The bitcoin over $10,000? (2)

Indeed, the ethereum also recorded its highest value in history - at a level of $485 on Sunday.
The only one of the main cryptocurrencies, which is significantly behind its height, is the ripple. The cryptocurrency are traded at levels of $0.245 per share, and are nearly 50% below the highest in its history.
Coinbase, the largest US pound exchange, added more than 100,000 accounts between Wednesday and Friday, just before the Black Friday. The total number of accounts is already at a level of 13.1 million.
For comparison, the Coinbase Exchange had about 4.9 million users last November.
The rallying of the bitcoin is undoubtedly related to the CME's plans to present futures on the bitcoin in the second week of December. Until then, there is still a long time, so it is quite possible that the psychological limit of $10,000 will be even overcome.

The bitcoin over $10,000? (1)

The bitcoin follows its plan, and apparently nothing can stop it on its way to $10,000. On the first day of the new week, the cryptocurrency reached a new historic peak at levels above $9500.
So it is only about 5 percent growth to rise to $10,000. A level that hardly anyone could imagine at the beginning of the year, when the cryptocurrency was trading well over $1,000.
In other words, the bitcoin has risen nearly 9.5 times since the beginning of the year and is undoubtedly one of the most expensive assets in the financial markets at all. Of course, if it comes to profitability, that of the ethereum and the ripple are far higher.
It should not be forgotten, however, that the bitcoin is the main and largest cryptocurrency, whose market capitalization accounts for more than 50% of the total of the crypto currencies.
On Sunday, the bitcoin rose for the first time to more than $9,000, reaching $9,250.
As a result, the market capitalization exceeded the $150 billion psychological limit. For comparison, the second largest market capitalization cryptocurrency - the ethereum is with a market capitalization of 44 billion dollars.

Gold with a six-week high yesterday, tested $1,300

The price of gold has fallen today, albeit keeping close to its highest level in six weeks since yesterday's session. This happened after Powell initiated a further raise in interest rates before the Trump Senate Tax Reform vote.
The spot price of gold lost 0.1% of its value to a level of $1,293 per ounce. Yesterday, gold reached a momentum of $1,299 per ounce, or the highest level since October 16.
According to political analysts, North Korea may be preparing to launch new ballistic missiles soon. Such actions would have a positive impact on the price of gold.
Gold is also very sensitive to the interest rates and the US Dollar exchange rate. Traditionally, it is cheaper when the dollar strengthens, or more aggressive on interest rises.
Speculators have lowered their long positions in gold and silver futures in the week to November 21.

Oil will drop after OPEC meeting?

Comments on the OPEC meeting sent the price of the Brent upward over the past week, but hedge funds saw a good opportunity to reduce their exposure to oil.
The latter cut their bullish bets on the Brent, taking advantage of the raw material growth.
Forecasts have shown that it is possible for the price of oil to fall significantly after the OPEC meeting, similar to what happened earlier this year.
The Brent is traded close to its highest value in two years before the OPEC meeting, which will be held on 30 November in Vienna. The Cartel and Russia are expected to extend their production cuts by the end of next year.
According to market observers, however, OPEC and Russia are still working on smoothing the conditions for the future continuation of the current conditions.
Market participants still remember what happened in May before the OPEC meeting. Oil futures rose 10% before the decision after which the price dropped seriously after disclosure of the redundancies.
Still, there are still many investors who believe that oil can continue to rise, at least until the OPEC meeting.

ActivTrades: MetaTrader4

ActivTrades offers to its clients MetaTrader4 - one of the most popular and reliable trading platforms in the world.
The desktop version of MetaTrader provides real-time quotes, sophisticated graphics with varied image tools, multiple indicators and trading experts, and many more.
MetaTrader 4 Web is the browser version of MetaTrader that does not require download or program installation. With MetaTrader 4 Web, customers can trade virtually from any computer or tablet when the device is connected to the Internet.
ActivTrades' mobile platform is characterized by its speed, a variety of features and high performance. Respond quickly to market movements and watch for a few tools at once, wherever and whenever you like.
Open up your account now and enjoy fast and safe trade.
One account, Many ways to trade.

For more information,  visit here.

Gold returns after its growth yesterday

The price of gold fell on Thursday after investors were taking their profits. The noble metal added nearly 1% the previous session, after weaker than expected data on the US economy and the Fed's fears about inflation.
Investors have lowered their expectations of the number of interest rises next year after Yellen said aggressive interest rates could further exacerbate inflation. The latter is still below the target of 2%.
Still, expectations are for another rise in interest rates in December, which continues to weigh above the price of precious metal. It trades in a relatively narrow range so far between $1,265 and $1,290.
According to technical analysts, only an increase of more than $1,300 could lead to further growth of the precious metal.
The spot price of gold lost 0.2% of its value to levels of $1,290 per ounce earlier this morning.
Gold futures with delivery in December fell 0.2 percent to $1 289.80 per ounce.
Gold may test support at $1 283 per ounce.

The euro confirms its status as a "rescue island" (2)

Eurozone interest rates are still close to their record low, and the euro has to break the psychological limit of $1.20.
However, the general attitudes of the market are that the ECB will hardly be able to find justification in order to continue to maintain its incentives for the economy.
At the end of last week, Mario Draghi said wages should start rising, which would help inflation to move to the target of 2%.
For the last week, the euro rose by more than 1% to $1.1795. Bloomberg analysts' expectations are for levels of 1.22 dollars per euro next year and 1.25 dollars in 2019.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted that the euro would rise to 1.20 over the next 12 months.

The euro confirms its status as a "rescue island" (1)

The European currency, which just a few years ago was synonymous with political instability and speculated whether it would ever exists, attracts a large number of buyers at a time when risky assets around the world are being sold out.
Part of this is predetermined by the focus on "rescue assets" and the improving state of the euro area economy and inflation.
The rise of the euro is a reality, despite the "backwards direction" of the ECB's incentives. Mario Draghi has said several times that we need to see inflation first before a more serious normalization of interest rate policy.
And while investors do not plan to raise interest rates from the ECB, at least until 2019, according to experts, improving the economic situation on the "old continent" is hard to ignore.

The US dollar and the US indices ended Friday with declines

The US dollar ended the last day of last week with a loss, in line with the US indices. The latter ended at their lowest values ​​for the day as a result of skepticism about Trump's tax reform.
Interest on US government bonds declined as well as those in 10-year German bonds, as a consequence of risk exclusion on the part of investors.
Good data on US home construction in October raised investor stakes for further interest rates, at the Fed meeting in December.
The dollar index fell 0.28%, with the euro adding 0.2% to 1.1793 at the end of last week.
The blue Dow Jones Industrial Average index lost 100.12 points, or 0.43% to 23,358.24 points, while the S&P 500 fell 6.79 points, or 0.26% to 2 578.85 points. Technological Nasdaq Composite lost 10.5 points, or 0.15% to 6 782.79 points.
Two-year interest on US bonds reached a new nine-year high at 1.73%.

The bitcoin already exceeds $8,000

The cost of the bitcoin continued upwards and apparently nothing could stop it. The cryptocurrency has reached a new psychological level - $8,000 per number and rose momentarily to $8,300.
More and more experts are starting to think that the bitcoin is heading for the $10,000 psychological limit, and nothing can stop it on his way. The question that fewer ask, however, is - What will happen if and when the bitcoin reaches this limit?
Thus, the market capitalization of the bitcoin is approaching 140 billion dollars, and the total of all the cryptocurrencies is now about 240 billion dollars.
Bitcoin's dominance in the world of cryptocurrencies also increased over the past few days, reaching over 56% after the strong appreciation of bitcoin cash contributed to a violation of that domination.
Bitcoin cash went down to its peak last week and traded at about $1,200, or about 50% below its highest price.
While appreciating of the bitcoin cash of over four hundred percent for about a week was "staggering," according to many experts, yet many people are not aware that the bitcoin cash and bitcoin are two different things.

Oil pulled the US indices down

US indices dropped yesterday, driven by oil price losses for the fourth consecutive day. This has led to a drop in the shares of energy companies. In addition, investors continue to worry about the lack of presentation of tax reforms.
This has begun to increase speculation whether reforms will meet the analysts' increased expectations.
The fall in oil prices came after the surprise growth in oil and petroleum stocks last week.
Metal prices also fell due to fears about the state of the Chinese economy and the possibility of slowing significantly.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by nearly 95 points and the S&P 500 lost 9.3 points.
The volatility index reached a two-month high at 14.51 points.
Financial shares were among the few profitable, and they are expected to benefit from the potential rise in interest rates next month.

Did the oil reach its peak?

Oil fell yesterday as prospects for further rising of raw material prices met with expectations of a rise in US production. The US producers seem to increase their production in light of the recent rise in the price of "black gold."
Brent futures are at a level of $62.94 a barrel, or a decline of 22 cents, or 0.35% since their last closing. US crude oil lost 14 cents to $56.62 a barrel.
Decline became a reality after oil reached its highest levels since 2015 in the past week. Since then, however, the raw material has lost some moment in its movement.
US production has risen by more than 14 percent since mid-2016 to a record 9.62 million barrels per day.
From the beginning of the year to the present, the average price of the Brent is at a level of 54.5 dollars per barrel.
Many traders forecast for a drop in oil prices from now on, following expectations of further US production growth.
OPEC has raised its forecast for next year's demand growth of 360,000 barrels a day, against previous expectations in July.

German economy in great shape

The German economy reported a 0.6% growth in its GDP in the third quarter. This was accelerating the rise in the economy compared to the second quarter of the year. The result responded to the average market expectations.
At the same time, the growth of Italy's economy also rose to 0.5%, according to the forecast.
All this leads investors to expect that the eurozone economy will maintain its robust growth performance since the beginning of the year and in the third quarter.
The data triggered an increase of the euro against other major currencies. The single currency returned to more than 1.1700, trading on peaks at 1.1720 levels. The rise in the euro, after the results, amounted to 0.4%.
The ECB, of course, did not miss the opportunity to underline its function of the observed growth, saying that the measures taken to repurchase assets began to produce its results and was "extremely successful", according to vice-president Vitor Constanceo.
Now, investors are rising expectations that the ECB will resort to further action to normalize its monetary policy at upcoming meetings.

Gold slows down its decline

Gold fell on Friday after interest on US bonds rose. Losses, however, were limited by the weakness of the stock market and the dollar, which declined due to the uncertainty surrounding the US tax reform.
Increases in US bond interest rates have put pressure on gold, reducing the attractiveness of the metal.
The spot price of gold fell 0.7 percent to 1 275.6 dollars per ounce at the end of the week. It reached the highest value of $1,288 on Thursday, prompting analysts and traders to talk again at $1,300 or even more.
However, it was quickly overcome on Friday and almost all of the growth was offset.
Gold futures with delivery in December fell by 13.3 dollars, or 1% to 1 274.20 dollars per ounce.

ActivTrades: Commodities Trading

With ActivTrades you have access to global financial markets and can trade goods and raw materials at competitive spreads.
Margins on opening a position with ActivTrades are lower than those required for a standard futures contract with a leverage of up to 1:400.
CFD (contracts for difference) on commodities and raw materials have validity and there are no fees to transfer position.

For more information,  visit here.

The Australian Bank kept interest rates, sent the Australian dollar down

The Australian Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low for the 14th time.
However, this may soon change, given the central bank's forecast for a 3% growth over the next few years and a fall in unemployment from its current levels at 5.5%.
Far more cautious, however, was the tone of the central bank in terms of consumption and inflation.
For the last time, the Australian bank lowered interest rates in August 2016 in order to protect itself against the risk of deflation. The Bank is still facing serious difficulties in returning consumer price growth back to levels of 2-3%.
Inflation rose to only 1.8% in the third quarter of the year, but even this looks pretty high in the short term.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), built-in inflation is actually about 1.6%.
The futures market does not expect an increase in interest rates in Australia until early 2019. All of this reflects extremely negatively on the Australian dollar, which dropped to 0.7636 against the US or its lowest value since the beginning of July.

What's on Forex Today?

The third day of the week will begin with data on China's imports, exports and trade balance. The latter is expected to recover from $ 28.5 to $ 29.5 billion in October.
Early in the morning, forecast data for leading and matched indicators will be exported from Japan.
The first data from Europe will relate to France's current account and trade balance.
Followed by industrial production in Spain, which is projected to grow by 2.5% yoy in September.
At 11:30, the Polish central bank's decision on interest rates will happen. It is expected to remain at 1.5% yoy.
The first US data will be related to the MBA index for mortgage credit applications, followed by the results for home construction and construction permits in Canada, as well as US oil reserves.
The day will end with New Zealand's central bank decision on interest rates. It is expected to be maintained at a level of 1.75% on an annual basis.

Gold returns some of its glitter

Gold went back above $ 1,270 per ounce yesterday after stabilizing in the dollar. This led to a recovery in interest in the precious metal after a third consecutive week of decline.
But the price is still under pressure from expectations of a new Fed interest rate increase next month.
The spot price of gold was trading early this morning at $ 1,278 per ounce, while metal futures with delivery in December rose to $ 1,280 per ounce.
The dollar stabilized on Monday after its biggest weekly rise this year.
The fact that Trump is on a visit to Asia can re-focus North Korea to support the price of the noble metal, according to market observers.
Gold has fallen over the past weeks, back by 2.5 percent of its peak in mid-October, with Fed rising expectations for a further rise in interest rates in December.

The Trump Rally is the fourth best since the 1936's

Since the election of Donald Trump as president last November, the US indices enjoyed a very good performance.
And while the growth of over 20% for the S & P 500 index and 30% for the Dow blue chip index, sending indexes to new records is far from being their best performance compared to modern US presidents.
According to data from the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, the rise in US elections after Trump's election victory is the fourth best since 1936. With a better performance for such a period of election victory, the markets were distinct during presidents George Bush, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton.
The market rally after Clinton's 1996 election victory raises the S & P 500 from nearly 30% a year and over 50% over the next 24 months. This is the biggest rise after a presidential election victory.
It can also be argued about the motives behind the growth of the market. To a large extent, the current one is predetermined by the hopes for tax reforms that will mainly ease major US corporations.
However, as Goldman mentions, shares of companies that are expected to benefit most from tax reform have been worse off the market as a whole this year.
In addition, there are warnings, including from the US Treasury Secretary, that if the tax reform is not adopted, we may see a substantial fall in stock prices.

OPEC starts talking about $70 a barrel

At a meeting in May, several oil ministers from OPEC countries spoke positively of a $50 oil price. This, however, is unlikely to happen at the upcoming cartel meeting. With rising raw materials in recent weeks, the "fair price" for oil will probably rise for the cartel countries.
The Brent, which has been rising since June, has already breached the psychological level of $ 60 a barrel for the first time since July 2015.
According to OPEC, the fair price for oil is almost always slightly above the current price. So by crossing the $ 60 limit, no wonder this fair price would be $ 70 a barrel.
At the end of October, the Qatari energy minister said oil is moving in the right direction, even in a pricing environment of about $ 60. According to Venezuela, the "fair price" of oil is $ 70 a barrel, while according to Iraq these are between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel.
From Russia, however, they are already showing signs of anxiety over the too rapid and sharp rise in oil prices. According to them, levels of 60 dollars would be justified and a good reward for the production cuts in which Russia is also involved.

Weak property growth in the UK

Property prices in the UK maintain their weak growth in October this year. Compared to the same month last year, properties rose by 2.5%. The range of raise is similar to that of the beginning of the year.
The rise in property prices in the UK has slowed down significantly over the past year as a result of the uncertainty associated with BREXIT.
Property grew by 0.2% on a monthly basis, which was a serious slowdown compared to the first half of the year.
Low interest rates and steady levels of employment give some relief to the demand for real estate.
On the other hand, the uncertainty associated with BREXIT and the conditions for leaving the Union can be factors that aggravate the situation for the property market.
The decision of the central bank this week to raise interest rates may have a further negative impact on the properties.
Property buyers and mortgage lenders are already adjusting their finances in a line that fits the interest rate hike.

US indexes with new records, Fed hinted at a December rate hike

Fully expected, Fed retained interest rates yesterday after the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee. This led to a rise for US indices, with the S&P 500 broad index closed up by 0.16%, to 2 579.36 points.
The Dow Jones blue chip index rose by 140 points at one point, but eventually ended with an increase of 57 points to a level of 23,435 points.
Technological Nasdaq lagged behind its performance, down by 0.2 percent to 6,716.53 points, driven by a 1.3 percent decline in Apple's stock.
Fed responded to the average market expectations and kept the interest rate unchanged. Only 1.5% of analysts forecasted higher interest rates. But the Fed has left the door open for December's interest rate hike. Expectations for this are already nearly 100%, according to CME's FedWatch.

The bitcoin takes one-third of Bill Miller's fund

Former Legg Mason's hedge fund manager, Bill Miller, manages a fund about one-third of whose assets are invested in bitcoins, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Miller's fund MVP 1 earned 72.5% from the beginning of the year, thanks to the bitcoin, bought average by 3500 dollars.
For comparison, yesterday, the bitcoin was traded at $6,100, or Miller's investment yielded a 1 600% return.
Miller, however, advises investors not to buy the cryptocurrency at its current high levels. This despite the fact that its fund has raised its investment by 5%, up to 30% in the bitcoin.
Portfolio manager has a good history. While managing one of the Legg Mason funds, he managed to beat the broad S&P 500 index for 15 consecutive years until 2005. Miller left the company in August 2016, after a career spanning 35 years.
Miller said he would not buy more bitcoins for his fund at current prices, but advised anyone who does not have cryptocurrency to invest 1% of his liquid funds there.
For comparison, since the beginning of the year, the broad S&P 500 index has risen by about 15%. The index, following the hedge fund performance, added 5.9% by the end of the third quarter.
The strong appreciation of bitcoin attracts more and more funds that invest in them. The number of funds investing in digital currencies has already risen to 124.