Forex Today: First Bitcoin ETF Launches Today

Bitcoin has continued to rise to $63k after making its highest ever weekly close last Friday. The two leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Bitcoin and Ethereum, are performing strongly with Bitcoin having less than $2k to exceed its record high made last April. Bitcoin bulls look to be ready to push the price up to challenge $65k, which may be boosted by today’s debut of the first Bitcoin ETF on the market by ProShares which will provide exposure to Bitcoin futures.

Crude Oil reached another new multi-year high price yesterday just below $84 before making a minor dip then recovering. The bullish momentum is strong and persistent and we are likely to see yet higher prices over the coming days, although there is a key resistance level not far ahead at $84.07.

In the Forex market, the Australian dollar is the strongest currency right now while the US dollar and the Japanese yen are the weakest major currencies. The AUD has been boosted by the RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes which were just released although there is no obvious reason for this, with the Bank pledging not to hike rates until inflation has stabilized between 2% to 3% annualized and to retain an extremely accommodative monetary policy. The AUD/USD currency pair is now trading at a 5-week high price.

The USD/JPY currency pair remains near its 3-year high and looks somewhat likely to hit still higher prices over the coming days. If the 115.00 area is hit we may well see a pause or reversal there.

The USD/TRY currency pair is continuing to advance strongly to new record highs every day.

Last week saw the eighth consecutive weekly fall in global new confirmed coronavirus cases.

It is estimated that 47.6% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination.

Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 241.9 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.03%.

The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Armenia, Australia, Barbados, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Ukraine.