First, a review of last week’s events:
EUR/USD. As we expected in the previous forecast, thanks to Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, the growth of U.S. stocks and encouraging reports from the front against COVID-19, the euro and other competitors of the dollar can very quickly recover the positions previously lost.
As for the coronavirus, no positive news has yet been received from this front. Moreover, voting in the elections led to a new anti-record in the United States: 100,000 new infection cases in just one day.
Joe Biden, too, is finally yet to win. But the growing likelihood of a change in the owner of the White House has already led to an overflow of investor funds from fiat to the stock market. Investors loved the idea of a Democratic president and the division of Congress into two camps. In this case, there is less risk of tax increases Most likely, due to the relaxation of regulation, life will become easier for technology companies. As a result of such expectations, the dollar went down, while the S& P500, Dow Jones, as well as the euro and other major currencies, went up. So, the Chinese yuan managed to win back more than half of the losses suffered as a result of trade wars unleashed by Donald Trump. The common European currency also showed impressive growth. Starting on November 02 from 1.1645, the EUR/USD pair reached the level of 1.1890 by the evening of Friday 06 November, showing an increase of 245 points. The last chord was placed at 1.1875;
GBP/USD. The British currency grew not only due to the fall in the dollar, but also thanks to the decision of the Bank of England, which decided to further support the country’s economy on Thursday, November 05 by increasing the bond purchase program by £150 billion and bringing it to £895 billion. The market had expected increases to just £845 billion pounds and this additional QE extension pushed the pound up to the October 21 high of 1.3175. The pair ended the week session at 1.3150, showing an increase of 200 points;
USD/JPY. Recall the forecast that was given last week. We cite:
“Now this pair is sandwiched between two very strong levels – 104.00 and 105.00, and its further movement depends on the risk sentiment of investors. And those, in turn, depend on what will happen in the United States in the coming week. 65% of experts, supported by 85% of indicators and graphical analysis on D1, believe that the pair will make another attempt to break through the support of 104.00. But only 30 per cent are confident that it will be able to reach the 103.00 zone”.
And now judge for yourself how accurate it was. The pair did go to break the support 104.00, broke it, but managed to go down only to the horizon 103.17. This was followed by a slight rebound and a finish at 103.30;
cryptocurrencies. Let us start with statistics. According to Google Trends, according to the number of searches related to the first cryptocurrency, Nigeria, Cuba, South Africa, Cameroon are in the TOP-5 countries with the highest interest in bitcoin, and Ghana closes the top five. Residents of Taiwan, Kazakhstan and Japan turn to the search engine with such a request less often than others.
And, before moving on to the main event of the crypto week, some more statistics, from the world of crime. It has finally become known how many digital assets have been stolen by cybercriminals. According to a study by the analytical service Atlas VPN, since 2012, hackers have stolen more than $13.6 billion in cryptocurrency, making more than 330 hacks. Most often, thefts were carried out from crypto exchanges and crypto wallets. According to Atlas VPN, there were 87 successful hacks of trading platforms, as a result of which the attackers managed to withdraw $4.8 billion. Wallets suffered even more damage, where the total damage amounted to almost $7.2 billion.
And now the main promised news: Bitcoin soared to a height of $15.880 on the night of November 05-6, adding 17.2% over the week. It should be noted that since the last days of October, the main cryptocurrency again correlates with both stock indices Dow Jones, Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s 500 and with gold. Not surprisingly, during the pandemic, the US Federal Reserve printed a huge amount of new money, and many large investors, fearing inflation, included bitcoin in their portfolios as a protective asset. Therefore, a sharp jump in BTC / USD quotes in the second half of the outgoing week was associated with the expectations of Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election, which caused a sharp weakening of the dollar and a capital flow into risky protective assets.
The total capitalization of the crypto market grew in 7 days by 9%, having risen from $410 billion to $447 billion.The Crypto Fear & Greed Index was at around 90 by the evening of Friday, November 06, in the zone that the developers of the index designated like “Extreme Greed”. This value corresponds to the BTC/USD pair being strongly overbought and portends its correction. Although, it should be noted, a certain correction has already taken place, and the pair rolled back to the $15.150 zone from the highs of the week and completed the seven-day period at $15.510.
Bitcoin’s growth has pulled many top altcoins with it. So, Ethereum (ETH/USD) has grown 15% heavier over the week. Additional support for this coin was provided by the news about the imminent launch of the ETH 2.0 branch. However, for this to happen, the developers must raise funds in the amount of 524,288 ETH (about $230 million). Investments should be frozen for a period of one and a half to two years; the expected return is 8-15% per annum. If the necessary funds are raised in November, the launch of the ETH 2.0 genesis block will take place on December 1 at 12:00 UTC.
As for the forecast for the coming week, summarizing the views of a number of experts, 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. Stock markets are growing, investors continue to pour money there, hoping that the wave raised by the hopes for the arrival of a new US President will grow higher and stronger. At the same time, the market forgets that the situation with the coronavirus is only getting worse, that Trump has not gone anywhere yet, and that no one has yet canceled the fiscal burden, and all this remains only at the level of election promises. Trump, if he loses, may well protest the election results. We should also not forget about the weakness of the common European currency.
In general, the flight of investors from the dollar towards stocks, bonds, gold, bitcoin and the euro, while understandable, may be premature. Everything can turn in the opposite direction overnight.
In such a situation, it is quite natural that the opinions of experts are equally divided: one third vote for the growth of the EUR/USD pair, one third – for its fall, and one third take a neutral position. As for technical analysis, 100% of the trend indicators on H4 and D1 are still green, but among the oscillators, 25% are already giving signals that the pair is overbought, which indicates a possible downward trend reversal or a serious correction. The trend reversal is also indicated by graphical analysis on D1.
The pair is in a strong mid-term support/resistance zone 1.1880-1.1900 now. The nearest support levels are 1.1760, 1.1700 and 1.1610. Resistance levels are 1.1965 and the September 01, 2020 high of 1.2010. It should be borne in mind here that this maximum is the highest point at which the pair has been located since May 2018. And if EUR/USD continues its northward movement, its main target is likely to be the zone 1.2200-1.2400;
GBP/USD. There is a movie, “The King’s Speech”, dedicated to George VI, father of Britain’s current Queen Elizabeth II. The upcoming week can be called “The Head of the Bank of England’ Speech.” Moreover, he speaks a lot: Andrew Bailey’s speeches are scheduled for November 09, 12 and 13. In addition, the data on the UK labor market will become known on Tuesday, November 10, and the GDP of this country for the III quarter and the consumer price index – on Thursday, November 12. According to forecasts, everything is quite contradictory. On the one hand, GDP can grow from -19.8% to +15.8%. But on the other hand, the growth of applications for unemployment benefits is expected from 28.0K to 78.8K. Now it is worth adding to this the ambiguity with the dollar exchange rate, which now depends on the outcome of the presidential election in the United States, as well as the still unresolved terms of the deal with the EU on Brexit.
As a result, we have rather vague prospects for the GBP/USD pair, although most experts (70%) tend to continue its uptrend – first to 1.3265, and then perhaps to the high of 01 Sept, 1.3480. The nearest resistance is 1.3175.
As for technical analysis, here the situation is completely identical to the readings for the EUR/USD pair: 100% of the trend indicators and 75% of the oscillators on H4 and D1 point to the north, while the graphical analysis looks to the south as well as 25% of the oscillators which are signaling the pair is overbought. Supports are 1.3085, 1.3000, 1.2855. The next target of the bears is 1.2755, but it is unlikely to be reached in the coming week;
USD/JPY. So, as already mentioned, amid the protracted vote count in the US elections, the dollar dropped to a two-month low against the basket of major currencies last week, and most investors expect it to weaken further. Currency markets are betting that Democrat Joe Biden will be the next president, but Republicans will retain control of the Senate. In this situation, 70% of analysts believe that the Japanese currency will continue to strengthen against the dollar, as a result of which the pair will still break through support in the 103.00 zone and approach the level of 102.00. (Taking into account the backlash, slippage up to 101.75 is possible). It should be noted that it has not fallen so low since the beginning of the panic of March 2020, caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the current situation, one should probably not be surprised that the readings of the indicators for the USD/JPY pair coincide completely with the readings of their “colleagues” for the previous two pairs, with the only difference that the weakening of the dollar corresponds to the movement of this pair down, and not up, as in the case of the euro and the pound.
The remaining 30% of experts side with the bulls and vote for the return of USD first to the resistance of 104.00, and then fixing in the zone 104.00-105.00;
cryptocurrencies. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a winning card for bitcoin. The more money Central Banks print to support the economies of their countries, the more investors begin to acquire Bitcoin as a protective asset. And not only private but also large institutional investors.
Cryptocurrency is no longer a pariah for financial giants such as JPMorgan and PayPal. The “king of bonds”, the head of the management company DoubleLine Capital ($141 billion) Jeffrey Gundlach, who had recently called the first cryptocurrency “a lie”, now recommends it as insurance against dollar depreciation.
According to Brian Brooks, head of the US Currency Exchange Office (OCC), some US banks are already actively negotiating with major cryptocurrency custodians such as Anchorage and Coinbase on potential cooperation. Brooks believes that financial conglomerates around the world will not create their own solutions for storing cryptocurrencies from scratch, but rather will buy market leaders or enter into cooperation with them to meet the needs of their customers. According to Off The Chain Capital investment fund founder Brian Estes, roughly 90% of households in the U.S. will use BTC coins by 2030.
As for the near future, according to a number of experts, after overcoming the critical $12,000 mark, there are no serious obstacles for bitcoin on the way to $20,000. At the moment, 60% of analysts agree that the BTC/USD pair will set off for a new assault on the $16,000 height in the near future.
Although, there are other opinions. For example, well-known analyst Willie Wu believes that bitcoin has entered the “safe haven” stage. “Correlation of the main cryptocurrency by other market industries is gradually decreasing. This ensures the stability of the asset, which is why it is not worth waiting for a repeat of the 2017 rally. And even if bitcoin goes to aggressive growth, Willy Wu believes, it will face constant corrections and return to the $14,000-15,000 zone. This point of view is now shared by 40% of analysts, while in the medium term their number increases to 60%. However, it is absolutely clear that the determining factor for the BTC/USD quotes in the foreseeable future will be the success of Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the fight for the presidency of the United States.
