Present situation improves even as confidence and expectations fall

Following the correction seen in the second half of the previous week, EUR/USD gathers bullish momentum and trades in positive territory near 1.1750. The US Dollar (USD) struggles to attract buyers and supports the pair as investors await Tuesday's GDP data ahead of the Christmas holiday. 

GBP/USD found room on the high side on Monday, kicking off a holiday-shortened trading week with a fresh spat of Greenback weakness, bolstering the Pound Sterling into its highest bids in ten weeks. Pound traders are largely brushing off the latest interest rate cut from the Bank of England as the UK’s central bank policy strategy leaves the water murky for rate-cut watchers.

Gold builds on the previous day's blowout rally through the $4,400 mark and continues scaling new record highs through the Asian session on Tuesday. Bets for more interest rate cuts by the US Fed, renewed US Dollar selling bias, and rising geopolitical uncertainties turn out to be key factors driving flows towards the bullion. Traders now look to the delayed release of the revised US Q3 GDP print and US Durable Goods Orders for a fresh impetus.

Peter Thiel-backed ETHZilla announced it sold 24,291 ETH for ~$74.5 million to redeem outstanding senior secured convertible notes. "We plan to use all, or a significant portion, of the proceeds to fund the redemption," ETHZilla noted in a Monday X post.

2026 may be less about a neat “base case” and more about a regime shift—the market can reprice what matters most (growth, inflation, fiscal, geopolitics, concentration). The biggest trap is false comfort: the same trades can look defensive… right up until they become crowded.

Ripple (XRP) is stable above support at $1.90 at the time of writing on Monday, after several attempts to break above the $2.00 hurdle failed to materialize last week. Meanwhile, institutional interest in the cross-border remittance token has remained steady.