Palladium prices rose during Wednesday’s trading amid buying from lower levels after the industrial metal suffered heavy losses on Tuesday. The metal had come under strong pressure alongside declines in other industrial metals as geopolitical concerns linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between the United States and China weighed on markets.

Key factors behind the decline:

Supply disruptions and geopolitical risks

Escalating tensions in the Middle East and disruptions to some mining operations increased concerns about supply. Paradoxically, these fears did not translate into strong buying interest, but instead added to market volatility while sellers remained dominant in trading.

Weak US support for electric vehicle policies

The fading political momentum behind electric vehicle incentives in the United States has pressured market sentiment. Palladium is widely used in automotive catalytic converters, so any slowdown in supportive policies weighs on expectations for industrial demand.

Clear technical pressure

The drop below the 20-day and 50-day moving averages sent a negative signal to short-term traders. The ADX indicator also reflects weak trend strength with a bearish bias, suggesting that downside momentum has not yet become strong enough to trigger a decisive reversal, despite sellers continuing to dominate the market.

Analysts’ views: mixed expectations

Analyst Anton Kharitonov of Traders Union believes the break below short- and medium-term averages is a warning signal, identifying $1,715 as a key support level. He noted that a break below this level could open the door to further losses, stressing that any current rebound appears fragile as long as sellers remain in control of the market.

Meanwhile, analyst Viktoras Karabitiants from the same firm takes a more optimistic view, noting that weekly indicators such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remain supportive over the longer term. He believes the range between $1,700 and $1,750 represents a consolidation phase within a broader long-term uptrend.

Analyst Parshwa Turakhia focuses on the short term, explaining that indicators such as Stoch RSI and CCI point to oversold conditions that could allow quick rebounds toward the $1,750 level, although high volatility in the market is expected to persist.

In US trading today, palladium futures rose by 1.9% to $1,678.5 per ounce at 16:27 GMT.

Bitcoin has returned to break above the $70,000 level, one of the strongest psychological thresholds in the market. Despite the fear currently dominating global equity markets and the decline in metals such as silver, capital appears to be flowing toward Bitcoin.

As seen yesterday, Bitcoin had already recorded positive funding rates, along with positive inflows across all 12 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. These signals pointed clearly to growing bullish momentum. Despite the strength of the US dollar, it was unable to exert the expected downward pressure on Bitcoin during today’s trading.

BTC/USDT and the return toward $90,000

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $71,169, near the upper boundary of a consolidation channel, with signs emerging of a shift in price behavior.

The $76,000 level represents the next resistance zone that must be broken, as it coincides with the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA50). A breakout above this level could strengthen momentum and push the price toward $90,000.

The bearish scenario would involve the price failing within the $70,000–$76,000 range, which could lead to a renewed decline toward levels seen during the recent period of geopolitical tensions.

Ethereum jumps above $2,000 as altcoins follow

After Bitcoin began showing bullish behavior during yesterday’s sessions, major altcoins followed the move.

Ethereum jumped above the $2,000 level after trading below it throughout the week. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at around $250 billion, has surpassed both the 7-day simple moving average (SMA7) at $1,989.48 and the 7-day exponential moving average at $1,976.66.

If positive momentum continues and the price maintains $2,000 as support, it could move to test the 23.6% Fibonacci resistance level at $2,240.

Altcoins follow the “leader” Bitcoin

With Bitcoin’s momentum shifting, several other altcoins have recorded gains over the past 24 hours.

XDC surged to its highest level in two weeks after rebounding from a correction at $0.0364.

Morpho is trading at $1.96, continuing its upward trend, having gained 67% over the past month and 3.5% in the last 24 hours. This move came after increased network usage and a rise in total value locked (TVL) by 2.97, alongside a higher number of locked Ethereum tokens compared with last year’s low of 976,000 ETH.

Binance Coin (BNB) also climbed above $650 with strong signals suggesting a breakout from its lower consolidation range. Other cryptocurrencies that posted gains include:

Ripple (XRP)

Solana

Litecoin

Hedera

Uniswap

Polkadot

Bittensor (TAO)

Near Protocol

The top ten cryptocurrencies recorded an average gain of around 5%, with the positive outlook continuing in the short and medium term.

The US dollar held near its highest levels in three months on Wednesday as investors adopted a deeply bearish stance toward the euro amid concerns about persistently high energy prices following the conflict in the Middle East, which has weighed on global equity markets.

The euro was steady at $1.1612 after earlier touching its weakest level since late November, following data released Tuesday showing eurozone inflation accelerated faster than expected in February, before the Iranian conflict began.

George Saravelos, global head of FX research at Deutsche Bank, said the impact of the Iranian war on the euro/dollar pair comes down to one factor: energy.

Options Market Signals Weakness in the Euro

Financial markets resumed their selloff on Wednesday as fears of rising inflation spread after Israeli and US strikes on targets in Iran, prompting investors to rush toward liquidity.

The options market shows traders are more bearish on the euro than at any time in at least a year, reversing the overwhelmingly bullish stance seen just six weeks ago.

“We are still in a scenario where dollar dips will be short-lived and bought, because there is a lot of negativity priced into most currencies sensitive to energy prices,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of G10 FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets. “And in Europe, everything revolves around natural gas prices.”

The cost of euro put options against the dollar for the coming quarter reached the highest premium since last March, according to LSEG data, indicating traders expect further downside for the euro.

Euro Could Fall Toward $1.13

Saravelos noted that every combined 10% rise in Brent crude and European natural gas prices reduces the euro’s value by about 0.8%, adding that Brent and gas reaching $100 per barrel could push the euro/dollar pair toward roughly $1.13.

Global oil and gas prices have surged as Middle East energy exports were disrupted following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on ships and infrastructure, which closed shipping routes in the Gulf and halted production from Qatar to Iraq.

Brent futures have risen about 16% since Friday to reach $84 per barrel, the highest level since July 2024, while European gas prices have climbed about 85% since the end of last week.

European Central Bank Outlook

Market traders are pricing a 33% chance that the European Central Bank will raise interest rates this year, compared with a 40% probability of a rate cut just a week ago.

Elsewhere, the British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3323, pressured by rising energy costs as UK inflation remains at 3%, above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was steady at 99.05 after reaching its strongest level since November 28. The dollar slipped 0.26% against the yen to ¥157.35 and edged down 0.1% against the offshore yuan to 6.913 after mixed Chinese PMI data for February.

Oil prices rose by about 1% on Wednesday as US-Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted Middle East supplies, although the pace of gains slowed compared with previous sessions after President Donald Trump suggested the US Navy could escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude rose $1.1, or 1.4%, to $82.52 per barrel by 11:43 GMT, after closing Tuesday at its highest level since January 2025.

US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 40 cents, or 0.5%, to $74.96 per barrel, after settling at its highest level since June.

Prices briefly pulled back, with the WTI contract momentarily turning negative, after The New York Times reported that officials linked to Iran’s intelligence ministry had shown openness to talks with the US Central Intelligence Agency aimed at ending the war, citing officials familiar with the matter.

Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA, said the US-Iran conflict remains the primary driver of oil prices in the near term.

“At this stage, the current upward trend in WTI can only be eased or reversed by clear signs of de-escalation, and such signals are currently absent,” he added.

Israeli and US forces carried out strikes on targets across Iran on Tuesday, prompting Tehran to launch attacks on energy infrastructure in a region that produces nearly one-third of global oil output.

Officials told Reuters that Iraq, the second-largest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), had cut output by about 1.5 million barrels per day, roughly half of its production, due to limited storage capacity and the lack of export routes.

They added that Iraq may be forced to halt around 3 million barrels per day of production within days if exports do not resume.

Iran has also targeted oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows pass. The strait remains effectively closed to shipping.

Trump said the US Navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the Gulf if necessary, adding that he had instructed the US International Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade in the Gulf.

Helima Croft, analyst at RBC, said that despite the apparent decline in oil prices, the insurance proposal still appears to be in the early conceptual stage, raising questions about whether sufficient coordination exists with international insurers covering oil tankers.

Countries and companies have already begun searching for alternative routes and supplies. India and Indonesia said they are exploring other energy sources, while some Chinese refineries have shut down or accelerated maintenance plans.

In the United States, crude inventories rose by 5.6 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute, far exceeding analysts’ expectations for an increase of 2.3 million barrels.

Official data from the US government is expected later on Wednesday.