gold market

Gold Market

Gold price declined to a fresh six-day low below USD$1,920. At the time of writing, XAU/USD was down 0.6% on the day at USD$1,918.50. On Wednesday, XAU/USD climbed toward $1,950 before making a sharp U-turn in the late American session. The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but signalled rates would stay high next year, which helped to push the U.S. dollar sharply higher.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England went against the market expectation of a 25-bps rate hike and held its policy rate steady at 5.25%. The sharp decline seen in GBP/USD after this decision highlighted that the USD managed to capture capital outflows out of Pound Sterling. In turn, the USD gathered additional strength and caused XAU/USD to decline further.

Crypto Markets

The price of bitcoin has retreated to around USD$26,850, moving lower from Wednesday’s peak near USD$27,300 after the Federal Reserve Bank kept interest rates unchanged but signaled that borrowing costs are to be increased again. The largest digital asset thus returns to the zone around $26,000 and has defined the period of stagnant activity for more than a month with historically low volatility and trading volumes contributing to a lull in crypto markets.

Ethereum Price corrected lower from the USD$1,670 resistance against the U.S. dollar. On September 19, the total value staked in Ethereum 2.0 contracts crossed 30 million ETH for the first time since. On-Chain data reveals the Feds paused announcement may have triggered the bullish response among Ethereum investors.

The fundamentals within the crypto market, especially for Bitcoin, continue to improve. The number of Bitcoin addresses holding more than 1 BTC is steadily increasing. Nearly 30% of Bitcoin’s total supply hasn’t been moved in over 5 years. Asset allocators managing over $17 trillion in assets have sought approval for Bitcoin spot ETFs. Bitcoin is consistently withdrawn from exchanges, and the upcoming halving event is on the horizon.