lot of statistics on consumer markets in Germany (May 30 and June 01) and the EU (May 31 and June 03) will be released this week. The publication on Wednesday, June 01 of the ISM business activity index in the US manufacturing sector is also noteworthy. On the same day, the ADP report on US non-farm employment will be published, and another piece of data from the US labor market will arrive on Friday, October 08, including such important indicators as the unemployment rate and the number of new non-farm payrolls (NFP).

GBP/USD: "Not Boring" Decision of the UK Government

The main factor behind the strengthening of the pound and the growth of the GBP/USD pair, as in the case of the euro, was the general weakening of the US currency. The two-week drop in the DXY dollar index was its worst losing streak since December 2021. However, unlike the euro, the British currency was helped by two more factors. The first is strong labor market data. The second is inflation in April, which peaked in four decades and gave investors hope for further tightening of monetary policy and higher interest rates by the Bank of England.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his concern about the country's economic prospects last week. He said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on May 27 that he "expects a difficult period ahead" and "doesn't want to see a return to the 1970s-style wage-price spiral."

A day earlier, the decision of the government of the United Kingdom, in contrast to the "boring" of the Fed's protocol, greatly surprised the markets. UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced a one-off payment of £650 to the lowest income households to help them with rising prices. The total amount of this fiscal bailout will be £15bn. And although Sunak argued that the support package would have a “minimal impact” on inflation, many analysts thought that this injection could prompt the Bank of England to revise its economic forecasts for this and next year. It is possible that the regulator will decide to take a more hawkish stance in order to limit inflationary pressure on the country's economy.

At the same time, for now, growth prospects for the UK economy remain significantly lower than on the other side of the Atlantic. And this causes many experts to doubt that the pound, together with the GBP/USD pair, can continue to grow steadily in the medium term. Especially if the tension around the Northern Ireland Protocol increases. Recall that this document is an addition to the Brexit Agreement, which regulates special trade, customs and immigration issues between the UK, Northern Ireland and the European Union.

The last chord of the past week sounded at 1.2628. 55% of experts vote for further growth of the pair, 35% for its fall, and the remaining 10% are for a sideways trend.

The situation with indicators on D1 is similar to their readings for EUR/USD. Among the trend indicators, 50% indicate the growth of the pair, and the same number indicate the fall. Among the oscillators, the balance of power is somewhat different: only 10% are looking south, another 10% are neutral, 80% are pointing north, although a quarter of them are already in the overbought zone. Supports are located at 1.2600-1.2620, 1.2475-1.2500, 1.2400, 1.2370, 1.2300, 1.2200, then 1.2154-1.2164 and 1.2075. A strong pivot point for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. In case of further movement to the north, the pair will have to overcome the resistance 1.2675, then there are zones 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

Among the events of the upcoming week concerning the economy of the United Kingdom, we can note Wednesday, June 01, when the May value of the index of business activity in the manufacturing sector (PMI) will be published. Thursday 02 June and Friday 03 June are bank holidays in the UK.

USD/JPY: Japan Has Its Own Way. But which one?

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has recently said that "the recent movements of the yen are driven by various factors" and has added that the government's priority is to help ease the pressure on households and businesses through various policy measures.

It is interesting to know what lies behind the wording "the recent movements of the yen". Is it the fact that USD/JPY has soared from 102.58 to 131.34 since January 2021, and the Japanese currency has weakened by 2,876 points? So this is not just some kind of “movement”, but a real collapse, about which the country's households are moaning.

Inflation in the country continues to grow, which eventually causes dissatisfaction among the population. The rise in consumer prices is recorded for the eighth month in a row. They increased by 2.5% in April compared to the same month a year earlier, showing the highest growth rate since October 2014. As noted by Dow Jones, inflation has exceeded the 2.0% mark for the first time since September 2008, and this is without taking into account the effect of the consumption tax increase. But how do the leaders of the country react to this?

Whereas US and UK regulators fight inflation by tightening monetary policy, the opposite is true in Japan. According to the aforementioned Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the authorities are aiming to meet the inflation target through the government's structural reforms, fiscal policy, and easing of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy. (Recall that the interest rate on the yen has been at a negative level of -0.1% for a long time).

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, in turn, explained that if energy prices do not show a sharp drop, Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) is likely to remain near the 2% mark for about the next 12 months.

At the same time, if we analyze the statements of both officials, certain discrepancies in their assessment of the economic situation become noticeable. On the one hand, Fumio Kishida says that the government's priority is to alleviate inflationary pressure, including by raising the wages of citizens. On the other hand, Haruhiko Kuroda says that against the background of such wage increases, a steady increase in inflation is possible. As a result, it is not yet clear at what point a compromise will be reached between the Government and the Central Bank of Japan, and what the country's economic policy will look like in the coming months.

Many investors, especially foreign ones, expect that, despite the regulator's assurances of its commitment to an ultra-soft monetary policy, it will still be forced to increase the interest rate. And, apparently, this expectation, along with the fall of DXY, provides support to the yen: the USD/JPY pair ended the last week at 127.11.

At the moment, 60% of analysts side with the bears, expecting further movement of the pair to the south, 15% vote for the resumption of the medium-term uptrend, and 25% expect movement in the sideways.

Among the indicators on D1, the alignment of forces is as follows. For oscillators, 60% are colored red, among which a third gives signals that the pair is oversold, 10% are colored green, and 30% are neutral gray. Among trend indicators, the parity is 50% to 50%. The nearest support is located at 126.35, followed by zones and levels 126.00 and 125.00 and 123.65-124.05. The goal of the bulls is to rise above the horizon of 127.55, then overcome the resistances of 128.00, 128.60 129.40-129.60, 130.00, 130.50 and renew the high of May 09 at 131.34. As the ultimate goal, the January 01, 2002 high of 135.19 is seen.

No important information regarding the state of the Japanese economy is expected to be released this week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: The Background Is Negative, but There Is Still Hope



We have two pieces of news for you: good and bad. Let's start with the good one. Many experts, such as ARK Invest CEO Katherine Wood, literally dreamed that bitcoin would “get rid” of the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq stock indices, stop following them in the tail and take on a life of its own. And finally, we have seen something similar over the past two weeks. Despite the volatility in the stock markets, the bulls are desperately trying to keep the defense in the $30,000 zone from May 13 to May 27, preventing the BTC/USD pair from falling below the $28,620 support. This is where the good news ends. Let's move on to the bad one. More precisely, to the bad ones, because there are quite a lot of them.

Cryptocurrency No. 1 is trading in the negative zone for the first time in its history for the eighth week in a row. An important role in these dynamics was played by the direct correlation of BTC with stock indices, which was broken only in the last two decades of May.

Experts from Goldman Sachs noted in April that the Fed's aggressive policy could provoke recessionary phenomena in the US economy. Such expectations led to the flight of institutional investors from risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.

The overall trading activity is declining. The outflow of funds from cryptocurrency investment funds in the past two weeks has reached its highest levels since July 2021. The total amount in fund management has fallen to $38 billion. The number of transactions is also falling. The total volume of coins on crypto exchanges has decreased to 2.5 million BTC, bitcoin flows to cold wallets.

Against this background, negative statements about the main cryptocurrency are heard more and more often. The head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, said on May 22 that the cryptocurrency does not have any security that could serve as stability. The next day, she was joined by the head of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey, according to whom bitcoin has no intrinsic value and is not suitable as a means of payment.

Scott Minerd, Investment Director of Guggenheim Partners, agrees with the heads of the Central Banks. “Currency should store value, be a means of exchange and a unit of account. There is nothing like it, they [cryptocurrencies] have not even come to a single basis,” he concluded and compared the situation on the crypto market with the dot-com bubble. According to him, most digital assets are “junk”, but bitcoin and ethereum will survive the crypto winter, which will be long. “When you break $30,000, $8,000 is the ultimate bottom. Therefore, I think we still have a lot of room to decline, especially with the Fed acting tough,” Scott Minerd predicted.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz also sees the outlook for the entire financial market as grim. He believes that even despite a significant drop from their all-time highs, altcoins risk losing more than half of their value. However, despite the bearish macroeconomic background, the head of Galaxy Digital remains optimistic and believes in the recovery of the crypto market in the future. According to the head of Galaxy Digital, “The crypto community is resilient and believes that the markets still provide early entry opportunities.”

Indeed, if you analyze social networks, you can see that their users, unlike institutional ones, have much more faith in a better future. Thus, the analytical company Santiment published the data of its Weighted indicator, which calculates negative and positive comments on an asset in social networks. Based on this information, a kind of mood of the crypto community is determined. According to the readings of this instrument, bitcoin has already reached the global bottom and can be expected to rise in the coming weeks. "Now is the moment when bitcoin has every chance of a limited strengthening,” analysts at Santiment believe.

One of the most respected social media analysts aka Credible also believes that, despite the general bearish mood in the markets, BTC is ready to take off. Credible uses the Elliott wave theory for technical analysis, which predicts the behavior of the rate based on the psychology of the crowd, which manifests itself in the form of waves. This theory assumes that a bull market cycle goes through 5 impulse waves, with the asset correcting during the 2nd and 4th waves and rallying during the 1st, 3rd and 5th waves. In addition, each major wave consists of 5 smaller sub-waves.

According to the analyst, bitcoin is now in the middle of the main 5th wave that began at the start of 2019. In addition, BTC is currently still in the 5th sub-wave, which can push the asset to a new all-time high above $100,000. “I understand that my approach is controversial," writes Credible. “Most do not expect a new all-time high until the next halving in 2024, but I expect it sooner, in a few months.”

Rekt Capital, which has over 300,000 Twitter followers, has warned that bitcoin could briefly drop 28% below its 200-week moving average. He explained that this SMA is playing the role of an ever-growing latest support. Bitcoin has fallen below this line in the past, but these periods of capitulation were very short-lived. The weekly candlestick has never closed below this SMA yet, but its shadows were as high as 28%. If this happens again now, the cryptocurrency rate will be at the level of $15,500. The 200-week moving average is currently in the $22,000 zone.

According to another cryptanalyst named Rager, “If the price of BTC declines and bounces off the 200-week moving average, as in past bearish cycles, this is a good sign. There will be a decline of only 68% of the maximum.” However, according to his calculations, such declines were as high as 84% in the past, and "in the current realities, an 84% pullback would lead to $11,000." That being said, given the length of BTC’s bearish cycles in 2014 and 2018, it could take 6 to 8 months before bottoming out.

Rager believes that in the short term, the price of bitcoin will continue to depend on the strength or weakness of the US stock market: “BTC has limited upside right now, but it will not strengthen until the stock markets turn around.”

According to Glassnode, the ratio of open put- and call-options for BTC has increased from 50% to 70%, which indicates an increased desire of investors to secure positions from continued negative dynamics.

The open interest (OI) in call contracts with expiration at the end of July this year is concentrated around the $40,000 mark. However, participants give the greatest preference to put options, which will bring profit in case of price reduction to $25,000, $20,000 and $15,000. In other words, until the middle of the year, the market focuses on hedging risks and/or speculating on a further price reduction.

Optimists predominate over the longer distance. Contracts maturing at the end of the year have the most open positions in the range of $70,000 to $100,000. In the put option, the largest OI is concentrated between $25,000 and $30,000, that is, it is in the zone of current values.

We complete the review of good and bad news for today on this note. We only note that at the time of writing the review, on the evening of Friday May 27, the total capitalization of the crypto market is at the level of $1.194 trillion ($1.248 trillion a week ago). The Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index is firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone and is at around 12 points. (Recall that it fell to 8 points on May 17, the lowest level since March 28, 2020). The BTC/USD pair is struggling to stay in the war zone, trading at $28,800.


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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NordFX has received more than 60 professional prizes and awards during 14 years of its work in the financial markets. However, it is only now, for the first time in years, that the high quality of customer service from Latin American countries has been recognized: according to the independent expert and analytical group International Business Magazine, NordFX has been named "Best Execution Broker LATAM 2022".

International Business Magazine is an online publishing company with a subscriber base of more than 50,000 that includes investors, C-suite employees, key stakeholders, policymakers, and government bureaucrats. The publication's website gets 4.2 million views annually and an average of 350k unique visitors every month. International Business Magazine covers various important and relevant topics from around the world in the sections "Business and Emerging Markets", "Banking", "Finance", "Technology", reports the latest news and actively promotes innovative solutions in the industry.

The International Business Magazine awards are designed to highlight top talent across industries and regions. “It is a symbol of appreciation for the best-in-class achievements and class-leading innovations,” the magazine's executives said in the congratulatory letter. “It is a mark of inspiration for the upcoming players to surpass the benchmarks set by the award winners. The presented award has become reminiscent of International Quality's hallmark and further validates the company and its leaders as verified service providers or solution developers. We believe a top-performing brokerage firm like Nord FX deserves the award title 'Best Execution Broker Latin America 2022.”

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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CryptoNews of the Week



- Bitcoin remains an asset free from interference from governments and corporations, inspiring confidence “in this uncertain world.” The head of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor stated this in an interview with Fox News. In his opinion, the markets have entered bearish territory: bonds act as derivatives of currency, losing their value along with shares in conditions of high inflation.
The top manager noted that in such an extremely emotional market, the investor needs the protection that the first cryptocurrency can provide. “Two years after the crisis began, the money supply in the United States has increased by 36%. Gold has risen in price by 7%. The S&P index has risen by 29%, the Nasdaq index - by 19%. Bitcoin has added 229% in price,” he explained.
Saylor noted that as soon as he or the company has extra money, he will continue to invest in this cryptocurrency. MicroStrategy currently holds 129,218 BTC worth about $4 billion.

- An analyst at crypto channel InvestAnswers has looked at 3 likely price points for bitcoin that it could reach by 2030. He considered the market capitalization of gold and believes that in the end, bitcoin will be able to reach 40%, 60% or 100% of the capitalization of the precious metal. In this case, the price of BTC could be around $515,000, $786,000 or $1,300,000, respectively, by 2030. If we take a combination of all 3 aforementioned rate benchmarks, the average expected target is around $867,000.
And the analyst determined another target level by choosing the average value of a selection of forecasts from Fidelity, ARK Invest and other companies. By combining some of the well-known crypto models, he came to the BTC rate around $1,555,000 per 1 coin.

- According to a report by analyst firm Glassnode, long-term BTC holders are the only ones who didn’t lose their heads in the bear market and continue to buy the asset around the $30,000 mark. The current accumulation process mainly involves wallet owners with balances of less than 100 BTC and more than 10,000 BTC. The volumes of the former have increased by 80,724 BTC, the latter - by 46.269 BTC. The BTC accumulation trend indicator has returned over the past few weeks to a near-perfect value of above 0.9. And, despite the sale of some long-term BTC holders, the total volumes held in their wallets have returned to an all-time high of 13.048 million BTC.
At the same time, the total number of wallets with non-zero balances indicates the absence of new buyers. A similar situation was observed after the May 2021 sale. Unlike the sales of March 2020 and November 2018, followed by a surge in online activity and new bullruns, the latest sale does not yet boast an influx of new users.

- Crypto analyst under the nickname Capo, who had previously predicted the fall of bitcoin below $30,000, considers the current small rally to be a typical bull trap. Capo himself still expects a significant decline in altcoins and BTC in the near future: “My opinion has not changed, and I expect altcoins to fall by 40-60%, and bitcoin by 25-30%. Then it will take 1 to 3 months to recover.”
The analyst noted that the S&P 500 index is now in the region of a strong resistance level. And this could be the reason for the resumption of the bearish trend for both the stock and cryptocurrency markets.

- Another crypto strategist and trader, Kevin Swanson, predicts bitcoin will continue to rise to $37,000 in the coming weeks, which will alternate with sharp declines.
Swanson's take on bitcoin's upward bounce is based on his thesis that BTC made a temporary bottom around $26,700 earlier this month. “Looking at this 2021 low [$29,000], one would think that bitcoin is unlikely to go lower. This makes me think that this bottom [$26,700] could act as a long-term support zone.”

- Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius crypto company, believes that the fall in the market has been too long and cryptocurrencies are waiting for a bullish trend with an eight-fold increase in bitcoin. In an interview with Kitco News, he stated that the cryptocurrency markets will recover and even inflation will not be a long-term problem for them. "You can push the spring as hard as you want, but the harder you push, the more it bounces."
The head of Celsius recalled that “when bitcoin recovers, it usually rises five to eight times compared to where it was. Or even more. At the same time, the stock market will only grow by 30-50-70%. Thus, the rebound of cryptocurrencies is always stronger, forward to new higher highs.”
Mashinsky noted that even large investment bankers are increasingly involved in cryptocurrency. “Even JPMorgan, which usually doesn't talk about cryptocurrency, released a report the other day claiming that panic may be exaggerated and is expected to rebound to $38,000 from where we we are today.”

- According to a study by the largest US bank JPMorgan, the dynamics of the volatility of gold and bitcoin caught up and they began to move in unison. This can be seen both in the charts of the last three months and half a year. Moreover, experts do not exclude the possibility that in the future, the capitalization of the two investment assets will be equal, since in the eyes of investors, bitcoin is more in line with the role of a hedge asset.
At the same time, despite the fact that the general dynamics of volatilities for bitcoin and gold is almost identical, the number 1 cryptocurrency still has a larger range of price fluctuations. Therefore, JPMorgan believes that reducing the volatility of bitcoin is an important condition for bringing its capitalization closer to the total capitalization of gold.

- Scott Minerd, Chief Investment Officer at Guggenheim, commented on the JPMorgan study at the Davos Forum. According to his analysis, the “fundamental price of bitcoin” is in the region of $400,000. Such a high estimate is due to the effect of the "unrestrained printing of US dollars" by the US Federal Reserve. At the same time, he believes that the market may see a bottom for bitcoin in the $8,000 area.
According to Minerd, institutional investors have not yet fully appreciated the potential of bitcoin. The image of the flagship is a bit obscured by the fact that "we see that there are 19 thousand types of digital assets, but most of them do not really represent any real value."

- Ki Young Ju, head of market data platform CryptoQuant, believes BTC will not fall below $20,000. This statement was supported by the expert with the remark that "support by institutional investors is at an unprecedented high level."
Ju provided data on the operation of the custodial service for storing digital assets of the Coinbase Custody exchange. According to the charts, the volume of bitcoins under management has continuously increased for 5 quarters, from October 2020 to December 2021. The increase was 296% at the end of the period, reaching 2.2 million BTC.
The analyst also demonstrated a decrease in digital storage stocks in the first quarter of this year, for the first time since the end of 2020. This, according to the head of CryptoQuant, was a reaction to the weakening of the market ability to support the price of the leading asset. However, 1.4 million BTC remains in general storage at the moment.
Based on the data obtained, Ju concluded that in order to reduce the cost of BTC to the level of $20,000, it is necessary to sell off all the capital accumulated during the period of consolidation to the level of 500 thousand dollars. BTC. According to the crypto analyst, institutions are not yet ready for this step. The expert added that the value of the coin is likely to have already reached the bottom of this decline cycle.

- “I want cryptocurrencies to disappear,” these are the words of Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer, who is famous for his scandalous statements, who believes that digital currencies are a technology for tax evasion and government oversight.
Palmer would like the Terra crash to end cryptography, “but it didn't happen.” According to him, “more and more people do nothing, earning money on doing nothing”. “Honestly, I thought the crypto market would explode a lot faster and people would learn their lesson. But in the past six months, I have noticed a continued insistence on investing in cryptocurrencies from companies with big money, which means that the process is not slowing down. We have stopped developing.”
However, Palmer now sees that "there is a revival coming because people are losing money." “I think that there will be a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that will be much more painful than before, and unfortunately, most of those who are at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy will suffer.”
Despite Dogecoin's successes, Palmer does not have the best opinion of Tesla CEO Elon Musk: “He's a scam, he's selling his vision in the hope that one day he can deliver what he promises. But he doesn't know for sure. He's just really good at pretending to know."

- Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal, amid the recent fall of altcoins, continues to believe that cryptocurrencies like Ethereum will deprive bitcoin of leadership in the future. The macroeconomist agrees that BTC is the best crypto asset and outperforms ETH in terms of market cap, trading volume, and number of active wallets. “However, if you look at the development of Ethereum, the rate of growth in the number of wallets and transactions in the last couple of years has far outstripped bitcoin, and this is really beneficial for the development of the industry.”

- Venture capitalist Tim Draper confirmed his prediction that the price of bitcoin will exceed six figures in the coming months. In a new interview, he reiterated that the coin will reach a price of $250,000 "by the end of this year or the beginning of next". Tim Draper believes that women will drive the adoption and growth of bitcoin, and the fact that they will increasingly use this cryptocurrency for purchases will be a catalyst.
“Recently we had 1 woman for 14 bitcoin holders, now it's something like 1 to 6. And I think there will be more eventually. What I mean is that women control about 80% of retail spending. If suddenly all women have crypto wallets and they buy things with bitcoins, everything will change. And you will see the price of the coin, which will surpass my estimate of $250,000,” the investor said.


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.

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NordFX Brokerage company has summed up the performance of its clients' trade transactions in May 2022. The services of social trading, PAMM and CopyTrading, as well as the profit received by the company's IB-partners have also been assessed.

According to the results of the month, the leader is a trader from Southeast Asia, account No. 1467XXX, whose profit amounted to 29,196 USD. This solid result was achieved mainly in gold (XAU/USD) and euro (EUR/USD) trades.

The second step of the podium with a result of 20,946 USD is taken by their countryman, account No. 1570XXX, who showed how to make money on a market collapse. Their profit came from bitcoin (BTC/USD), which fell by 30% in May, and gold (XAU/USD), which also went down in the first half of the month.
In third place is a trader from South Asia, account No. 1621XXX, who earned 18,355 USD in May on transactions with the British pound (GBP/USD). It should be noted that this trader was one step higher in the TOP-3 in April. At that time, the trader was able to earn 3.5 times more on the same currency pair: 64,004 USD.

The situation in NordFX passive investment services is as follows:

- “startups” were noted in CopyTrading in May. We talked about the first of them last month, this is the Darto Capital signal. It showed a yield of 1,596% In just 48 days of its existence, this figure was 461% in May alone with a maximum drawdown of 25%. The main trading instruments here were the classic Forex pairs EUR/USD (87% of transactions) and GBP/USD (11%).

PPFx13k is on the second position among startups. The signal has been operating since April 21, 2022, and it has made a profit of 607% during these 40 days, although with a rather serious drawdown of 65%. Trading was conducted mostly in pairs GBP/USD (46%) and GBP/JPY (38%). And finally, the third signal from this group is JumboTPC$$. It showed an increase of 107% in just 15 days of life, with a maximum drawdown of 31%. The trading instruments used and their volumes, GBP/USD (36%) and GBP/JPY (40%), suggest that this signal comes from the same source as ppfx13K.

The results of this young trio are certainly impressive. However, it should be understood that they were achieved through very aggressive trading. Therefore, subscribers should be as careful as possible and not forget about risk management.

As for the veteran signal, KennyFXPRO - Journey of $205 to $5,000, it showed a profit of 308% since March 2021 with a maximum drawdown of about 67%. At the same time, it turned out that the supplier of this and a number of other signals under the KennyFxPro “brand” is no stranger to “startups” either. KennyFxPro - The Cannon Ball signal appeared on the CopyTrading showcase 61 days ago. The trading style is non-aggressive, the profit is moderate: about 16%, but the drawdown is less than 6%. The favorite pairs are still the same: AUD/NZD (38%), NZD/CAD (32%) and AUD/CAD (30%).

- In the PAMM service, the TOP-3, or rather TOP-4, has not changed over the past month. The leader is still the same manager under the nickname KennyFXPRO. They increased their capital on the KennyFXPro-the Multi 3000 EA account by 105% in 492 days with a fairly moderate drawdown of less than 21%. TranquilityFX-The Genesis v3 account, which showed a 78% profit in 424 days with a similar maximum drawdown of less than 21%, and NKFX-Ninja 136, which has generated 66% income since June 11, 2021, with the same drawdown of about 21%, are also in the first three.

Another account that we paid attention to a month ago, Ultimate.Duo-Safe Haven, started relatively recently: at the end of February. It has brought not the biggest profit during this time: about 19%, but the maximum drawdown on it has not exceeded 20%.

Among the IB partners, NordFX TOP-3 is as follows:
- the largest commission of the month amounting to 7,011 USD was accrued to a partner from Southeast Asia, account No.1371XXX;
- in second place is a partner from East Asia, account No. 1336XXX, who received 6,827 USD;
- and a partner from South Asia, account No. 1565XXX, who earned 6,612 USD in May, closes the top three.


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

EUR/USD: Inflation and Labor Market Decide It All



The total result of the week can be considered close to zero. If the EUR/USD pair completed the previous five-day period at 1.0730, the final chord sounded at 1.0720 this time. At the same time, we cannot say that the past week was very boring: the maximum volatility was 160 points, 1.0786 at the high and 1.0626 at the low.

The DXY dollar index fell to a 5-week low of 101.29 on Monday, May 30. The reason was the expectation that the Fed may suspend the cycle of raising interest rates after raising it in June and July. Of course, provided that inflation in the US goes down.

However, the trend reversed on Tuesday. There was data from the Eurozone, according to which inflation there soared to a record level. Bloomberg's consensus forecast assumed a 7.8% increase in consumer prices in May. However, according to the European Union Statistics Office, they rose by 8.1% in annual terms after rising by 7.4% in April, which was the highest figure in the history of calculations. Oil prices have also risen to their highs since the beginning of March. As a result, the yield on US 10-year bonds began to rise again, reaching its highest level since May 19, at 2.88%. Along with treasuries, the dollar began to strengthen, and the EUR/USD pair went south, reaching the local weekly bottom on June 01.

The trend changed once again on Thursday, June 02 after the release of data from the US labor market. Employment in the country was expected to grow by 300K. However, in reality, the growth was only 128K, which is clearly not enough to maintain stability in the labor market and threatens unemployment. The negative picture was somewhat corrected by the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector (NFP). This indicator was published at the very end of the working week and amounted to 390K with the forecast of 325K and the previous value of 436K. A little more than 200K new jobs need to be created each month to keep the US job market stable. So the NFP of 390K looks pretty positive. As for unemployment, it did not change over the month and remained at the level of 3.6% in May, which is lower than the forecast of 3.5%.

The EUR/USD pair is now trading close to the 2015-2016 lows, while the DXY index has caught up with the December 2016 high, which is the highest point in the last 20 years.

Some currency strategists, such as, for example, analysts at the Swiss holding UBS Wealth Management, believe that the growth of the dollar may stop. The market has already taken into account in quotations both the tightening of monetary policy by the US Central Bank and the rise in interest rates, and no new triggers for the next rally are expected. So, in their opinion, the rise of the EUR/USD pair in the last three weeks may turn out to be not just a technical correction, but a change in the medium-term trend.

65% of analysts agree that the pair will try to break through the 1.0800 resistance next week, 35% expect the pair to return to May lows and the remaining 10% are neutral. It should be noted that with the transition from a weekly to a monthly forecast, the number of bull supporters decreases to 50%, and their maximum target is the zone 1.0900-1.1000. As for oscillators on D1, 80% are colored green (a quarter of them are in the overbought zone), and 20% are neutral gray. There is parity among the trend indicators: 50% vote for the growth of the pair, 50%­ for its fall. The nearest resistance is located in zone 1.0750-1.0800. If successful, the bulls will try to break through the resistance of 1.0900-1.0945, then 1.1000 and 1.1050, after which they will meet resistance in the 1.1120-1.1137 zone. For the bears, task number 1 is to break through the support of 1.0625-1.0640, then 1.0480-1.0500, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to assault the low of January 01, 2017, at 1.0340, below there are only the goals of 20 years ago.

Eurozone GDP data will be released on Wednesday, June 08. However, the key event of the upcoming week will certainly be the ECB meeting on Thursday June 09. Markets are waiting for the decision of the European regulator on the interest rate, which is currently 0%, as well as for the comments on further monetary policy. In addition, the number of initial jobless claims in the US will also become known on Thursday, and a whole package of data on the US consumer market will be published on Friday, June 10.

GBP/USD: In Anticipation of Inflation Forecast

Great Britain celebrated the "platinum" anniversary of Elizabeth II on Thursday, June 02: the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (it happened in 1952). Bank holidays were announced in the country on this occasion, on June 02 and 03.

Other economic events of the week include the publication of the UK Manufacturing PMI, which was slightly lower in May than the April value: 54.6 against 55.8, but it exactly corresponded to the forecast, so the market reacted sluggishly to it. In general, the dynamics of the pair resembled the dynamics of EUR/USD, although the downward pressure in this case was stronger. Like a week earlier, the GBP/USD pair remained in the side corridor of 1.2460-1.2665 and ended the trading session at 1.2497.

Data on business activity in the UK construction and services sectors, as well as the Composite Business Activity Index (PMI), will be published on Tuesday, June 7 and Wednesday June 8. In addition, the Bank of England will publish its latest review of inflation expectations at the end of next week. According to forecasts, they will be significantly higher than the historical maximum (4.4% in 2008), and a jump to 5.0% and above will increase the likelihood of a further increase in the key interest rate on the British pound. A by-election should also take place at the end of June, which will be seen as a test of support for the policies of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party.

In anticipation of these events, forecasts for the pound look very uncertain. At the moment, 40% have voted for its strengthening, 40% - for weakening and 20% - for the continuation of the sideways trend. Among the trend indicators on D1, only 10% indicate the growth of the pair, 90% indicate a fall. Among the oscillators, the ratio of forces is slightly different: 25% look to the south, 35% is neutral, 40% point to the north. Supports are located at 1.2460, 1.2400, 1.2370, 1.2300, 1.2200, then 1.2154-1.2164 and 1.2075. A strong point of support for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. In case of growth, the pair will have to overcome the resistance of 1.2600, and then 1.2665, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

USD/JPY: The Pair Is On the Way to 20-Year Highs

The rising dollar is also pushing the USD/JPY pair to update its 20-year highs. It reached a height of 130.97 last week, coming close to the May 09 high of 131.34.

Listing above the reasons for the strengthening of the American currency, we did not mention another one: the meeting of US President Joe Biden with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday, May 31. The central topic of discussion was inflationary pressure, causing discontent among all segments of the country's population. As a result, Joe Biden gave the head of the US Central Bank full independence in the fight against inflation and allowed the use of all the tools available to the regulator, including an aggressive increase in interest rates and a $9 trillion reduction in the balance sheet.

As for the Bank of Japan, it is still not ready to curtail its ultra-soft policy. According to this regulator, monetary stimulus should help the country's economy recover from the doldrums caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Weak economic statistics played against the yen as well. The volume of industrial production in Japan in April fell by 1.3%, instead of the expected reduction by 0.2%. A new round of the coronavirus pandemic in China was named as the reason.

At the moment, only 25% of experts vote for a new assault on the height of 131.34, 65% expect a rollback to the south, and the remaining 10% have taken a neutral position. Indicators have a completely different picture. Both for trend indicators on D1 and for oscillators, all 100% are colored green. True, as for the latter, 20% is in the overbought zone.

The nearest support is located at 129.70-130.20, followed by zones and levels 128.60, 128.00, 127.50, 127.00, 126.00-126.35 and 125.00. The target of the bulls is to renew the May 09 high at 131.34. As the ultimate goal, the January 01, 2002 high of 135.19 is seen.

Data on Japan's GDP for the Q1 of this year will be published next week, on Wednesday, June 08. This indicator is expected to be minus 0.3% (previous value was minus 0.2%). Such a fall will be another argument for the Bank of Japan in favor of maintaining monetary stimulus and negative interest rate.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: From $8,000 to $1,555,000 per 1 BTC

Bitcoin's current small rally has been labeled by some analysts as a "typical bull trap". And if you look at the chart, we can only admit that they are right: a sharp rise to $32,490 at the beginning of the week and then an equally sharp fall and return to the Pivot Point of the last three weeks, the level of $30,000.

Also, if we compare the charts of BTC / USD and the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq stock indices, it becomes clear that the attempt of the main cryptocurrency to start living its own life has failed. And bitcoin is once again following the stock market, albeit with some delay.

At the time of writing this review, on the evening of Friday 03 June, the total capitalization of the crypto market is at the level of $1.225 trillion ($1.194 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone and is at around 10 points (12 a week ago). The BTC/USD pair is trading at $29.770.

According to a report by analyst firm Glassnode, long-term BTC holders are the only ones who didn’t lose their heads in the bear market and continue to buy the asset around the $30,000 mark. The current accumulation process mainly involves wallet owners with balances of less than 100 BTC and more than 10,000 BTC. The volumes of the former have increased by 80,724 BTC, the latter - by 46.269 BTC. At the same time, the total number of wallets with non-zero balances indicates the absence of new buyers. A similar situation was observed after the May 2021 sale. Unlike the sales of March 2020 and November 2018, followed by a surge in online activity and new bull runs, the latest sale does not yet boast an influx of new users.

Moreover, leading mining companies are gradually leaving the ranks of holders. An analytical report by Compass Mining notes that the influx of coins from miners has reached its highest level since January. The fact is that the profitability of mining is falling due to halvings and increasing computational complexity. And it is necessary to pay off loans and other obligations and support operational activities. So mining companies have to part with their own BTC reserves.

As an example, let's take such a long-term holder as Marathon Digital. This company, like a number of others, has long been unprofitable, while it needs to raise about half a billion dollars until the end of 2022. Therefore, it is possible that Marathon Digital will be soon forced to sell some of its 10,000 BTC coins.

Analyst Capo, who previously predicted bitcoin to fall below $30,000, expects altcoins and bitcoin to fall further: “My opinion has not changed, and I expect altcoins to fall by 40-60%, and bitcoin by 25-30%. Then it will take 1 to 3 months to recover.” The analyst noted that the S&P500 index is now in the region of a strong resistance level (4,150-4,200), and this may cause a resumption of the bearish trend for both the stock and cryptocurrency markets.

Another crypto strategist and trader, Kevin Swanson, disagrees with Capo, he predicts bitcoin will rise to $37,000 in the coming weeks. True, this movement will alternate with sharp declines, such as on June 01. Swanson's take on bitcoin's upward bounce is based on his thesis that BTC made a temporary bottom around $26,700 on May 12. “Looking at the 2021 low [$29,000],” he writes, “one would think that bitcoin is unlikely to go lower. This makes me think that this bottom [$26,700] could act as a long-term support zone.”

Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius crypto company, believes that the fall in the market has been too long and cryptocurrencies are waiting for a bullish trend with an eight-fold increase in bitcoin. In an interview with Kitco News, he stated that the cryptocurrency markets will recover and even inflation will not be a long-term problem for them. "You can push the spring as hard as you want, but the harder you push, the more it bounces."

The head of Celsius noted that even large investment bankers are increasingly involved in cryptocurrency. “Even JPMorgan, which usually doesn't talk about cryptocurrency, released a report the other day claiming that panic may be exaggerated and is expected to rebound to $38,000 from where we we are today.”

Scott Maynard, Chief Investment Officer at Guggenheim, opined at the Davos Forum that the "fundamental price of bitcoin" is in the $400,000 region. Such a high estimate is due to the effect of the "unrestrained printing of US dollars" by the US Federal Reserve. At the same time, he believes that the market may see a bottom for bitcoin in the $8,000 area.

Ki Young Ju, head of market data platform CryptoQuant, believes BTC will not fall below $20,000. This statement was supported by the expert with the remark that "support by institutional investors is at an unprecedented high level." Ju cited data on the work of the Coinbase Custody exchange. According to the charts, the volume of bitcoins under management has continuously increased for 5 quarters, from October 2020 to December 2021. The increase was 296% at the end of the period, reaching 2.2 million BTC.

Based on the data obtained, Ju concluded that in order to reduce the cost of BTC to the level of $20,000, it is necessary to sell off all the capital accumulated during the period of consolidation to the level of 500 thousand dollars. BTC. According to the crypto analyst, institutions are not yet ready for this step. The expert added that the value of the coin is likely to have already reached the bottom of this decline cycle.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper confirmed his prediction that the price of bitcoin will exceed six figures in the coming months. He reiterated in a new interview that the coin will reach a price of $250,000 "by the end of this year or the beginning of next". Tim Draper believes that women will drive the adoption and growth of bitcoin, and the fact that they will increasingly use this cryptocurrency for purchases will be a catalyst.

“Recently we had 1 woman for 14 bitcoin holders, now it's something like 1 to 6. And I think there will be more eventually. What I mean is that women control about 80% of retail spending. If suddenly all women have crypto wallets and they buy things with bitcoins, everything will change. And you will see the price of the coin, which will surpass my estimate of $250,000,” the investor said.

According to a study by the largest US bank JPMorgan, the dynamics of the volatility of gold and bitcoin caught up and they began to move in unison. Moreover, the bank's experts do not exclude that in the future the capitalization of the two investment assets will be equal, since in the eyes of investors, bitcoin is more in line with the role of a hedge asset.

Analysts at the crypto channel InvestAnswers considered three options, according to which the capitalization of bitcoin can reach 40%, 60% or 100% of the capitalization of gold. In this case, the price of BTC could be around $515,000, $786,000 or $1,300,000, respectively, by 2030. If we take a combination of all 3 aforementioned rate benchmarks, the average expected target is around $867,000.

And another target level was determined by InvestAnswers experts by choosing the average value of a selection of forecasts from Fidelity, ARK Invest and other companies. By combining some of the well-known crypto models, they came to the BTC rate around $1,555,000 for 1 coin.


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

CryptoNews of the Week



- The PayPal payment company has opened the option of transferring bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin) between client accounts, as well as their withdrawal to third-party wallets. This option will be supported for all US customers in the coming weeks. PayPal Vice President Richard Nash said earlier that the company is making every effort to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrencies into its services.

- 202 new Bitcoin ATMs were installed globally in May according to Coin ATM Radar. The last time the indicator was at such low values was in 2019. The slowdown in device installations began in January 2022. However, in June, the trend changed to positive: 863 crypto-ATMs were already available in the first days of the month. Currently, there are 37,836 such devices in the world. The United States holds the leading position: 87.9% of the total number of cryptocurrency ATMs are concentrated there.

- Bitcoin’s short-term volatility doesn’t matter as long as there is an understanding of the fundamentals of the leading cryptocurrency and how difficult it is to create something better. This opinion was expressed by the head of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor in an interview with The Block. “Bitcoin is the most reliable thing in a very volatile world. It is more reliable than other 19,000 cryptocurrencies, than any shares, than owning property anywhere in the world,” the top manager emphasized.
Commenting on the collapse of Terra and the subsequent market correction, the head of MicroStrategy doubted that what was happening was evidence of a bearish phase. “I don’t know if this is a bear market or not, but if it is, we have had three of them in the last 24 months,” he stressed.
Saylor added that he prefers not to get carried away by short-term prices. According to him, people who pay too much attention to the charts, "guess on coffee grounds." “If you don’t plan to hold it [bitcoin] for four years, you are not an investor at all, you are a trader, and my advice to traders is: don’t trade it, invest in it,” the businessman concluded.

- Consumers lost more than $1 billion in digital asset fraud from January 2021 to March 2022. This is stated in the report of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency cited 46,000 people who reported the hoax. “Nearly half of the consumers who reported cryptocurrency fraud said it started with an ad, a post, or a social media message,” the FTC said.
According to the press release, victims of fictitious investment schemes have lost more than others: $ 575 million since January last year. Scams related to dating and romantic relationships are in the second place. The third are fake representatives of companies or of the government. The average amount lost was $2,600. Most often, victims transferred bitcoins (70%), USDT (10%) and Ethereum (9%) to scammers.

- Katie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest with assets of $60 billion, predicts a significant growth in bitcoin. According to her, network indicators hint that BTC is forming a bottom. “According to our data, short-term holders have capitulated, and this is great news in terms of hitting the bottom. The share of long-term holders is at an all-time high: 65.7% (they hold BTC for at least a year). Although there is still a possibility of capitulation of some of them to mark the bottom.
In addition to network indicators, Wood is watching the bitcoin futures market, hinting at a period of increased volatility for the asset. “It is still difficult to say exactly which direction it will go, but we believe that there is a high probability of the next burst of volatility in the upward direction.”
Despite some optimism, one has to exercise caution after the collapse of Terra (LUNA). “At the same time, we are on the alert,” says the CEO of ARK Invest. “Terra’s collapse was a fiasco for cryptocurrencies, and regulators have more reason to impose tighter restrictions than anticipated.”

- Crypto analyst Justin Bennett, giving a forecast for the coming weeks, hinted at a repetition of the June 2021 chart. According to him, the immediate line of defense for the bulls is $28,600. If the asset goes below this level, it risks revisiting the May lows at $26,580-26,910.
According to the analyst, if bitcoin follows the June 2021 scenario, it will form new lows for the current year: “In the event of a sell-off, the downward movement could go to the $24,000-25,000 range. But I do not think that this will be the minimum of the current cycle.”
After the formation of a new annual low, Bennett predicts some growth for bitcoin. “Most likely it will be a short-term rally to a lower macro high.” According to his calculations, the BTC price in July could rise to $35,000 during this short-term growth.

- Jurrien Timmer, macro analyst and director of investment company Fidelity, has updated his long-term forecast for the BTC rate. He refers to the once popular Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model of an analyst with the nickname PlanB, according to which the price of BTC was predicted based on supply shocks caused by asset halvings. However, he added to the S2F model two more models that track the rate of adoption of the Internet and mobile phones.
According to Timmer, based on the mobile phone adoption model, the price of bitcoin could rise sharply to $144,753 by 2025 (about a year after the next halving). But if BTC follows the pace of Internet adoption, then it turns out that the asset has already peaked and can trade at only $47,702 in 3 years. The average value derived from Timmer's modified supply model was $63,778.

- American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman called cryptocurrencies a scam, comparing them to the real estate crisis in 2008. In an interview with Fox News, he mentioned the movie The Big Short, which tells the story of the financial crisis of the 2000s, which resulted from the collapse of the real estate market. Real estate prices were extremely high, but this did not stop people. The same situation is happening in the cryptocurrency market, Krugman explained.
The economist criticized people who claim that crypto assets are the future of finance. According to Krugman, bitcoin, which appeared in 2009, has not yet found significant practical use over the years, except for use in illegal activities.
“Cryptocurrencies have become a large asset class, and their supporters are increasing their political influence. Therefore, it sounds implausible to many that cryptocurrencies have no real value. But this is only a house built on sand. I remember the housing bubble and the mortgage crisis, so I can say that we have gone from a big short game to a big scam,” said the Nobel laureate.

- According to Reuters, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has laundered $2.35 billion of illegal funds in 5 years. The transactions involved hacks, investment fraud, and illegal drug sales. So, the crypto exchange has been processing transactions of the world's largest drug market, the Hydra darknet website, during all these years. Reuters relied on court records, law enforcement statements and blockchain data in its statement.

- American investment strategist Lyn Alden said that bitcoin is now one of the most reliable assets, along with gold and real estate. The macroeconomist added that she does not expect inflation to fall anytime soon as the US continues to print money to meet its financial obligations.
“Most of my holdings are in long-term hard assets such as shares of pipeline energy companies, profitable producers of real products, bitcoin, some gold, various types of exchange-traded instruments and real estate,” explained Lynn Alden and added that such a diversified set of real assets not only has the necessary liquidity, but also allows her to rebalance the portfolio at any time if there are problems in the global market.

- Bloomberg expert Mike McGlone believes that the highest in the last 40 years inflation is starting, which will cause the largest economic crisis, after which assets such as cryptocurrencies, US bonds and gold will show unprecedented growth. He stated in an interview to Kitco News that "this may be reminiscent of the consequences of 1929. Although I am more inclined to the version that it will be more like the consequences of the 2008 crisis or maybe the consequences of the 1987 crash.


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

EUR/USD: We Are Waiting for the Fed Meeting

The movement of the EUR/USD pair from May 23 to June 09 can be considered as sideways in the range of 1.0640-1.0760 (several false breakdowns in both directions do not count). However, this relative calm ended after the meeting of the Board of the European Central Bank on Thursday June 09. The markets woke up, the pair flew down, and having dropped by more than 200 points by mid-Friday, it froze in anticipation of US inflation data.

The ECB meeting was, without a doubt, the main event not only of the last, but also of the previous few weeks. Investors had assumed that the key interest rate would remain unchanged in June at 0% (which happened). But they had hoped that the head of the Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, would announce a 0.50% rate hike in July, especially since inflation reached a record 8.1% in May, and forecasts for its growth for the next three years were greatly increased. But it turned out that the regulator is not ready for such a decisive step, and the rate will be raised by only 0.25%. As for another increase of 0.25%, the ECB will consider such a possibility as early as in September.

The regulator fears that a sharp increase in rates could adversely affect the state of the Eurozone economy, which is already having a hard time due to rising energy prices, supply disruptions and other problems caused by Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine.

The results of Thursday, June 09, showed that the ECB's position now seems to be no longer dovish, but still far from being hawkish like that of the Fed. And that inflation will be higher than expected, while rates, on the contrary, will be lower. This situation had a negative impact on market sentiment and led to the fall of the common European currency.

Another important event of the week was the publication of data on the US consumer market (CPI). Inflation, together with the state of the labor market, are now the most significant indicators that determine the policy of the Fed. Therefore, what happens to consumer prices matters a lot. If prices stop rising and inflation remains at the same level of 8.3%, this is a confirmation of the correctness of the monetary policy of the US Central Bank, especially against the background of a sharp increase in the inflation forecast in the Eurozone.

So, according to the data released on June 10, the Consumer Price Index, excluding food and energy prices (CPI m/m), remained unchanged at 0.6% in May (although this is higher than the forecast of 0.5%), and CPI (g /d) decreased from 6.2% to 6.0% with the forecast of 5.9%. The market considered this a good signal for the dollar, and the EUR/USD pair went further down, ending the week at 1.0520.

Next week, on Wednesday June 15, we are expecting an event, perhaps even more important than the ECB meeting. This is a meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) of the US Federal Reserve, at which a decision will be made on the next increase in the federal funds rate. We have already written that the regulator intends to raise the rate by another 0.5%, and this is most likely already included in the dollar quotes by the market. However, following the meeting, we are waiting for a comment and a press conference by the Fed management, during which investors can learn something new regarding the future plans of the US Central Bank. In general, the intrigue remains.

In the meantime, the voices of experts are divided equally on the evening of June 10: 50% side with the bulls, 50% - with the bears. In the readings of indicators on D1, the red ones dominate completely. These are 100% among the trend indicators. There are the same number of oscillators, but 25% of them are already giving oversold signals. The nearest strong resistance is located in the 1.0600 zone, if successful, the bulls will try to break through the 1.0640 resistance and rise to the 1.0750-1.0760 zone, the next target is 1.0800. For the bears, task number 1 is to break through the support in the 1.0500 area, then 1.0460-1.0480, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to assault the low of, 2017 at 1.0340, below there are only the goals of 20 years ago.

As for economic developments in the coming week, in addition to the Fed's FOMC meeting, we recommend paying attention to the publication of the CPI and the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index in Germany on Tuesday, June 14, as well as the Producer Price Index in the US. Data on retail sales will be released on Wednesday, June 15, and on manufacturing activity in the United States the next day. And finally, the value of the Consumer Price Index in the Eurozone will become known at the end of the working week, on Friday, June 17.

GBP/USD: We Are Waiting for the Meeting of the Bank of England

The past week confirmed the positive correlation of the pound against the euro against the dollar. The European currency, which fell on Thursday, June 09, pulled the British currency with it. Both pairs, EUR/USD and GBP/USD, went south. And data on consumer prices in the US gave an additional impetus to their fall on Friday. As a result, the last chord for the pair sounded at around 1.2311.

There will also be a meeting of the Bank of England the day after the Fed meeting, on Thursday June 16. It is possible that their decision on the interest rate will be made with an eye to what their colleagues will decide the day before. In addition, the growth of inflationary expectations may push the regulator to tighten monetary policy (QT, as opposed to quantitative easing QE). The Bank of England/Ipsos inflation forecast for the next 12 months was 4.6% against 4.3% previously.

In anticipation of the meetings of the two Central Banks, the US and England, the forecasts for the pound look very uncertain. Will it continue to fall? 40% of experts have answered this question positively, 50% have answered negatively, and another 10% have simply shrugged. As for the indicators on D1, the absolute majority is on the side of the bears as in the case of EUR/USD. Among trend indicators, 100% indicate a fall, among oscillators a little less: only 90% look south, although a quarter of them are in the oversold zone, the remaining 10% are painted in neutral gray. Supports are located at levels 1.2290-1.2300, 1.2200, then 1.2154-1.2164 and 1.2075. A strong point of support for the pair is at the psychologically important level of 1.2000. In case of growth, the pair will have to overcome the resistance 1.2400-1.2430, 1.2460, 1.2500, 1.2600, and then 1.2640-1.2665, 1.2700-1.2750, 1.2800-1.2835 and 1.2975-1.3000.

In addition to the Bank of England meeting, next week's events for the UK economy include the release of GDP data on Monday June 13 and UK wage and unemployment data on Tuesday June 14.

USD/JPY: Looking Forward to the Bank of Japan Meeting



Although one probably doesn't have to wait for it. It is highly likely that the Bank of Japan will once again leave its ultra-soft monetary policy unchanged at its regular meeting on Friday, June 17, and the interest rate at the negative level of minus 0.1%. But if, at a subsequent press conference, the regulator at least hints at its possible tightening in the foreseeable future, this could have the effect of a bombshell and seriously strengthen the yen.

But, as already mentioned, the chances of this are few. And the rising dollar is again pushing the USD/JPY pair to the next update of 20-year highs. The peak was recorded at a height of 134.55 last week, and the pair finished a little lower, at around 134.37.

At the moment, only 15% of analysts have voted for the pair to rise above 135.00, 35% have accepted neutrality, while the majority (50%) expect the pair to correct south. (However, given the strength of the upward momentum of the pair, the moment of such a correction may be postponed indefinitely). For indicators on D1, the picture is very different from the opinion of experts. For both trend indicators and oscillators, all 100% are colored green. True, among the latter, quite a lot, 40%, are in the overbought zone. The nearest support is located at 134.00, followed by zones and levels 133.00-133.35, 132.25-132.50, 130.45-131.00, 129.70-130.20, 128.60, 128.00, 127.50, 127.00, 126.00-126.35 and 125.00. The target of the bulls is to renew the June 09 high at 134.55. The next target is the January 01, 2002 high of 135.19, to which there is very little left. (Back at the end of April, focusing on the growth rate of the pair, we wrote that the assault on this height could take place in a month and a half. Now we see that this calculation turned out to be 100% correct).

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Bitcoin in Search of a Bottom

Bulls on the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq successfully repelled the attacks of the bears for two weeks, until June 09. However, the strengthening dollar and the flight of investors from inflationary risks became the reason for active profit-taking on speculative long positions in stocks. And the quotes fell down.

Fights between bulls and bears on the BTC/USD front line, which runs along the $30,000 horizon, have not ceased for almost five weeks. And to the credit of the bitcoin defenders, despite the stock market crash, they still (Friday evening, June 10) continue to hold the line, only retreating slightly to the south. In such a flat situation, long-term investors can only wait and hope for the pair to grow. As for Intraday traders, transactions during a side trend in a narrow corridor can bring good profits to them. This will require certain skills though.

In our opinion, everyone is free to use the trading strategy that suits them best. Different people have different experiences, different psychological states, different financial possibilities, different time frames that they can devote to trading. In general, everything is individual. For example, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor believes that you should not get carried away with short-term goals. According to him, people who pay too much attention to the charts, "guess on coffee grounds." “If you don’t plan to hold it [Bitcoin] for four years, you are not an investor at all, you are a trader, and my advice to traders is: don’t trade it, invest in it,” Saylor told The Block.

Recall that as of April 14, 2022, MicroStrategy remains the largest bitcoin holder among public companies. Together with its affiliates, it owns 129,218 BTC purchased for $3.97 billion at an average price of around $30,700. So the current situation for MicroStrategy and personally for Michael Saylor is critical. The company will be at a fairly disadvantageous position if the price of the main cryptocurrency does not go up. And according to a number of experts, it may well go the other way.

So, cryptanalyst Justin Bennett, giving a forecast for the coming weeks, hinted at a repetition of the June 2021 chart. According to him, the nearest line of defense for the bulls is at $28,600. If the asset goes below this level, it risks revisiting the May lows at $26,580-26,910.

According to the analyst, if bitcoin follows the June 2021 scenario, it will form new lows for the current year: “In the event of a sell-off, the downward movement could go to the $24,000-25,000 range. But I do not think that this will be the minimum of the current cycle.”

After the formation of a new annual low, Bennett predicts some growth for bitcoin. “Most likely it will be a short-term rally to a lower macro high.” According to his calculations, the BTC price in July could rise to $35,000 during this short-term growth.

But Katie Wood, the founder and CEO of the investment company ARK Invest with assets of $60 billion, believes that BTC is already forming a bottom based on the network's performance. According to her, “short-term holders have capitulated, and this is great news in terms of hitting the bottom. The share of long-term holders is at an all-time high: 65.7% (they hold BTC for at least a year). Although there is still a possibility of capitulation of some of them to mark the bottom.

In addition to network indicators, Wood is watching the bitcoin futures market, hinting at a period of increased volatility for the asset. “It is still difficult to say exactly which direction it will go, but we believe that there is a high probability of the next burst of volatility in the upward direction.”

Despite some optimism, one has to exercise caution after the collapse of Terra (LUNA). “At the same time, we are on the alert,” says the CEO of ARK Invest. “Terra’s collapse was a fiasco for cryptocurrencies, and regulators have more reason to impose tighter restrictions than anticipated.”

By the way, commenting on the collapse of Terra and the subsequent market correction, the aforementioned head of MicroStrategy doubted that what was happening was evidence of a bearish phase. “I don’t know if this is a bear market or not, but if it is, we have had three of them in the last 24 months,” Michael Saylor stressed.

As for long-term forecasts, they, as usual, look in different directions. American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman called cryptocurrencies a scam, comparing them to the real estate crisis in 2008. In an interview with Fox News, he mentioned the movie The Big Short, which tells the story of the financial crisis of the 2000s, which resulted from the collapse of the real estate market. Real estate prices were extremely high, but this did not stop people. The same situation is happening in the cryptocurrency market, Krugman explained.

The economist criticized people who claim that crypto assets are the future of finance. According to Krugman, bitcoin, which appeared in 2009, has not yet found significant practical use over the years, except for use in illegal activities.

“Cryptocurrencies have become a large asset class, and their supporters are increasing their political influence. Therefore, it sounds implausible to many that cryptocurrencies have no real value. But this is only a house built on sand. I remember the housing bubble and the mortgage crisis, so I can say that we have gone from a big short game to a big scam,” said the Nobel laureate.

Unlike Paul Krugman, Bloomberg expert Mike McGlone believes that we, on the contrary, are in for a big game, but not going down, but going up. According to his forecast, the highest in the last 40 years inflation is starting, which will cause the largest economic crisis, after which assets such as cryptocurrencies, US bonds and gold will show unprecedented growth. McGlone stated in an interview to Kitco News that "this may be reminiscent of the consequences of 1929. Although rather, it will be more like the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, or maybe the aftermath of the 1987 crash.”

Along with Mike McGlone, Katie Wood and Michael Saylor, American investment strategist Lyn Alden has also sided with the bulls. She does not expect inflation to ease any time soon as the US continues to print money to meet its financial obligations. That is why, in her opinion, bitcoin is now one of the most reliable assets, along with gold and real estate.

Our previous review named the target level for bitcoin, which InvestAnswers experts set by choosing the average value of a selection of forecasts from Fidelity, ARK Invest and other companies. Having combined some of the well-known crypto models, they came to the BTC rate by 2030 iaround $1,555,000 per 1 coin.

However, macro analyst and director of investment company Fidelity Jurrien Timmer has updated his long-term forecast, and it looks much more modest now. Jurrien Timmer refers to the once popular Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model of an analyst with the nickname PlanB, according to which the price of BTC was predicted based on supply shocks caused by asset halvings. However, the expert added to the S2F model two more models that track the rate of adoption of the Internet and mobile phones.

According to Timmer, based on the mobile phone adoption model, the price of bitcoin could rise sharply to $144,753 by 2025 (about a year after the next halving). But if BTC follows the pace of Internet adoption, then it turns out that the asset has already peaked and can trade at only $47,702 in 3 years. The average value obtained by Timmer based on his modified supply model is $63,778.

Time will tell which of the experts is right. In the meantime, at the time of writing the review, on the evening of Friday June 10, the total capitalization of the crypto market is at the level of $1.192 trillion ($1.225 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone and is at around 13 points (10 a week ago). The BTC/USD pair is trading at $29.340.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- The collapse of the cryptocurrency market on June 13 and 14 was not caused by the announcement of the Celsius Network crypto-lending platform to suspend the withdrawal of funds, but by the general negative macroeconomic background. This opinion was expressed by industry participants in a survey conducted by The Block.
Celsius suspended withdrawals, exchanges, and transfers between accounts on June 13 “due to extreme market conditions.” As of May, the platform managed $11 billion in user assets.
However, many experts believe that the crypto markets “would have fallen regardless of Celsius.” Bloomberg notes that the market has entered "a period of selling everything except the dollar." Traders are leaving for a "safe harbor", fearing that due to rising inflation, the US Federal Reserve may start raising interest rates more aggressively than was previously expected. Wall Street analysts believe that the rate will rise in June by 1.0% straight away, and not by 0.5%. Such a result could have negative implications for risky assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Against this background, the price of bitcoin fell to $20,000 on June 15, ethereum fell to $1,000, and the crypto market capitalization fell to $0.86 trillion. Recall that it reached $2.97 7 months ago, in November 2021.

- The widespread adoption of the first cryptocurrency may occur faster than previous innovative technologies and reach 10% by 2030. This is stated in the Blockware Intelligence study.
Analysts studied the historical curves of adoption of cars, electricity, the Internet and social networks, as well as the pace of bitcoin adoption since 2009. “All disruptive technologies follow a similar exponential S-curve […] but new network technologies continue to be introduced much faster than the market expects,” the report says. However, Blockware Intelligence emphasizes that the model used at this stage is just a concept and is not an investment recommendation.

- Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal also compared the rate of adoption of cryptocurrencies by society with the development of the Internet. The macroeconomist concluded that the slowdown in the development of the industry will begin in four years. He stated that “if the pace of development of the industry remains at the same level, we will have five or four billion people using cryptocurrency by 2030.”

- Well-known trader and analyst Tony Weiss believes that the real capitulation for bitcoin will take place soon. Weiss reviewed the Bitcoin Momentum Reversal Indicator (MRI), which predicts trend lifecycles based on an asset's momentum. According to him, MRI points to a few more days (4-5) of falling, after which a market reversal may occur.
According to Weiss, most likely, the BTC rate will not fall below $19,000. But a further fall is not ruled out: “Is it possible to reach $17,180? I think so. But if the downward movement continues, the next level could be around $14,000. In my opinion, bitcoin will not fall so much, and the lowest level will be $19,000,” the expert believes.

- Bank of America analyst Jason Kupferberg told CNBC in an interview that the bank conducted a large survey among Americans in June 2022. The expert noted that about 90% of respondents answered unequivocally that they plan to buy a certain amount of cryptocurrency over the next few months. It is noteworthy that Bank of America itself does not yet plan to provide digital currency trading services.
The survey also showed that the majority of respondents had previously acted as short-term investors. About 77% of them held digital coins in their portfolio for less than one year. Almost a third spoke in favor of the fact that they are not going to sell their assets for the next six months.
According to Jasonf Kupferberg, this user interest is due to the increase in the number of crypto-fiat products. For example, the appearance of the Coinbase Visa card has significantly simplified the process of exchanging digital assets for fiat money. He also confirmed that cryptocurrencies are closely correlated with high-risk assets like stocks of fast-growing technology corporations.

- The American Express international payment service, together with the Abra crypto company, will offer its customers a Crypto Rewards credit card with cryptocurrency bonuses. According to public information, cardholders will be rewarded for purchases of any amount in more than 100 different cryptocurrencies supported by Abra, with no fees for transactions.

- The bear market upsets all investors. But the two largest institutional bitcoin holders have been particularly distinguished. They lost a total of about $1.4 billion on this asset. According to the analytical resource Bitcointreasuries.net, almost 130,000 bitcoins owned by Microstrategy and 43,200 bitcoins owned by Tesla made their owners significantly poorer (we are talking about an unrealized loss yet).
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor spent almost $4 billion ($3,965,863,658) on 129,218 BTC, which is approximately 0.615% of the total issuance of the first cryptocurrency. The fall in the price of bitcoin depreciated the company's investment to $3.1 billion, thus the loss amounted to $900 million. Apart from this, Microstrategy shares also fell to their lowest levels in recent months.
The investment of Elon Mask, whose car company Tesla bought more than 40,000 bitcoins during the 2021 bull market, has also taken a big hit. He lost about $500 million on his investments.

- Anthony Scaramucci, founder of $3.5 billion investment fund SkyBridge Capital, shared his thoughts on the current bear market. In an interview with CNBC, he called what was happening "a bloodbath", adding that he managed to survive seven "bear" markets. The former politician and White House communications director hopes he will be able to "get out" of the eighth one as well.
“I am encouraged by the fact that bitcoin exceeds currently 50% of the total market capitalization of the crypto market. This is another sign that proves its value,” said Scaramucci, recommending that investors keep buying bitcoin and stay calm. The financier believes that it is better to stick to a long-term investment strategy, but at the same time do without borrowed funds.
“All cryptoassets have a long-term perspective as long as they don’t face short-term losses. Then investors begin to tear their hair out and bang against the wall. It is better to buy a quality crypto asset (BTC or ETH) without being distracted by others, and maintain discipline without looking back at the bear markets that sometimes happen. If you remain calm during these periods, you will get rich,” says SkyBridge Capital's managing partner.

- The collapse of the bitcoin rate did not lead to a quick recovery. However, bulls have managed to protect an important level so far. We are talking about the 200-week moving average (200WMA), which served as a strong support in all previous bear market phases. Bitcoin has never managed to gain a foothold below this line so far. (By "gaining a foothold" traders mean the closing of the candle below a certain level). After dropping to almost $20,000, there was a quick rebound that took the price above the critical $20,400 mark.
Big buying saved the day, according to Material Indicators analysts, but “it's still too early to tell if support can be sustained. The eyes of the entire market are focused on the meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) of the US Federal Reserve, which will be held on June 15 at 22:00 CET, at which a decision will be made to increase the key interest rate.

- The Crypto Fear & Greed Index BTC fell to 7 points out of 100 ahead of the FOMC meeting, which is comparable to March 2020 values. Then the price of bitcoin bottomed out at $3,800. According to Arcane Research analysts, the index has been in the Fear zone for 56 days, which is a record. “Market participants are undoubtedly tired of this, many capitulate. Historically, buying has been a profitable strategy in times of fear. However, it is not easy to catch a falling knife,” the researchers shared their thoughts.
The company noted that $20,000 is a critical level for bitcoin in the context of technical analysis. “Therefore, a possible visit below this level could lead to the capitulation of many hodlers and deleverages.” There is also significant open interest in bitcoin options around the $20,000 mark. This is a factor of additional pressure on the spot market if the above level does not withstand the onslaught of bears.


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.

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EUR/USD: Fed FOMC Meeting Results



Last week's events were based on Friday, June 10, when US inflation statistics were released, which amounted to 8.6% against the expected 8.3%. Having learned these disturbing data, market participants began to include in dollar quotes the possibility of raising the interest rate by 0.75% instead of the previously predicted 0.5%. Some hotheads even talked about its increase by 1.0% straight away. As a result, the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) at its meeting on Wednesday, June 15, raised the key rate to 1.75%, that is, by 0.75%.

According to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, this was the most aggressive round of monetary tightening since 1994. Moreover, the US Central Bank, despite the threat of a recession, intends to follow the chosen course further, raising the rate by another 50 or 75 basis points at the next meeting.

Following the FOMC meeting, the inflation estimates for 2022 were revised from 3.4% to 5.2%, and the forecast for the key rate was raised from 1.9% to 3.4%. At the same time, Jerome Powell hopes that this will not be a shock to the economy, given the strength of the consumer sector and the US labor market. True, despite the optimism of the head of the Fed, the expected rate of economic growth for 2022 was reduced from 2.8% to 1.7%, and the forecast for the unemployment rate, on the contrary, was raised from 3.5% to 3.7%.

In general, Jerome Powell's comments on the regulator's plans turned out to be rather vague, and the market did not understand how strong quantitative tightening (QT) would be and what the prospect of raising the federal funds rate to 4.0% was. As the head of the Fed said, "a rate hike of 75 basis points is unusually large," so he does not think "such hikes will happen often."

As a result, the DXY dollar index reached its maximum (105.47), and the EUR/USD pair reached its minimum (1.0358) not following the FOMC meeting, but directly during it. The reason for the rapid strengthening of the dollar at the beginning of the week was not only the expectations of an unprecedented rate hike, but also poor macroeconomic statistics from Europe. The rate of decline in industrial production in the Eurozone accelerated from -0.5% to -2.0%, although it had been expected that they would slow down on the contrary. The main reason is still the energy crisis caused by anti-Russian sanctions due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.

The dollar seemed to have exhausted its upside potential on the evening of June 15, resulting in a rapid bounce on June 16, sending EUR/USD soaring to 1.0600. As for the last day of the working week, the trend changed again after the ECB promised new support to contain the cost of borrowing among the southern countries of the Eurozone. The pair placed the final chord of the five-day period in the zone of 1.0500, at the level of 1.0495.

Many analysts believe that the US and European currencies will reach 1:1 parity by the end of the year (or maybe even earlier). In the meantime, the votes of experts are divided as follows on the evening of June 17: 30% side with the bulls, 20% - with the bears, and 50% cannot decide on the forecast. The indicators on D1 give quite unambiguous signals. Among oscillators, 100% are colored red, among trend indicators, 90% are red and 10% are green. Except for 1.0500, the nearest strong resistance is located in the 1.0600 zone, if successful, the bulls will try to break through the 1.0640 resistance and rise to the 1.0750-1.0760 zone, the next target is 1.0800. For the bears, task number 1 is to break through the support in the 1.0460-1.0480 area, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to storm the 2017 low of 1.0340, there is only support from 20 years ago below.

As for the events of the upcoming week, Monday, June 20 is a public holiday in the US, the country celebrates Juneteenth. Data from the housing market will come on Tuesday, June 21 and Friday, June 24, and from the US labor market on Thursday. In addition, we will have two speeches by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in Congress on June 22 and 23. Also we recommend paying attention to the publication of data on business activity in Germany and the Eurozone as a whole on June 23.

GBP/USD: A Pleasant Surprise from BoE

Ahead of the US Fed meeting, the dollar appreciated against the pound by 585 points in just 3 business days, from June 10 to 14, and the GBP/USD pair fell to 1.1932, the lowest level since March 2020. But then the regulator of the United Kingdom stepped in.

At its meeting on Thursday, June 16, the Bank of England (BoE) raised its key rate from 1.00% to 1.25%. It would seem that 25 basis points is only a third of the 75 bp that the Fed raised the rate the day before, but the pound flew up and the pair fixed a local high at 1.2405. The British currency strengthened by 365 points in just a few hours.

The reason for this rally, as often happens, is expectations. First, 3 out of 9 members of the Bank's Management Board supported an increase in the refinancing rate not by 25, but by 50 basis points at once. And secondly, the comments published after the meeting clearly indicated the possibility of accelerating the pace of tightening of monetary policy, starting from the next meeting of the regulator. That is, the rate may reach 1.75%, as early as August 4, which is significantly higher than market forecasts. In addition, the Bank of England intends not to stop there and raise interest rates further.

In contrast to the Fed's vague comments, the BoE was clear enough about its monetary policy that made a positive impression on investors. Analysts also noted that, unlike their colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic, the Bank of England leaders did not shift all the blame for rising inflation to China and Russia.

The pound retreated from the gained positions at the end of the week, and the pair ended the trading session at the level of 1.2215. At the moment, 50% of experts believe that in the near future the pair will try to test the resistance at 1.2400 again, 10%, on the contrary, are waiting for a test of support around 1.2040, the remaining 40% of analysts have taken a neutral position.

Both among trend indicators and among oscillators, 90% indicate a fall, while the remaining 10% look in the opposite direction. Supports are located at the levels 1.2155-1.2170, then 1.2075 and 1.2040. The pair's strong foothold lies at the psychologically important 1.2000 level, followed by the June 14 low at 1.1932. In case of growth, the pair will meet resistance in the zones and at the levels of 1.2255, 1.2300-1.2325, 1.2400-1.2430, 1.2460, then the targets in the area of 1.2500 and 1.2600 follow.

Among the macroeconomic events of the upcoming week concerning the United Kingdom, we can highlight the publication of the May value of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday, June 22, and of a whole package of PMI Indices, reflecting business activity in individual sectors and in the economy of the country generally the next day, on June 23. Retail sales in the UK for May will be announced on Friday, June 24.

USD/JPY: No Surprises from the Bank of Japan

Rising dollar pushes USD/JPY again and again to fresh 20-year highs. Last week, having reached the height of 135.58, it broke the January 01, 2002 record of 135.19. This was followed by a powerful pullback to the level of 131.48 and a no less powerful new upswing, after which the pair finished near the level of 135.00, at around 134.95.

A weak yen, especially in the face of high inflation, is a big problem not only for households, but for the entire Japanese economy, as it increases the cost of raw materials and natural energy imported into the country. However, the Bank of Japan is stubborn to maintain its ultra-soft monetary policy, in contrast to the sharp tightening by the Central banks of other countries. After the US Federal Reserve, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of England raised interest rates last week, the Japanese Central Bank left its rate at the previous negative level - minus 0.1% at its meeting on Friday June 17, while promising to maintain the yield of 10-year government bonds at around 0%. There have been several attempts to test the 0.25% yield on government debt over the past weeks, but aggressive buybacks of these securities immediately followed in response.

Japanese officials tried to give some support to the yen on the morning of June 17. The government and the Bank of Japan issued a joint (rarely seen) statement that they were concerned about the sharp fall in the national currency. These words were supposed to indicate to investors that the possibility of adjusting monetary policy is not ruled out at some point. But there was not a word in the statement about when and how this could happen, so the market reaction to it was close to zero.

A number of specialists, such as, for example, strategists at the largest banking group in the Netherlands ING, believe that there is still “an increased risk that USD/JPY will significantly exceed 135.00 in the coming days if the Japanese authorities do not step up and carry out currency intervention”.

Most analysts (55%) have long been waiting for the intervention of the authorities, or at least a revival of interest in the yen as a safe-haven currency. However, this forecast has not come true for several weeks. Although it is possible that a strong correction will be repeated, as happened on June 15-16, when the pair fell by 410 points. 35% of experts are counting on updating the high at 135.58, and 10% believe that the pair will take a breather, moving in a sideways trend. For indicators on D1, the picture is very different from the opinion of experts. For trend indicators, all 100% are colored green, for oscillators, 90% of them are, 10% of which are in the overbought zone, and another 10% vote for the red. The nearest support is located at 134.50, followed by zones and levels at 134.00, 133.50, 133.00, 132.30, 131.50, 129.70-130.30, 128.60 and 128.00. It is difficult to determine the further targets of the bulls after the new update of the January 01, 2002 high. Most often, such round levels as 136.00, 137.00, 140.00 and 150.00 appear in the forecasts. And if the pair's growth rates remain the same as in the last 3 months, it will be able to reach the 150.00 zone in late August or early September.

With the exception of the release of the Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Committee meeting report on Wednesday, June 22, no other major events are expected this week.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: Bloodbath or the Battle for $20,000

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of $3.5 billion investment fund SkyBridge Capital, called it a "bloodbath." And it's hard to disagree with him.

In total, bitcoin lost 70% between November 11, 2021 and June 15, 2022. It has lost about a third of its value in the past week alone. According to some experts, the trigger this time was the announcement of the crypto-lending platform Celsius Network to suspend the withdrawal of funds, their exchange and transfer between accounts “due to extreme market conditions.” (As of May, the platform managed $11 billion in user assets.)

However, the general negative macroeconomic background is most likely to blame. This opinion was expressed by industry participants in a survey conducted by The Block. Many experts believe that the crypto markets “would have fallen regardless of Celsius.” Bloomberg notes that the market has entered "a period of selling everything except the dollar." Traders are leaving for a "safe harbor" due to more aggressive tightening of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve (QT), caused by rising inflation. The market is actively getting rid of risky assets, the S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq stock indices are falling, and bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies along with them.

The price of BTC fell to almost $20,000 on Wednesday June 15, ethereum quotes fell to $1,000, and the capitalization of the crypto market fell to $0.86 trillion. Recall that it had reached $2.97 trillion 7 months ago, in November 2021.

The bear market upsets all investors. But the two largest institutional bitcoin holders have been particularly distinguished. They lost a total of about $1.4 billion on this asset. According to the analytical resource Bitcointreasuries.net, almost 130,000 bitcoins owned by Microstrategy and 43,200 bitcoins owned by Tesla made their owners significantly poorer (we are talking about an unrealized loss yet).

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor spent almost $4 billion ($3,965,863,658) on 129,218 BTC, which is approximately 0.615% of the total issuance of the first cryptocurrency. The fall in the price of bitcoin depreciated the company's investment to $3.1 billion, thus the loss amounted to $900 million. Apart from this, Microstrategy shares also fell to their lowest levels in recent months.

The investment of Elon Mask, whose car company Tesla bought more than 40,000 bitcoins during the 2021 bull market, has also taken a big hit. He lost about $500 million on his investments.

Of course, Michael Saylor and Elon Musk aren't the only ones struggling. The fall of the crypto market hit the largest US crypto exchange as well. Coinbase Global announced the layoff of 1,100 employees (approximately 18% of the entire staff). Shares of Coinbase itself fell in price by 26% over the past week, and its capitalization decreased to $11.5 billion. Director and co-founder of the company Brian Armstrong said that “a recession can cause a new crypto winter that will last for a long time.”

Stablecoins also add cold to investors' hearts. The passions for UST (Terra) have not subsided yet, as the USDD of the Tron network has faced a systemic crisis. USDD lost touch with the dollar on June 13, and TRX fell by 22%.

As of this writing, the BTC/USD bull/bear fight is for the 200-week moving average (200WMA). This WMA used to serve as strong support in all previous bear market phases. Until now, bitcoin has never managed to gain a foothold below this line, and we will find out on Monday June 20 if it managed to do so this time. (By "gaining a foothold" traders mean the closing of a candle below a certain level).

Arcane Research believes that the $20,000 level is critical for bitcoin in the context of technical analysis. “Therefore, a possible visit below this level could lead to the capitulation of many hodlers and deleverages.” There is also significant open interest in bitcoin options around the $20,000 mark. This is a factor of additional pressure on the spot market if the above level does not withstand the onslaught of bears.

Renowned trader and analyst Tone Vays cites the Bitcoin Momentum Reversal Indicator (MRI), which predicts the life cycles of a trend. At the moment, MRI points to a few more days (4-5) of falling, after which a market reversal may occur.

According to Vays, most likely, the BTC rate will not fall below $19,000. But a further fall is not ruled out: “Is it possible to reach $17,180? I think so. But if the downward movement continues, the next level could be around $14,000. However, in my opinion, bitcoin will not fall so much, and the level of $19,000 will be the lowest mark,” the expert said.

This forecast can be considered optimistic. For example, the president of the brokerage company Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff, predicted a fall to $8,000 a month ago. And the American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman called cryptocurrencies a fraud and a bubble that will soon burst.

As of Friday evening, June 17, the total crypto market capitalization is at $0.895 trillion ($1.192 trillion a week ago). The BTC/USD pair is trading at $20,500. Bitcoin's Crypto Fear & Greed Index is firmly entrenched in the Extreme Fear zone and was falling to 7 points out of 100 possible (13 weeks ago). This value is comparable to March 2020 values. Then the price of bitcoin bottomed out at $3,800. According to Arcane Research analysts, the index has been in the Fear zone since April 12, which is a duration record. “Market participants are undoubtedly tired of this, many capitulate. Historically, buying has been a profitable strategy in times of fear. However, it is not easy to catch a falling knife,” the researchers shared their thoughts.

And finally, a bit of optimism from the founder of SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci, with whose words we began this review. In an interview with CNBC, the former politician and White House director of communications not only called what was happening a “bloodbath,” but also added that he had survived seven bear markets and he hopes that he will be able to “crawl out” of the eighth.

“All crypto assets have a long-term perspective, as long as they do not face short-term losses,” the financier said. “Then investors start tearing their hair out and hitting the wall. It is better to buy a quality crypto asset without being distracted by others and maintain discipline without looking back at the bear markets that sometimes happen. If you remain calm during these periods, you will get rich,” Scaramucci encouraged investors.


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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CryptoNews of the Week



- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin supported The Daily Gwei creator Anthony Sassano, who called on the popular PlanB analyst to delete his account. The reason is the failure of the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model, which PlanB has been actively promoting in recent years.
“It's rude to gloat, but I think financial models that give people a false sense of confidence about asset growth are harmful and deserve ridicule,” Buterin wrote. The Ethereum co-founder added a chart to his post that shows a significant divergence between the real price of bitcoin and its S2F forecast.
PlanB reacted to Buterin's criticism with restraint. He said that in the aftermath of the crash, many are looking for scapegoats, including leaders. PlanB then presented a chart of five different bitcoin rate prediction models. According to the illustration, the most accurate picture is given by estimates based on the complexity and cost of mining the first cryptocurrency. The S2F model, in turn, offers an overly optimistic view.

- The internet is talking again about the death of bitcoin. The number of search queries on this topic has returned to its highest levels against the backdrop of the collapse in the price of the first cryptocurrency. The bitcoin dead request scored 93 points on Google Trends in the week ending June 18. This is just one point less than the maximum recorded in December 2017. Canada, Singapore and Australia are among the leaders among the “pessimists”. The United States and Nigeria follow them, even though the population there is much larger.

- Bitcoin's return to levels above $20,000 does not mean that it has bounced off the bottom. This was stated by Peter Schiff, a well-known cryptocurrency critic, President of Euro Pacific Capital. According to this gold supporter, the $20,000 mark will be the same “bull trap” as the $30,000 level was before. “Nothing falls in a straight line. In fact, it's a very orderly crash in slow motion. There is no sign of capitulation so far, which usually forms the bottom of a bear market,” Schiff said.
The head of Euro Pacific Capital had said Earlier that the collapse of the cryptocurrency market is good for the economy. He also added that even if digital assets have a future, bitcoin will never be part of it. Recall that Peter Schiff predicted back in May that bitcoin would test $8,000. And the investor suggested in mid-June that the minimum could be even lower, around $5,000.

- El Salvador President Nayib Bukele advised bitcoin investors not to worry about the quotes of the first cryptocurrency. “My advice is to stop looking at charts and enjoy your life. If you have invested in BTC, your investment is safe, its value will rise immeasurably after the end of the bear market. The main thing is patience,” he wrote.
In response, the aforementioned Peter Schiff stated that Bukele's advice was as bad as his "buy the top" recommendation. The latter is likely a reference to the "buy the dip" stock exchange slogan that Bukele often mentioned.
For reference, there are 2,301 BTC in El Salvador's public bitcoin fund, purchased at an average price of $43,900. Thus, at the moment, the loss on them has amounted to about 55%.

- An analyst aka Capo, who had correctly predicted the collapse of the cryptocurrency market this year, updated his forecast for top crypto assets. According to him, investors are fooling themselves into believing that a short-term rally means bitcoin has reached the bottom of the cycle. According to Capo, bitcoin is only rising because investors are liquidating their holdings of altcoins and investing in BTC in order to exit it: “Bull trap. Funds from altcoins flow into BTC, which will also be sold, but a little later. There is no bottom yet." The analyst shared his updated forecast regarding the fall levels of these assets: BTC is expected to decline to $16,200, and ETH to $750.

- According to crypto strategist Kevin Svenson, bitcoin has a chance to bottom in the $17,000-18,000 range, after which a short-term rally to above $30,000 could occur. At the same time, although Svenson expects this short-term growth, he does not see the prerequisites for launching a new bull market in the near future: “Overcoming the main downward resistance is the main obstacle and the process may last until the end of the year.”
According to the strategist, after the breakthrough of the diagonal resistance, bitcoin can trade in a narrow range for several months and start a new uptrend only by 2024 year.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen proposed his bottom search model for bitcoin. He believes that the bottom can be predicted based on the correlation of inflation, the S&P 500 stock index and the BTC price. The analyst argues that the S&P 500 index does not historically sink to the very bottom until inflation peaks and reverses. Accordingly, BTC cannot reach the bottom for the same reason. “Macroeconomic indicators look incredibly bleak at the moment. If you go back to the 1970s, you'll see a very similar type of move where the S&P bottomed just as inflation hit its first peak. By this point, the S&P was down about 50%,” writes Cowen.

- Shark Tank business TV show co-host Kevin O'Leary says big companies shouldn't be afraid of bankruptcy during the crypto winter, as their departure forms a promising market bottom. “This is good for all other companies as they will learn from this. I think we will soon see a wave of bankruptcies in the cryptocurrency market. I don't know who it will be, but I assure you that I have seen it before. Later you will recognize those who have taken a high-risk position. They have been destroyed, and that's good,” said the millionaire.
Crypto channel InvestAnswers, in turn, named 3 possible catalysts for the market collapse. The BTC price may fall even more if MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor decides to sell the bitcoins in the company's reserves. In addition, the potential collapse of the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and the problems of the cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital may also contribute to further capitulation of BTC. According to InvestAnswers, we should not forget about the possible sale of crypto assets by Tesla.
MicroStrategy reported a $1.2 billion loss last week due to the fall of bitcoin. As for the Three Arrows Capital fund, it now has about $2.4 billion left in assets out of $18 billion.

- Despite the low current rate of bitcoin, many participants in the crypto industry believe in its future growth. For example, there is a belief that BTC could reach $100,000 by 2025. Bloomberg Senior Strategist Mike McGlone is one of them. He has no doubt that the widespread use of cryptocurrencies and, in particular, bitcoin, can lead to a rise in the price of BTC to six figures.
Cryptocurrency is about 1% of the total market capitalization of all stocks on the planet. It was only 0.01% just a few years ago. According to Mike McGlone, this indicates a growing adoption of the new asset class. In addition, investors tend to buy gold during inflation, but now they have a digital alternative to it. Another reason is that the adoption of the asset occurs against the background of a reduction in its emission. This allowed the expert to conclude that prices could skyrocket in the coming years.

- The fall of bitcoin was one of the factors stimulating the growth in the number of addresses in the network with a balance of more than one coin. Glassnode estimates that investors stepped up in May and June during each pullback. In the last week alone, the number of such holders increased by 13,091. There are currently 865,254 addresses holding more than 1 BTC.
The number of small bitcoin holders has also grown significantly. The number of wallets holding at least 0.1 BTC has come close to 3.06 million since the beginning of last week. However, the number of "whales" with a balance of more than 100 coins has on the contrary decreased by 136 addresses.

- The Bangkok police arrested a suspect in a jewellery store robbery. According to Thai PBS, the man stole gold jewellery worth about 1.8 million baht (over $50,000) at gunpoint. After his arrest, he told the police that he was under great stress and was in dire need of money since he had recently suffered large losses from investing in bitcoin.


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

EUR/USD: Just a Calm Week



The last week was quite calm for the EUR/USD pair. It moved along the Pivot Point 1.0500, and the maximum range of fluctuations was less than 140 points (1.0468-1.0605), which is quite small for today.

President Joe Biden's appeal to the US Congress, with the exception of a proposal to introduce a tax holiday on fuel for 3 months, was, in fact, about nothing. And the federal tax on gasoline is only 18 cents per gallon, which is less than 4%. So, in such a short period of time, this measure will not have any effect on the economy, much less tame inflation.

As for the Fed, its head Jerome Powell, speaking in Congress, did not say anything new either. He only confirmed that, despite the threat of a recession, his organization will continue to fight inflation by tightening monetary policy. These intentions were also confirmed by Powell's colleague Michelle Bowman, a member of the Fed's Board of Governors, who stated that raising the key rate by 0.75% in July and by at least 0.50% at the next few meetings of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) is not only appropriate, but also necessary.

There were no surprises in the words of both officials, and the markets, apparently, have already included this increase in their quotes for a long time. However, the yield on 10-year US bonds corrected against this backdrop to the lowest level in the last two weeks, falling from 3.5% to 3%. Stock Markets (S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq), as well as other risky assets, on the contrary, grew slightly. This was facilitated by the absence of any significant events on the Ukrainian-Russian front and the associated decline in prices for natural energy resources. So, for example, the cost of oil has decreased by about 10-13% over the past 10 days.

The macro statistics released on Thursday, June 23, although caused an increase in volatility initially, eventually returned the EUR/USD pair to the equilibrium point like a swing. The reason is that business activity in both the EU and the US turned out to be noticeably worse than expected. In the Eurozone, the index of business activity in the manufacturing sector, according to the forecast, should have decreased from 54.6 to 54.0, but actually fell to 52.0 points. The index of business activity in the services sector has similar indicators: it fell from 56.1 to 52.8 instead of the expected 55.8 points. Thus, the composite index Markit lost 2.9 points instead of 0.6, falling from 54.8 to 51.9 (forecast 54.2).

Following the European one, the similar American statistics came out, which turned out to be no less disappointing. Thus, the index of business activity in the manufacturing sector fell by as much as 4.6 points to 52.4 (previous value 57.0, forecast 56.0). A similar indicator in the service sector turned out to be slightly better: a drop from 53.4 to 51.6 points (forecast 53.0). As a result, the composite index of business activity decreased from 53.6 to 51.2 points, instead of the forecasted 52.8 points.

EUR/USD ended the trading session at 1.0555. At the time of writing the review, on the evening of June 24, the votes of experts are divided as follows: 35% side with the bulls, 55% - with the bears, and 10% cannot decide on the forecast. The readings of the indicators on D1 look quite chaotic. Among the oscillators, 35% are colored red, 25% are green and 40% are neutral gray. Among the trend indicators, 60% are red and 40% are green. The nearest strong resistance is located in the 1.0600 zone, if successful, the bulls will try to break through the 1.0640 resistance and rise to the 1.0750-1.0770 zone, the next target is 1.0800. Apart from 1.0500, the number 1 task for the bears is to break through the support around 1.0470, and then update the May 13 low at 1.0350. If successful, they will move on to storm the 2017 low of 1.0340, there is only support from 20 years ago below.

As for the upcoming week, data on the US consumer market will be released on Monday June 27, the German consumer market data on June 29 and 30, and Eurozone consumer prices (CPI) on Friday July 01. The value of the US Manufacturing PMI will be published on July 01 as well. In addition, it is worth paying attention to the data on US GDP (Q1), which will become known on June 29. In addition, a whole series of speeches by the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, is scheduled for the week: she will speak on June 27, 28 and 29. There will also be a performance by her overseas colleague Jerome Powell, but only one, on Wednesday, June 29.

GBP/USD: Looking for Drivers

Having started the five-day period at 1.2216, the GBP/USD pair ends it at 1.2280. And if in the period from June 13 to June 17, the maximum range of fluctuations exceeded 470 points, it was 3 times less last week, keeping within just 160 points. This lull was caused largely by the absence of high-profile macroeconomic events. However, it also suggests that the market cannot decide what to do with the pound, and is looking for drivers that can move the pair in one direction or another.

According to some analysts, the strengthening of the British currency is hindered by political instability. Prime Minister Boris Johnson already survived a vote of no confidence in June, with several lawmakers from his own Conservative Party voting against him. In addition, after the by-elections, the party lost two seats in the UK Parliament.

In terms of the national economy, retail sales fell 0.5% m/m in May according to the Office for National Statistics. This turned out to be slightly better than market expectations, which predicted a decline of 0.7%. But it did not help the British currency much, as the annual figure reached 9.1%, updating the 40-year high. The main contribution to the growth of inflation was made by the increase in prices for fuel and food products.

According to some experts, inflation in the United Kingdom will continue to grow and may exceed 11% by November. It is clear that this causes discontent among the population, as it reduces the level of income, depreciates savings, and also undermines the current purchasing power. To combat this evil, the Bank of England (BOE) raised its key rate from 1.00% to 1.25% on June 16. As a result, the British currency gained 365 points in just a few hours. But can the regulator, just like the US Federal Reserve, not be afraid of the economy slipping into recession and continue to regularly increase the cost of borrowing? Many traders and investors doubt this.

At the moment, 40% of experts believe that the GBP/USD pair will try to test the resistance of 1.2400 again in the near future, 25%, on the contrary, are waiting for a support test in the 1.2170-1.2200 area, the remaining 35% of analysts have taken a neutral position.

Among the trend indicators on D1, the balance of power is 75-25% in favor of the reds. There is no such clear advantage among oscillators: only 45% are pointing to a fall, 25% are looking in the opposite direction, and the remaining 30% are looking east. Supports are located at levels 1.2170-1.2200, then 1.2075 and 1.2040. The pair's strong foothold lies at the psychologically important 1.2000 level, followed by the June 14 low at 1.1932. In case of growth, the pair will meet resistance in the zones and at the levels of 1.2300-1.2325, 1.2400-1.2430, 1.2460, then the targets in the area of 1.2500 and 1.2600 follow.

As for the macroeconomic events of the coming week regarding the United Kingdom, we can highlight the publication of data on the country's GDP for the Q1 2022 on Thursday, June 30. The speech of the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey, which will take place the day before, on Wednesday, June 29, may also be of interest. And the business activity index (PMI) in the UK manufacturing sector will be published at the very end of the working week, on Friday, July 01.

USD/JPY: "Head" and "Shoulders" Are Visible. What's next?

The USD/JPY formed a classic technical analysis head and shoulders pattern over the past week. Starting from 134.95, it rose to the height of 136.70, then rolled back to the local low of 134.25, and finished at 135.20.

The divergence between the monetary policies of the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve helped to update the 24-year high once again, having risen to 136.70 on Wednesday, June 22. We have already written about this many times. As for the subsequent rollback down, the reason is most likely the June decline in world prices for mineral fuels, on which the country's economy is highly dependent, as well as the fall in the yield of 10-year US Treasuries.

It is common knowledge that there is a direct correlation between 10-year US Treasury bills and the USD/JPY currency pair. And if the yield of these securities falls, the yen shows growth against the dollar, and the USD/JPY pair forms a downtrend. This is what we observed in the second half of the week, when the yield on government bonds fell to 3%.

Reuters reported that Japan's annual core consumer inflation in May exceeded the central bank's target of 2% in May for the second consecutive month. Which is a signal of increasing pressure on the fragile Japanese economy due to rising world prices for raw materials.

A number of experts believe that the forecast of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) about the temporary nature of price growth is incorrect. Hence, the “super-dove” monetary policy of the regulator is wrong. Rising fuel and food prices driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a weak yen that pushes up the cost of imports could keep inflation above the Bank of Japan's target for much of 2022, these analysts said.

Japanese officials do not deny this problem. Thus, the Government and the Bank of Japan issued a joint statement on June 17 stating that they are concerned about the sharp fall in the national currency. Seiji Kihara, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, also said that the impact of inflation on consumer sentiment will be closely monitored. However, according to Masayoshi Amamiya, Deputy Governor of the Japanese Central Bank, the country's economy is gaining momentum, so the BOJ will continue to adhere to a relaxed monetary credit policy.

Considering the above, the general fundamental background remains on the side of the USD/JPY bulls, and its current decline can be regarded as a correction from the previous multi-year highs, which was caused by lower fuel prices and a drop in Treasury yields.

Most analysts (50%) expect the correction to continue at least to the level of 133.00-133.50. 30% of experts have voted for the fact that the pair will once again try to renew the high and rise above 137.00, and 20% believe that the pair will take a breather, moving in a sideways trend. For indicators on D1, the picture is very different from the opinion of experts. 85% of the oscillators are colored green (of which 10% are in the overbought zone), the remaining 15% have taken a neutral position. For trend indicators, 85% point north and only 15% look south. The nearest support is located at 134.40, followed by zones and levels at 134.00, 133.50, 133.00, 132.30, 131.50, 129.70-130.30, 128.60 and 128.00. Apart from breaking the immediate resistance at 135.40 and the June 22 high at 136.70, further targets for the bulls are difficult to determine. Most often, such round levels as 137.00, 140.00 and 150.00 appear in the forecasts. And if the pair's growth rates remain the same as in the last 3 months, it will be able to reach the 150.00 zone in late August or early September.

As for the calendar for the coming week, we can mark Friday, July 01, when Tankan (Q2) sentiment indexes of large manufacturers and large non-manufacturing companies in Japan will be published.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: BTC Forecast from the President of El Salvador

We called the last review "Bloodbath or $20,000 Battle". As for the past week, there was not much blood this time, but the battle for $20,000, as predicted, did not subside. The week's low was fixed at $17,597, the maximum at $21,667, and the BTC/USD pair met Saturday, June 25, at $21,350. At this point, the total crypto market capitalization was $0.960 trillion ($0.895 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is still not going to leave the Extreme Fear zone and is at around 11 points out of 100 possible (7 points a week ago).

The general mood of the market is fully consistent with this Extreme Fear. The Internet is talking again about the death of bitcoin. According to Google Trends, the number of search queries on this topic has returned to its maximum levels, close to December 2017. Recall that at that moment, approaching the coveted $20,000, the main cryptocurrency turned around and flew down, losing more than 40% of its value in a few days. The only difference with that long-standing situation is that bitcoin was approaching the $20,000 level from below then, and it is from above now. And the market was looking for a top then, and for a bottom now. Moreover, according to a number of influencers, it is not at all necessary that the bottom is at this particular mark.

So, according to Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital President, a well-known cryptocurrency critic, “so far, there are no signs of surrender, which usually forms the bottom of the bearish market”. According to this gold supporter, the $20,000 mark will be the same “bull trap” as the $30,000 level was before. “Nothing falls in a straight line. It's actually a very ordered crash in slow motion," Schiff said. Recall that he predicted back in May that bitcoin would test $8,000. And he suggested in mid-June that the minimum could be even lower, around $5,000.

According to the president of Euro Pacific Capital, the collapse of the cryptocurrency market will be good for the economy. Kevin O'Leary, co-host of the business TV show Shark Tank, made a similar point. He believes that one should not be afraid of the bankruptcy of large companies during the crypto winter. “This is good for all other companies as they will learn from this. I think we will soon see a wave of bankruptcies in the cryptocurrency market. I don't know who it will be. Later you will recognize those who have taken a high-risk position. But I assure you I have seen this before. They have been destroyed, and that's good,” said the millionaire.

The InvestAnswers crypto channel, in turn, named 3 possible catalysts for a further market collapse. The BTC price may fall even more if MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor decides to sell the bitcoins in the company's reserves. In addition, the potential collapse of the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and the problems of the cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital may also contribute to further capitulation of BTC. According to InvestAnswers, we should not forget about the possible sale of crypto assets by Tesla.

MicroStrategy reported a $1.2 billion loss last week due to the fall of bitcoin. As for the Three Arrows Capital fund, it now has about $2.4 billion left in assets out of $18 billion.

Big problems are experienced not only by investors, but also by miners. Due to the fall in the price of BTC and the increase in computational complexity, the total return from mining is now 65% lower than the average for the year. At the same time, the efficiency of the Antminer S19 ASIC from Bitmain is 80% worse than the level of November 2021, and the popular S9 model has lost profitability altogether. This situation has led to the fact that mining companies are forced to sell their BTC holdings in order to pay off loans and cover current operating costs, which puts pressure on the market. Their remaining reserves are estimated at 46,000 coins (about $920 million). In the event that these bitcoins are also thrown into sale, quotes will certainly fall further down.

An analyst aka Capo, who had correctly predicted the collapse of the cryptocurrency market this year, updated his forecast. In his opinion, BTC expects a decline to $16,200, and ETH to $750. According to Capo, investors are fooling themselves into believing that a short-term rally means bitcoin is bottoming the cycle: “Bull trap. Funds from altcoins flow into BTC, which will also be sold, but a little later. There is no bottom yet,” he said.

According to another specialist, crypto strategist Kevin Svenson, bitcoin has a chance to bottom in the $17,000-18,000 range, after which a short-term rally to above $30,000 may occur. At the same time, although Svenson expects this short-term growth, he does not see the prerequisites for launching a new bull market in the near future: “Overcoming the main downward resistance is the main obstacle and the process may last until the end of the year.” According to the strategist, after the breakthrough of the diagonal resistance, bitcoin can trade in a narrow range for several months and start a new uptrend only by 2024 year.

Despite the low current rate of bitcoin, many participants in the crypto industry believe in its future growth. For example, there is a belief that BTC could reach $100,000 by 2025. One of those who supported such optimism was an analyst called PlanB, who built his forecasts based on the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model. This model worked well for three years until March 2022, after which it failed.

The Daily Gwei creator Anthony Sassano and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have recently criticized S2F, advising PlanB to delete their account.

The analyst reacted to criticism with restraint. He said that in the aftermath of the crash, many are looking for scapegoats, including leaders. PlanB then presented a graph of five different BTC price prediction models. According to the illustration, the most accurate picture is given by estimates based on the complexity and cost of mining the first cryptocurrency. The S2F model, in turn, offers an overly optimistic view.

Another expert, Benjamin Cowen, proposed his bitcoin bottoming model. He believes that the bottom can be predicted based on the correlation of inflation, the S&P 500 stock index and the BTC price. The analyst argues that the S&P 500 index does not historically sink to the very bottom until inflation peaks and reverses. Accordingly, BTC cannot reach the bottom for the same reason. “Macroeconomic indicators look incredibly bleak at the moment. If you go back to the 1970s, you'll see a very similar type of move where the S&P bottomed just as inflation hit its first peak. By this point, the S&P was down about 50%,” writes Cowen.

And to conclude the review, one more “prediction model”, which we put in our humorous crypto life hacks section. It was presented by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. “My advice is to stop looking at charts and enjoy your life. If you have invested in BTC, your investment is safe, its value will rise immeasurably after the end of the bear market. The main thing is patience,” he wrote. For reference, there are 2,301 BTC in El Salvador's public bitcoin fund, purchased at an average price of $43,900. Thus, at the moment, the loss on them is about 55%. But, according to the "model" of Nayiba Bukele, this "trifle" should not be paid attention to. The main thing is to get the most out of life!


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