Because of the hammer pattern, the pair will likely continue rising as bulls target the key resistance level at 1.0480.

Bullish View

• Buy the EUR/USD pair and set a take-profit at 1.0480.
• Add a stop-loss at 1.0375.
• Timeline: 1-2 days.

Bearish View

• Set a sell-stop at 1.0400 and a take-profit at 1.0350.
• Add a stop-loss at 1.04600.

The EUR/USD volatility rose after last Friday’s strong Eurozone consumer inflation data. The pair dropped to a low of 1.0366, which was the lowest level since June 15th of this year. It remains about 3.3% below the highest level in June this year.

European Inflation Surging

The EUR/USD pair saw elevated levels of volatility after Eurostat published the latest consumer inflation data on Friday. The numbers revealed that the bloc’s inflation soared to a record high in June as the cost of energy remained at an elevated level.

The headline consumer inflation data surge to 8.6% in June from 8.1% in May of this year. This increase was higher than the median estimate of 8.5%. Countries like France, Italy, and Spain published record inflation numbers during the week. At the same time, inflation in Germany declined slightly due to fuel tax cuts and public transport discounts, which are temporary.

These numbers came a few days after the European Commission said that consumer confidence has dropped sharply in the past few months. At the same time, many companies in the bloc like Zalando, Volkswagen, and BMW have reported a sharp decline in sales in the past few quarters.

Therefore, the ECB is in a difficult situation as it faces criticism of letting inflation surge substantially above the target of 2.0%. Analysts expect that the bank will deliver its first interest rate hike in over a decade this month. The base case is that the bank will hike by 0.25% although many analysts expect it to hike by 0.50%.

There will be several important economic data from Europe on Monday. Germany will publish the latest trade numbers while Eurostat will deliver the latest producer price index (PPI) data from the region. Analysts expect the data to show that producer inflation surged to 36.7% in June.

EUR/USD Forecast

The four-hour chart shows that the EUR/USD pair made a strong bearish breakout last week. As this happened, the pair formed a hammer pattern, which is usually a bullish sign. The pair is slightly below the important leve at 1.0450, which was the lowest level on June 17th. It is also below the 25-day and 50-day moving averages.

Therefore, because of the hammer pattern, the pair will likely continue rising as bulls target the key resistance level at 1.0480. A drop below the support at 1.0385 will invalidate the bullish view.

The pair will likely keep rising as bulls target the first resistance level at 1.2450.

Bullish View

• Buy the GBP/USD and set a take-profit at 1.2450.
• Add a stop-loss at 1.2150.
• Timeline: 1-2 days.

Bearish View

• Set a sell-stop at 1.2170 and a take-profit at 1.2100.
• Add a stop-loss at 1.2250.

The GBP/USD price tilted upwards after the latest UK consumer price index data and testimony by Jerome Powell, the Fed Chair. It is trading at 1.2283, which is slightly above this week’s low of 1.2162.

BOE in a Fix

The GBP/USD price rose slightly after the latest inflation data from the UK. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the country’s consumer inflation rose to a multi-decade high of 9.1%. This was the highest level that consumer prices have surged in over 40 years.

The country’s inflation was driven by the soaring food and energy prices. Indeed, excluding the two, the country’s inflation declined from 6.2% to 5.9%. Analysts were expecting this inflation to drop to 6.0%.

Analysts expect that the country’s inflation will keep rising in the coming months. The Bank of England expects that inflation will rise to over 10% in the next few months.

Therefore, the Bank of England is in a fix considering that the country is now in a period of stagflation. Stagflation is a period when slow economic growth is accompanied by high inflation. As such, hiking interest rates as the BOE has pledged, will have a negative impact on the UK economy.

The GBP/USD pair also rose after the latest testimony by Jerome Powell. In his statement, Powell said that the bank will continue hiking interest rates until it sees that inflation was falling to its target at 2%. He also warned that these hikes will likely lead to a recession. Powell’s testimony will continue on Monday.

Investors will also focus on the latest flash manufacturing and services PMI data. Analysts expect the data to show that the UK and US PMIs remained above 50 even as the cost of doing business soared.

GBP/USD Forecast

The GBP/USD pair formed a small hammer pattern on Wednesday. The lower side of this hammer pattern was at 1.2165, which was the lowest level in May. The pair is along the 25-day and 50-day moving averages. It has also moved slightly above the Woodie pivot point that is shown in blue while the Stochastic Oscillator has moved slightly above the neutral point.

Therefore, the pair will likely keep rising as bulls target the first resistance level at 1.2450. A drop below the key support at 1.2160 will invalidate the bullish view.

The BTC/USD pair has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few days. 

Bullish view

• Buy the BTC/USD pair and set a take-profit at 31,000.
• Add a stop-loss at 28,000.
• Timeline: 1 day.

Bearish view

• Set a sell-stop at 28,900 and a take-profit at 26,000.
• Add a stop-loss at 31,000.

The BTC/USD pair stabilized during the weekend as investors went bottom fishing in the cryptocurrencies and tech industries. The pair is trading at 30,000, which is higher than last week’s low of 25,304.

Buying the dip

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had one of the most difficult weeks on record. Their prices declined sharply as panicked investors sold their holdings. The biggest catalyst for the crypto meltdown was the collapse of Terra, the blockchain platform that created Terra USD.

LUNA, which was recently trading above $120 dropped to below $0.0002. This made it the biggest collapse in the blockchain industry considering that it had a market cap of over $64 billion.

Behind the scenes, Terra’s technology was used to build multiple DeFi platforms like Anchor protocol and Lido that had over $30 billion in assets at their peak. Therefore, the BTC/USD pair declined as investors continued to fear about the risks of contagion in the industry.

The BTC/USD pair is now rising following the strong performance of American tech stocks last week. The Nasdaq 100 index outperformed the S&P 500 as investors bought the dip. Some of the top tech stocks that did extremely well were companies like Affirm and Robinhood. In the past few months, there have been a close correlation between tech stocks and Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, investors are continuing to invest in blockchain companies. For example, during the weekend, Goldman Sachs and Barclays announced that they had invested in Elwood Technologies, a company that was started by billionaire Allan Howard. Similarly, Sam Bankman of FTX decided to invest in Robinhood. This is a sign that the two companies could decide to partner or merge.

BTC/USD Forecast

The BTC/USD pair has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few days. A closer look at the chart shows that the pair formed a hammer pattern on May 12th. In price action analysis, this pattern is usually a bullish sign.

A closer look also shows that it has formed a small head and shoulders pattern. It is also slightly below the 25-day and 50-day moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved to the neutral level at 50.

Therefore, the pair will likely continue this relief rally as investors target the key resistance level at 31,000. A move below the support at 28,000 will invalidate the bullish view.

On the upside, the target at this point would be to revisit the $200 level.

ZCash has fallen initially during the trading session on Thursday to reach the $159.50 level before turning around and forming a bit of a hammer. The hammer is preceded by a neutral candlestick, which was preceded by a pullback. At this point, the market looks as if it is trying to recover after a short-term pullback, which is especially interesting as we had broken higher for a couple of months. This pullback has been healthy, and it looks as if ZCash is ready to turn things around.

The 50 Day EMA and the 200 Day EMA both sit below and offer a certain amount of support. We had recently formed the so-called “golden cross”, which of course is something that longer-term traders will pay attention to for bullish pressure. This market looks as if it is trying to recover right along with the rest of crypto, as it has followed Bitcoin. Bitcoin leads the rest of them, and as Bitcoin is recovering, we have seen several altcoins follow right along, including this one.

If the risk appetite in markets continues to increase, it can help the idea of these smaller crypto markets rally. That being said, if we do get some type of major “risk-off” type of situation, then it is possible that the ZCash market will fall right along with the rest of them. If we break down below the moving averages below, then it would be a very negative turn of events and could open up the possibility of ZCash dropping to the $120 level.

On the upside, the target at this point would be to revisit the $200 level, an area that has a lot of psychological importance, and an area that has pushed ZCash back down from there, suggesting that perhaps the market will try to break through that resistance barrier. There is a shooting star that formed right at that level about two weeks ago, and if we can break above the top of that level, it is likely that the ZCash market will go looking to reach the $250 level. All things being equal, the only thing that will matter is that there is a lot of volatility, so you need to be very cautious about your position size, and then you need to pay attention to the overall attitude of crypto and the US dollar.