First, a review of last week’s events:
EUR/USD. The last week of April was marked by three events: the Fed meeting, as well as the publication of data on the US and Eurozone GDP.
As for the US Fed, the results of its meeting were predictable. The interest rate was left unchanged at 0.25%. The volume of the quantitative easing program (QE) remained the same, $120 billion monthly. And the head of the regulator Jerome Powell uttered almost word for word what we wrote in the previous forecast: although the pace of the US economic recovery is impressive, this is completely insufficient to talk about curtailing fiscal stimulus programs. So far, everything is rather fragile, the acceleration of inflation, according to Powell, is a temporary factor, and the number of people employed remains 8.5 million lower than in February 2020.
On the other hand, US GDP growth in the first quarter was higher than forecast and amounted to 6.4% (against 4.3% a quarter earlier), showing the best dynamics since 1984. The country’s economy needs to add just 1% to reach the pre-crisis high. And, most likely, it will fully recover even before the beginning of July by to this indicator.
Such strong statistics led to an increase in the yield of US Treasuries. But this did not help the dollar much until the end of the week, since European bonds were also growing. Germany’s 10-year debt rates have hit their highest since March 2020.
The gap between the US and the EU in terms of the speed of return to pre-crisis indicators may also soon be narrowed. ECB President Christine Lagarde said on April 28 that “a light is already visible at the end of the tunnel as the pace of vaccination in the EU accelerates” and that economic recovery is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year.
As a result of the above, the fight between the bulls and the bears on EUR/USD has been going on with varying success all week. Strong inflationary expectations continue to weigh on the dollar. President Joe Biden continues to flood the economy with colossal amounts of money. Following the $1.9 trillion stimulus already approved by Congress, $2.25 trillion in infrastructure development and $1.8 trillion in social support are awaiting their turn. As a result of such steps by the US administration, the dollar went down and the EUR/USD pair renewed its two-month high on Thursday, April 29, reaching 1.2150.
However, thanks to not the most impressive macro statistics from the EU, the European currency nevertheless lost ground on Friday. An additional impetus to the dollar was given by the auction for the placement of treasury bonds on Friday evening, April 30. The US Treasury Department sold $130.6 billion worth of debt securities there. This withdrawal of liquidity from the financial system provided additional support to the American currency. As a result, the pair completed the five-day period significantly below the start of the week, at the level of 1.2020;
GBP/USD. When providing last week’s forecast for the pair, 45% of experts voted for its move north, 35% to the south and the remaining 20% to the east.
As expected by most of them (45%), the pound was strengthening its positions the first four days, and investors started to hope that the GBP/USD pair would break through the 1.4000 level again and return to steady growth, as it had been since the end of March 2020 until the end of February 2021 However, having reached 1.3975, its movement stalled, the bearish pressure intensified, and it collapsed downward at the very end of the week, as 35% of analysts had expected. Pushed by the results of the auction held by the US Treasury, the pair reached the local bottom at the 1.3800 horizon. This was followed by a couple of small bounces and a finish at 1.3810, which can be considered the Pivot Point of the last 9 weeks. So, those 20% of experts who voted for the sideways trend of the pair were also satisfied;
USD/JPY. It has already been said that the yield on US government bonds has been the key indicator for this pair. It was growing over the past week. The dollar grew along with it against the yen. As a result, the USD/JPY pair rose above the level of 109.00 and, having added 145 points, completed the trading session at 109.30;
cryptocurrencies. When making a forecast seven days ago, we wrote that the main task of the bulls last week would be to keep the BTC/USD pair in the $ 50,000 area. And, they succeeded, though with difficulty. Despite the fact that the quotes fell to $47,000 on April 25, they managed to rise again to the $50,000-55,000 zone. Investors and speculators began to actively acquire coins at the bottom, counting on further profits. And if the total capitalization of the crypto market was at the level of $1.750 trillion on April 26, it had already reached $2.110 trillion on the last day of the month.
Although not much, the news background helped the bulls. So, the news portal Coin Desk reported that the American financial giant JPMorgan had finally decided to launch a fund focused on BTC. Reporters found out that this bitcoin fund will start operating this summer.
The launch of Bitcoin-ETF could serve as another support factor. However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed its decision on the VanEck application until June. At the moment, a total of 10 applications for launching ETFs have been submitted, and the regulator decided that it needs more time to study them.
So, the main cryptocurrency stayed in the area around $50,000. But it was never able to rise above the 50-day moving average, which has served as sustained support for the BTC/USD pair since October 2020. As the quotes approach this line, which has now become resistance, the activity of buyers begins to fall sharply. And this is a rather alarming sign for investors: the market is in thought, which is confirmed by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index located in the heart of the neutral zone: at the level of 51 points.
We have repeatedly said that in such a situation of uncertainty with the reference cryptocurrency, many investors are turning their attention to altcoins. Bitcoin continues to lose ground. If its share in the total capitalization was 72.65% on January 2, and 50.70% on April 23, then it fell even lower by the end of the month, reaching the level lowest since July 2018: 47.87%.
On the other hand, the attractiveness of Ethereum is constantly growing. CoinMetrics calculates that the hashrate in the Ethereum network has grown by 89% over the past 100 days. And the ETH/USD pair, unlike Bitcoin, continues to update historical highs over and over again, rising to a height of $2,790 on April 29.
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. The weakening of the dollar, which has become almost the main safe haven asset during the pandemic, is facilitated by the growth of inflation expectations, which exceeded 2.4% and reached a high since 2013. The huge financial injections should lead to a record growth in US GDP, which, accordingly, entails an increase in risk sentiment and investors’ attraction to the stock market. According to Dow Jones Market Data, the S&P500 rose 11% during Joe Biden’s first 100 days as President of the United States. This was the best result since President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, and on average, since 1929, stock indices grew by 3.2% annually.
On the other hand, being the most powerful in the world, the US economy will pull up with it the economies of other countries, leveling the gap in the speed of their recovery. The dollar should also be helped by an increase in yields on US Treasury bonds.
So far, giving a forecast for the coming week, 60% of experts expect that the EUR/USD pair will try to go up again. The nearest resistance is 1.2055 and 1.2100, the target is to reach the April 29 high of 1.2150. 70% of oscillators and 75% of trend indicators on D1 agree with this forecast. The remaining 30% of the oscillators are colored neutral grey.
When moving from a weekly to a monthly forecast, the opinion of experts changes radically. Here, 75% of them are waiting for the dollar to strengthen and the pair to drop to the 1.1900 zone, and then another 100 points lower. The target of the bears is to update the March 31 low of 1.1704.
Graphical analysis on D1 indicates the movement of the pair in the trading range of 1.1945-1.2150. At the same time, according to its readings on H4, the pair first faces a decline to the lower border of this channel, and then a rebound upward.
As for the events of the coming week, one should note the publication of ISM business activity data in manufacturing (May 3) and private (May 5) sectors of the United States. We are also waiting for US employment data: the ADP report will be released on Wednesday May 5, and the number of new jobs created outside the agricultural sector (NFP) will be known on Friday May 7.
The European consumer market is likely to delight investors on May 3 and 6. The fall in retail sales in Germany is forecast to narrow from -9.0% to -3.15%. Retail sales in the Eurozone as a whole may, according to forecasts, grow from -2.9% to + 9.4%;
GBP/USD. The main event for the British currency will be the meeting of the Bank of England on Thursday, May 6, which will be devoted to monetary policy. The interest rate is most likely to remain unchanged at 0.1%. As for QE, the volume of purchases of government bonds may be reduced from £895 to 875 billion. If this happens, the market will receive a signal about the intention of the British regulator to start tightening its policy.
The bank may also revise its forecasts regarding the speed of economic recovery in the country. There are many reasons for this. Thus, unemployment in Great Britain decreased by 0.1% in the first quarter, from 5.0% to 4.9%. Almost 30 million people have already been vaccinated in the country, of whom more than 2.5 million received two doses of vaccines against COVID-19. Some of the quarantine restrictions have been removed. And all these are positive factors for the pound, which may push the GBP/USD pair up again. This is confirmed by the forecasts of graphical analysis on H4 and D1.
As for the readings of technical indicators, they look rather indistinct on D1 due to the sideways movement of recent weeks. On H4, naturally, most are painted red, although 25% of oscillators signal the pair is oversold.
As for the experts, 60% expect the pair to grow at least to the level of 1.4000. In case it manages to break through it, the next target is 1.4240. The nearest resistance levels are 1.3860, 1.3925 and 1.3975.
The remaining 40% of analysts side with the bears. The main support is in the zone 1.3670-1.3700, then – 1.3600;
USD/JPY. The experts’ opinion coincides completely with what was expressed a week earlier. 70% of them believe that the pair will go south again, below the horizon at 109.00. The next supports are 108.40 and 107.45. The remaining 30% of analysts expect the pair to continue to rise. Resistance is at 110.00, the target is to rise another 100 pips to 111.00.
As for the indicators, 75% of oscillators and 100% of trend indicators on H4, and, respectively, 70% and 95% on D1 are coloured green. The remaining oscillators signal that the pair is overbought. Graphical analysis on both time frames indicates a fall of the pair to the level of 107.45;
cryptocurrencies. So, as it was said in the first part of the review, the BTC/USD pair did not manage to break above the 50-day moving average on the last day of April. And this looks like a wake-up call for investors. Especially because the fall below this line happened for the first time since the beginning of October last year, when the pair just broke the $10,000 level.
The Bitcoin Dominance Index also fell below 50%, which, attracting institutions, dragged the entire crypto market up with it like a locomotive.
Taken together, both of these factors, according to a number of analysts, strongly resemble the situation in January 2018, which marked the beginning of a protracted crypto winter.
But, along with pessimists, the voices of optimists are usually heard. Thus, the creator of the stock-to-flow model, a popular cryptocurrency analyst known as PlanB, believes that the current decline in bitcoin is quite normal and expected, and only confirms the bullish trend. The analyst stressed that one should not expect constant growth, sometimes pullbacks should also occur: “Nothing grows without pullbacks. Bitcoin has already been growing for 6 months in a row. This is similar to the mid-cycle correction we saw in 2013 and 2017.”
PlanB noted that he even “calmed down to some extent”: the market was too overheated, and now a small “cooling” phase awaits it. In addition, the rate of the first cryptocurrency turned out to be lower currently than the expectations of the S2F model, which means it may well continue to grow.
Dan Morehead, CEO of venture capital firm Pantera Capital, is also positive. According to the businessman, BTC is doomed to further growth, as more and more investors begin to understand that storing capital in cryptocurrency is much more efficient than in traditional instruments.
According to the calculations by the head of Pantera Capital, the value of BTC adds $200 every time 1 million new users register on its network. If such dynamics persist, the price of cryptocurrency in 2022 will approach or even exceed the $200,000 mark.
According to Dan Morehead, the spread of bitcoin is a result of, among other things, the growth in the number of smartphone users. There are now about 3.5 billion people in the world who own such devices, making bitcoin available anywhere and at any time.
