Last Week’s Market Wrap

Cryptocurrencies came from a bearish week, as markets were preparing for more rate hikes from the FED, while the Ethereum Merge couldn’t improve the sentiment in the crypto market. Last week the bearish sentiment continued, although it wasn’t that strong. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75% for the third time, which kept the risk sentiment negative in the financial markets and cryptocurrencies remained bearish.

The Swiss Central Bank also raised interest rates by 75 bps (basis points), followed by the Bank of England which delivered the 6th rate hike, this time by 0.50%, while the Bank of Japan intervened in the forex market by buying the JPY. So, there was a lot of central banks action last week, although the decline might be close to over as the selling pressure is easing.

This Week’s Market Expectations

This week the USD is expected to remain on a bullish trend again, as the FED is expected to keep raising interest rates, which besides hurting the risk sentiment for cryptocurrencies, it pushes the USD up against crypto coins. We heard over the weekend that Nasdaq is placing a big bet on cryptocurrencies, with the launch of a digital assets unit, called Nasdaq Digital Assets, which will offer custody services for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. This is positive news for cryptocurrencies, but at the moment the sentiment remains mildly bearish.

Crypto Signals Update

Last week we closed two crypto signals, with the Ethereum signal closing automatically, while we closed the Ripple signal manually, although the price of the XRP/USD has exceeded the take profit level we had set. We also opened a buy signal in Bitcoin, which continued to remain open as the price continues to hover below $20,000.

 The 50 SMA Provided Resistance for BITCOIN

Bitcoin has continued to make lower highs since reversing from around $22,500 earlier this month, after the launch of the Ethereum Merge. Last week, the selling pressure remained as highs kept getting lower, with the 50 SMA (yellow) acting as resistance on the H4 chart. We decided to open a buy signal around $19,000 though, which remains open this week.

BTC/USD – Daily chart

 

LITECOIN

Remains Uncertain

LTC/USD also remained bearish until June. In the last three days, we have seen a reversal as both Ripple Labs and SEC are pushing for a quick ruling over the case, which traders thought might go in favour of Ripple, hence the bullish momentum. On Monday we saw a reversal lower after buyers failed to push above $0.40, but the buying resumed and yesterday XRP was trying to overcome the 200 daily SMA (purple) as it approached $0.50.

LTC/USD – Daily chart