First, a review of last week’s events:
- EUR/USD. The pair collapsed on Thursday, March 7, after the ECB announced that it was not worth waiting for the increase in interest rates this autumn. The earliest when this can happen is 2020. In addition, it became known that the European regulator plans to launch LTRO (Long Term Refinancing Operation) in September - a program to refinance European banks at low interest rates. If we add the reduction in forecasts for GDP and inflation to this, as well as statistics on foreign trade of China that are not the best for the Eurozone, the picture for the European currency is rather sad.
As a result, by mid-Friday, the pair slipped to the values of summer 2017 (1.1175), literally jumping out of the medium-term corridor 1.1215-1.1570. However, data on the US labor market published on March 8 (NFP) allowed the bulls to turn the trend up. After the number of new jobs amounted to 311K in January, it was expected that in February this figure would be equal to 180K. In reality, the result turned out to be many times worse, only 20K, which made it possible to once again talk about stagnation in the US economy and to return the pair to the level of 1.1235; - GBP/USD. As expected by most analysts (60%), on the eve of the re-vote in the UK Parliament on the EU deal, which should occur on March 12, the pound continued its decline, losing about 200 points in a week and reaching values in the 1.3000 zone;
- USD/JPY. Recall that last week about 20% of the oscillators on H4 and D1 already gave signals this pair was overbought, which allowed us to expect a fairly strong downward correction. This is what happened in reality, the yen almost won back the losses of the last week of February and ended the five-day period at the level of 111.15;
- Cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has been slowly and not very confidently, but still growing for the last month and a half. Somebody, of course, may have some hopes out of the growth of 16%. But, if you look at the chart, it is clearly visible that any efforts of the bulls immediately meet with active resistance from the bears, who categorically do not want to release the main cryptocurrency beyond the 15-week highs. Therefore, it is still possible to talk about the consolidation of BTC in the $3,900 zone.
As for the capitalization of the crypto market, here everything looks quite prosaic and monotonous: starting from the end of December, its volumes fluctuate in a fairly narrow range from $110 billion to $135 billion (not counting a one-time surge to $141 billion).
Of the top altcoins, Litecoin (LTC/USD) has shown the most visible growth, having added almost 90% in a month and a half. For Ethereum (ETH/USD), this indicator looks much more modest: plus 30%, while for Ripple (XRP/USD) the increase was only 10%.
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:
The week March 11 to 15 will literally be filled with events, each of which can not only cause an increase in volatility, but also lead to a change in the trends’ direction.
So, on Monday, March 11, a meeting of eurozone finance ministers will be held in Brussels. And on the same day in the evening, the data on the US “retail sales control group” will become known, which, according to forecasts, may slightly strengthen the dollar.
Tuesday will also see the publication of economic statistics from the United States, this time it will be the consumer price index. Attention should be paid to the speech of the head of the Federal Reserve, J. Powell on monetary policy. On Wednesday, we are expecting a report on the UK budget, as well as statistics on retail sales and industrial production in China. On Thursday, we will learn what is happening with consumer prices in Germany, and on Friday we will hear Haruhiko Kuroda’s comment on the prospects for the monetary policy of the Bank of Japan.
But all these rather important events fade before what should happen on Tuesday, March 12, in the capital of the United Kingdom. It is on this day that a second vote will be held in the British Parliament on the terms of Brexit, and, in the event of another failure of Prime Minister May, lawmakers will be able to vote on March 13 to postpone the negotiations and postpone Brexit to a later date. Theoretically, even a second referendum on the exit of the UK from the EU is not excluded.
These votes can affect not only the quotes of the major world currencies, but also the future of the world economy as a whole. In the meantime, analysts' opinions are as follows:
- EUR/USD. 60% of experts, supported by almost 90% of oscillators and trend indicators, expect the euro to further fall to the 1.1100-1.1125 zone. It should be noted that in the transition to the forecast for the second half of March, 60% of analysts are already siding with the bulls, waiting for the pair to return to level 1.1400-1.1500;
- GBP/USD. 65% of the experts have now voted for the decline of the pair to the level of 1.2850-1.2900. However, in the transition to longer-term forecasts, as well as in the case of the euro, the majority (60%) expects the British currency to strengthen and rise to the maximum of February (1.3350) and then 200 points higher;
- USD/JPY. Despite the fall of the pair last week, it remains within the ascending channel, which began at the very beginning of January 2019. That is why 60% of analysts, supported by graphical analysis on D1, believe that the pair will overcome the bar at 112.00, after which it is expected to move in the side channel 112.25-113.70, as it was last November-December.
The alternative point of view is supported by 40% of experts, who believe that the pair has not yet reached its local bottom, which is in the zone of 109.70-110.10;
- Cryptocurrencies. There is a saying "Many men, many minds". A well-known crypto trader and one of the top authors on TradingView under the pseudonym MagicPoopCannon has conducted a survey among his followers on Twitter, asking them to give an answer regarding the long-term price of Bitcoin. About 3 thousand subscribers took part in the voting. According to their answers, the majority (42%) believes that over the next four years, the price of Bitcoin will be in the interval between $100,000 and $1 million, 30% called a number between $20,000 and $100,000, 13% in the range from $3.000 to $20.000 and 15% predicted this cryptocurrency the darkest future, calling the range from $0 to $3,000.
As for the forecast for the near future, according to most experts, the BTC/USD pair will most likely continue to move in the $3,600-4,300 range, waiting for some really serious news that will help break through the boundaries of this channel in any direction.
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.
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