However, at the moment the market is anticipating a likely runoff between Macron and Le Pen, said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotia Bank.
He believes if that happens, the euro could rally up to 1.09. If it ends up a contest between the two extremist candidates, he thinks the euro could fall as low as 1.04.
“This is one big hurdle for the euro. There are more coming this year,” Osborne warned, pointing to the upcoming elections in German and Italy.
Schlossberg agreed that Italy is also important, noting that there is a tremendous amount of populist resistance to the euro there as well.
“The key question is can they really hold it together at this point. Can the union come together and create a more viable economic society for the rest of the European Union at this point,” he said.
“It’s not so much even that [Le Pen] may win, it’s a question of how big that whole populist vote is and how much discontent there is in the euro zone.”
—CNBC’s Crystal Lau contributed to this report.
