forexlive64d ago
With the absence of the US jobs report today, it is leaving markets to fend for themselves in closing out the week. And so far, the more nervous and jittery mood all around is still permeating as we look to the session ahead. In particular, risk trades are being shaken up hard amid a combination of a selloff in tech shares and cryptocurrencies falling apart.The sharp pullback in precious metals also extended in early Asia trading, before a modest bounce back seen in the past few hours. Silver dipped to as low as $64.06 before recovering some poise to sit just a little over 3% higher on the day at $73 levels now. At the lows, it marked another potential 13% decline in silver earlier as dip buyers got flushed once more.Interestingly though, the chart shows the rebound coming just as price was close to testing the 100-day moving average (red line). That's a key line in the sand with silver having not traded below the key level since April 2025. And even then, it was only for a brief period in navigating through Trump's tariffs threat.If dip buyers can hold that line, it bodes well for a more solid rebound as we establish a consolidative phase for the precious metal. Some technical buying will be a key sentiment indicator in keeping the bullish run going for precious metals this year.The other good news for silver is that we're seeing the gold-to-silver ratio jump back up to around the 65 to 70 range. The ratio narrowed considerably to below 50 at one point at the end of last month, which suggested that any major correction will punish silver more than it will gold.The more balanced ratio would suggest that the flush in silver might be meeting its end, allowing for a healthy correction to complete its course. We'll then move on to defining the underlying factors driving precious metals again and focus on the case for a continued push higher later in the year. After all, February has always proved to be a tough seasonal month for silver in any case.Besides the volatile selling in precious metals, risk trades are also taking a big knock in trading this week. In particular, tech shares have been hit hard as the AI trade begins to crack. High valuations, souring investor sentiment, and Anthropic making waves are key factors dampening the status quo that market players have been used to over the past two years or so.Adding to that is the technical breakdown seen above, with the Nasdaq cracking under its 100-day moving average (red line) this week. That's the first run below the key technical level since May 2025, with the previous break from above coming back in February 2025. The break at the time brought about a roughly 19% drop after, so just be wary that it is a big momentum shift for tech shares in general.And lastly, there's the whole pain trade with cryptocurrencies happening as well this week. Bitcoin tumbled hard in breaking below the lows from March to April 2025, then taking out the $70,000 mark yesterday. That's leading to a sharper drop with the low earlier today coming within a whisker of cracking the $60,000 level. As mentioned yesterday here, it is hard to pick at key support levels for Bitcoin currently.At most, we can point to the $60,000 mark as being a psychological support barrier alongside the 200-week moving average (blue line) now at around $58,065. Those will be key lines in the sand in keeping risk sentiment afloat as we look to end the week.For the time being, it looks like markets could use a bit of a breather before the weekend comes along. Precious metals are holding a modest rebound after the heavy drop, with S&P 500 futures down by just 0.1% even as Amazon shares are sent to the cleaners. Then, we're seeing Bitcoin also bounce back to around $66,000 levels so far.The more nervous mood is easing a little but it doesn't mean that the pressure valve is off. All it takes is just one small trigger to stir up the negative animal spirits in markets once again, considering the more fragile sentiment in play. This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.
