March 30, 2019
First, a review of last week’s events:
- EUR/USD. Despite the decline in the GDP data, the US dollar has felt pretty confident this week. And it’s not the US President, not the Fed, but, first of all, the Prime Minister and the Parliament of Great Britain, who can’t decide how to get out of the stalemate that they themselves have driven, who are the reason.
Naturally, the ambiguity with Brexit could not but put pressure on the European currency, which has been falling all week. And any attempts of the bulls to change the trend rested on the downward resistance line (1.1447-1.1230). And only on Friday, just before the next vote in the British Parliament, did the pair move to a sideways movement. Thus, starting from March 20, it lost about 235 points, fixing the low at the level of 1.1209, very close to a very important support/resistance level of 1.1200;
- GBP/USD. It is not for nothing that the ancient Greeks called Britain Foggy Albion. The British managed to let the Brexit procedure go in so much fog that it’s impossible to see the road from the EU even at arm's length.
As of the end of Friday, March 29, we can state the following. Parliament voted three times against the deal with the EU in the Theresa May version. But it voted against withdrawing without any deal at all as well. The country's leadership should formulate further plans until April 12 or withdraw without a deal (but Parliament is against such an exit). Mrs. May is likely to propose an extension of the Brexit procedure based on article 50 of the European Union Treaty. But then the UK will have to participate in the European election, which is again opposed by the parliamentarians.
Europe does not really understand how to act in a situation of such uncertainty either, which is why an emergency EU summit is being convened. And the British pound has so far rolled down to the lower border of the five-week side corridor 1.2960-1.3350, but did not leave it, having fought off later by 55 points up and having completed the five-day period at the level of 1.3030;
- USD/JPY. The dollar strengthening and not reducing risk appetites of investors could not but touch the yen. Recall that 15% of the oscillators on H4 and D1 at the end of last week already gave signals this pair had been oversold, which is a fairly accurate precursor of the trend reversal, and graphical analysis indicated a rise in the pair above 110.75. Everything happened according to this scenario: the pair made a throw to the north, rising from the level of 109.70 to 110.90. The final chord sounded at 110.85;
- Cryptocurrencies. Our forecast last week said that, amid the absence of serious news, the BTC/USD pair would not fall below $3,900 but would try to overcome resistance in the $4,200 zone. That's exactly what happened. Having fixed the low at $3,938 on Monday March 25, the pair turned around and was moving upward for all the remaining days, reaching $4,190 by Friday and thus completing the two-week cycle almost at the same place where it began.
Following Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH/USD) and Litecoin (LTC/USD) demonstrated similar dynamics, having gained almost 100% of their recent losses. And it was only Ripple (XRP/USD) that could not return to the March 16 high, $0.328, and stopped a little below its 10-week Pivot Point $0.318.
As for the forecast for the coming week, summarizing the opinions of a number of analysts, as well as forecasts made on the basis of a variety of methods of technical and graphical analysis, we can say the following:
- EUR/USD. If the pair overcomes the support level of 1.1200, it will be able to continue moving down. 75% of analysts, 100% of trend indicators and 90% of oscillators on H4 and D1 agree with this. The closest goal is the low of 2018-19, recorded on March 7,1.1175. The following support is located 50 points below.
But, despite this seemingly clear advantage of the bulls, not everything is so straightforward. Already now, 10% of oscillators signal the pair. is oversold. Graphic analysis on D1 also indicates that it will not be able to overcome such a strong support as 1.1175 and will return to the horizon 1.1340. In the medium term, 60% of experts agree with the return to the area of 1.1300-1.1500.
As for economic events, one should pay attention to the publication of statistics on the consumer market in the Eurozone and the United States on Monday, April 1, as well as data on the US labor market (including NFP), which will be released on Friday, April 5. Analysts expect the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector to rise sharply in March compared with February, from 20K to 175K, even though the growth of the average wage will remain at the same level. Such data should strengthen the dollar, but it must be borne in mind that the market very often takes these forecasts into account in advance in its quotes.
- GBP/USD. At the time of writing, the forecast for this pair is almost one-to-one similar to the forecast for EUR/USD. This also applies to the bearish attitude of 75% of the experts, and the red color of the indicators. In addition to the fog with Brexit, the UK has a very serious trade deficit, the interest rate is low, and the pound is subject to great risks, which is why investors avoid investing in the British economy.
The pound finished the week close to the strong support/resistance level of 1.3000. But, unlike the euro, it is still far away from the lows of 2018-2019. So, a breakthrough below 1.3000 opens the way for the pound to supports 1.2830 and 1.2770.
The similarity with the euro this week concerns both the bearish and the bullish scenarios. Here, oversold signals are signaled by 10% of oscillators, and graphical analysis shows that, after having fallen to 1.2960, the pair will turn up and head towards the center of the five-week side corridor 1.2960-1.3350 in the 1.3150 zone;
- USD/JPY. The upcoming movement of this pair can be limited to the channel 109.70-112.15. The pair is practically in its center at the moment, and the only question is where it will move now, down or up.
Most trend indicators and oscillators look to the north at H4, while at D1 they take a neutral position. At the same time, 15% of oscillators on H4 indicate that the pair is overbought.
As for analysts, 65% of them, supported by graphical analysis on H4, have sided with the bears. And 35%, along with graphical analysis on D1, give victory to the bulls;
- Cryptocurrencies. Since December 15 last year, the total capitalization of the crypto market has grown by almost 40%, reaching a high of $143.366 billion on Wednesday, March 27. This is undoubtedly a good sign and gives hope that the Bitcoin will manage to overcome the resistance of $4,200 and gain a foothold in the range of $4,200-4,280. Almost 65% of experts agree with this forecast. The next target for the bulls is the zone 4,365-4,385, where the highs of November-December 2018 are located. However, we recall that in the transition to the medium-term forecast, the balance of power changes, and here, as before, 70% of analysts side with the bears, voting for the reduction of the pair to the $3,000 mark.
Roman Butko, NordFX
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.
