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The US-Iran ceasefire has been extended, again.
And this time, indefinitely (apparently).
Despite US President Donald Trump saying on Monday, April 20, that it was “highly unlikely” to be extended, POTUS overnight prolonged the ceasefire which was set to expire this evening (Wed, Apr 22).
Markets are drawing some comfort from Trump’s reluctance to return to military hostilities.
This extended ceasefire gives us an opportune time to do a mid-week check in on our selected “3 Assets to Watch”, published this past Monday (Apr 20):
1) Bitcoin hits new 2-week high!
Today (Wed, Apr 22), Bitcoin surpassed its previous 2-month high, posted on April 17th, by $100.
April 17th intraday high: $78,332
April 22nd intraday high: $78,432
From today’s intraday high, BTCUSDT is a mere 2% away from the $80k upside target we set this past Monday.
Also, on a week-to-date basis, Bitcoin is the best performing major crypto (among the 5 biggest digital assets excluding stablecoins):
Bitcoin: +0.9% (market cap: $1.56 trillion)
Ethereum: -1.4% (market cap: $288 billion)
Ripple: -1.7% (market cap: $89.5 billion)
BNB: +0.2% (market cap: $86.5 billion)
Solana: -1.2% (market cap: $50.6 billion)
SOURCE: Bloomberg; % figures show week-to-date performance
So far this week, Bitcoin appears to be justifying its selection in our “3 Assets to Watch” this week.
Outside of the top-5 however ...
6th placed TRON (TRXUSDT) has outperformed its major crypto peers, rising 1.6% so far this week.
This past weekend, on April 19th specifically, TRON finally reached the 0.3350 upside target set on March 30, having also formed a technical “golden cross” earlier this month.
Ask TradeGPT: What is a “golden cross”? What signal does it give to traders?
2) Nikkei225 closing in on new ATH
At the time of writing, news of the extended ceasefire sent the Nikkei 225 on another run towards the 60,000 psychological level.
Should Japan’s benchmark stock index climb another 0.65% from current levels, that would mark a fresh all-time high - a scenario we had outlined since Monday, April 20th.
READ MORE (published April 16): S&P 500 hits new record high! And it’s not the only one.
Also note that the Japanese Yen is the worst-performing G10 currency against the US dollar so far this week (USDJPY+ up 0.4% week-to-date)
So far this week, all 3 criteria for an upside boost highlighted since Monday has sent the Nikkei 225 climbing 1.9% so far this week:
2-week US-Iran ceasefire is extended
Middle East conflict continues to de-escalate
a weaker Yen (JPY)
3) GBPUSD+ teases “death cross”
At the time of writing GBPUSD+ is a mere 3 pips away from forming a technical “death cross”:
50-day SMA: 1.3417
200-day SMA: 1.3414
A “death cross” is when an asset’s 50-day simple moving average (SMA) crosses below its 200-day SMA.
A “death cross” typically signals more price declines ahead.
Ask TradeGPT: What is a death cross and what does it mean for traders?
RECAP - KEY EVENTS:
Tuesday, April 21: UK February unemployment (came in lower-than-expected at 4.9% vs. forecasted 5.2%)
Tuesday, April 21: Senate confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee for Fed Chair (came and went with little market fanfare)
Wednesday, April 22: UK March consumer price index (CPI) a.k.a. inflation (rose 3.3% vs. March 2025 - in line with economists’ forecasts)
The push-and-pull forces between the released UK economic data, and the shifting market sentiment surrounding the Middle East conflict, has left GBPUSD+ little changed (+0.1%) so far this week.
Still, we are only mid-way through this week, and there could be more volatility ahead.
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