Forex Signals Brief June 16: ECB Hikes Rates to 4.00%, USD Falls

Yesterday’s Market Wrap

Yesterday started with the USD on a light bullish path during the Asian and most of the European session, coming after the FED paused rate hikes on Wednesday evening. Although, the future path implies more rate hikes as the dot plot showed, which was keeping the USD in demand.

But the situation reversed when the US session started and the USD went more than 130 pips lower across the board despite positive Empire State Manufacturing Index and retail sales numbers from the US. The European Central Bank went and did its thing, raising rates by 25 bps again, which was widely anticipated, so it didn’t have much impact on markets.

Today’s Market Expectations

Today we had another major central bank event, as Bank of Japan meeting got going early this morning. They weren’t expected to change interest rates as inflation remains under control in Japan, so the meeting didn’t produce much, unlike the FED and ECB meetings earlier this week. Later we have the final CPI consumer inflation numbers for May from te Eurozone, with the Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment to close the week.

Forex Signals Update

Yesterday the volatility was decent, with the USD entering a bearish phase. That caught us on the wring side of the trade since the USD was making gains following the FED meeting, but we reversed course and made some good profit later, ending up with four winning forex signals and two losing ones.

GOLD Returns to the 100 SMA

Gold has been experiencing a bearish trend for over a month now, and its price has fallen below the moving averages on the H4 chart. These moving averages have turned into resistance levels, preventing the price from gaining upward momentum. Despite a slight easing of selling pressure in the past three weeks, gold buyers have been unable to reverse the trend and sellers have consistently returned. Yesterday we had one winning and a losing Gold signal.

XAU/USD – H4 chart

USD/JPY Makes A New High for the Year

USD/JPY continues to remain bullish and yesterday we saw buyers make another run for the upside, when they pushed the price to 141.50. But, the USD turned bearish suddenly and this pair reversed lower, although we decided to open a buy USD/JPY signal ahead of the Bank of Japan meeting.

USD/JPY – 240 minute chart

Cryptocurrency Update

BITCOIN Dipping Below $25,000

Bitcoin has experienced a bearish phase for the past two months, with prices making lower lows after a bullish period in the first quarter. However, the overall trend for Bitcoin remains bullish. The cryptocurrency slipped to the 100-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) multiple times, and this level had been acting as a reliable support. However, on Monday, the support of the 100 SMA was finally broken following the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing charges against Binance. On Tuesday, we observed a reversal in Bitcoin’s price, pushing it higher and reclaiming a position above the 100 SMA. As a result, our “buy” signal for Bitcoin at the 100-period SMA hit SL below $25,000 before the price reversed back up.

BTC/USD – Daily chart

ETHEREUM Buy Signals Hitting SL After the FED Meeting

In recent weeks, the selling pressure for Ethereum has increased, resulting in a decline in its price over the past few days. It appears that the correction reached its completion point, as the 100-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) represented by the green line was holding as support for ETH/USD, but it was broken on Saturday and now sellers seem in control.