November 17, 2018

First, a review of last week’s events:

  • EUR/USD. The basic forecast for this pair said that it would not only be able to fall to the year's low at the level of 1.1300 but would also probably break through this support and reach values in the area of 1.1200-1.1250. That was exactly what happened: the pair recorded the week's low on Monday, November 12, dropping to the level of 1.1215.
    Then the market started to be ruled by Brexit. The news that the terms for the Great Britain exit of from the EU were finally agreed, pushed the European currency up, and by the end of Friday the pair had risen 200 points, ending the week session at 1.1415;
  • GBP/USD. The British currency first began to grow on the positive news about Brexit and even reached a height of 1.3070 on Wednesday. But then came the news of the resignation of a number of key ministers of the British government, who disagreed with the EU exit terms. The situation was aggravated by the rumors of a possible impeachment threatening the country's prime minister, Teresa May. As a result, the pound sterling literally fell down in a matter of hours dropping to the level of 1.2722. Then the situation calmed down a bit, and the pair rose to the zone of 1.2830, showing a week's volatility of 350 points;
  • USD/JPY. The divergence between the readings of the oscillators and the pair's quotes indicated the possibility of a downward trend. This scenario had also been supported by 45% of analysts, together with 40% of indicators and graphical analysis on H4. As a result, when there were only 35 points left to 2018 high, the pair turned south, easily overcame the support at 113.10 and finished the five-day period at 112.82;
  • Cryptocurrencies. What can one say? The market has collapsed. And it has done so to an extent that no one expected. Starting from Wednesday, it lost about 12% in capitalization, falling to $185 billion. We had called $6,100 as the lower limit of Bitcoin's fall last week. In reality, things turned out to be much worse: $5,430.
    There is no unity among the experts when determining the cause of what had happened. The most popular version is the destabilizing effect of a hard fork (separation) of BCH (Bitcoin Cash) to two new coins, which frightened investors for further splitting the market. Although there is another version, no less viable, it is the massive triggering of stop losses when Bitcoin passed the $6,000-6,100 zone. Another reason is the sale off of US technology companies shares, which spread to the crypto market.
    Ethereum (the ETH/USD pair) failed to break through the support of $170, followed by a rebound to the level of $185. Ripple (XRP/USD) briefly approached the horizon of 0.4140, and litecoin (LTH/USD) came close to 40.00, after which the market calmed down a bit, and these pairs played back about 8%.

 

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. The pair reached the upper limit of the downward channel, which began almost two months ago, on September 24 this year. And despite the fact that both trend indicators and oscillators on D1 took a neutral position, about 70% of experts predict the pair to bounce from this border and to further go down. The nearest support is at 1.1300, the next one is 85 points lower, at the level of 2018 low, 1.1215.
    An alternative scenario assumes the rise of the pair to the level 1.1450-1.1550. However, this is likely to be a temporary correction, after which the dollar will continue to grow and the pair will fall. The market is almost certain that in December the US Federal Reserve will raise the interest rate, after which there will be several more increases in 2019, which is a decisive factor for the further strengthening of the US currency;

Forex Forecast and Cryptocurrencies Forecast for November 19-23, 20181

  • GBP/USD. The future of this pair depends on the situation with Brexit. And the forecasts for the British currency are not the most comforting, despite the fact that the pound managed to play back its losses a little at the end of last week. A meeting of EU leaders on an agreement with the UK will be convened on November 25. But it is obvious that this week the pound will continue to be under pressure due to disagreements in the British government and to an unclear reaction of the British Parliament to what is happening. Taking these factors into consideration, 70% of analysts expect the pair to fall. The nearest support is in the 1.2700 zone, the next one is the 2018 low. at the level of 1.2660.
    As for the further movement of the pair, according to 55% of experts, it will move in the side channel in the range of 1.2660-1.3200 with Pivot Point in the area of 1.2950 until the end of the year;  
  • USD/JPY. Concerning the future of this pair, the opinions of experts, as has often been the case lately, have split almost equally: 45% voted for the pair’s growth, 45% - for its fall, and 10% took a neutral position.
    As for the indicators, the vast majority is colored red. However, almost 15% of the oscillators signal that the pair is oversold, which may indicate its upward correction.
    As for the graphical analysis, it points to the growth to the level of 113.10 and the subsequent fall to the level of 111.85 on H4, and on D1 - a lateral movement in the channel 112.65-114.20;
  • Cryptocurrencies. At the moment there are two versions of the forecast: a neutral one and ... a very bad one.
    The neutral forecast is most likely, when the market takes time out, trying to comprehend what happened last week and what consequences this may have. In this case, the top pairs will fluctuate in the range between the lows of the previous week and the highs of Friday, November 16.
    The worst (from the bulls' point of view) scenario assumes that Bitcoin will move to the level of $5,000, after the breakdown of which, most likely, massive panic sales will begin, not only of the reference cryptocurrency, but also of most altcoins. In this case, it is possible that after some time we will see the bitcoin quotes around the support of $3,000.

 

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.


« Market Analysis and News
Receive
Training
New to the market? Make use of the “Getting Started” section. Start Training
Follow Us