CEX.IO company blog | Weekly summary (March 22-28): Bitcoin stabilized in a range despite bearish sentiment

Alexander Yanyuk, CEX.IO Broker finance expert comments:

Last week, investorswere nervous, because starting from Monday, onThe markets were predominantly depressed. Oil, which a few weeks ago quite confidently tried to test the value of $70 per barrel, was trading in the range of $60-65 with a tendency to decline. Energy quotes were slightly revived by the traffic jam in the Suez Canal, due to which ships with more than 10 million barrels of oil on board were stuck. At the end of the week, Brent quotes were trading at $64.43. Gold showed very sluggish dynamics; quotes of the precious metal have been near the level of $1,731 for a long time. It is important to note that investors are in no hurry to leave the main safe haven, as the sword of Damocles of the pandemic continues to hang over the world.

Foreign exchange markets plunged intowave of sales. European currencies have come under intense pressure due to concerns about the prospects for combating the coronavirus. Despite the fact that the governments of leading countries are pouring in huge amounts of money to keep their national economies afloat, this does not reassure market participants. And investors now view aid packages, most likely, as a temporary measure, which in the future may uncontrollably inflate inflation, which is also a significant disadvantage. The Russian ruble fixed at 75.66 per US dollar at auction last Friday. However, during the week the national currency of the Russian Federation reached 77. The euro ended last week at 89.25 rubles, thus returning to the range of 89-91. In our opinion, the risks for the ruble are shifted towards its further decline. Also, the quotes of the Russian currency are quite sensitive to the behavior of oil, which is still feeling extremely insecure.

In the cryptocurrency market, the bears tried againto seize the initiative, however, at the end of last week, most crypto assets returned to the previously established ranges. According to the CEX.IO exchange, on Sunday the BTC/USD pair was trading near the 55.483 level, while the BTC/RUB pair held at 4,252,524. At the end of the week, Ethereum was trading at $1,692. The negativity at the beginning of last week was associated with the winning back of the negative position of the US authorities regarding Bitcoin. However, as shown by the example of Turkey, where on Turkish exchanges Bitcoin quotes in terms of dollar equivalent reached values ​​above $90,000, investors and society tend to trust digital assets. In Turkey, we recall that the sharp increase in BTC was associated with a collapse of the lira by 17%. On global markets, sellers at the moment tried to take BTC/USD quotes below $50,000, but fell into a “bearish trap”, since technical factors alone were not enough to provoke a reversal of the bullish trend. There are no strong fundamental factors for global decline in the market at the moment. We continue to maintain a positive outlook for cryptocurrencies, but we believe that until the end of March, Bitcoin and Ethereum will show predominantly sideways dynamics within established ranges.

Dynamics of assets for the period March 22-28:

— Brent oil fell from $64.55 to $64.43 (-0.18%)
— Gold decreased from $1,743 to $1,731 (-0.69%)
— The USD/RUB pair rose from 74.12 to 75.66 (+2.07/%)
— The EUR/RUB pair rose from 88.22 to 89.25 (+1.17%)
— Bitcoin fell from $58,097 to $55,483 (-4.5%)
— Ethereum decreased from $1,804 to $1,692 (-6.21%)