Aussie dollar now in sharp focus ahead of Trade Balance

If you come along to our forex webinars you will always hear David & I explain the importance of the fundamental news & how easy it is to be ambushed by 'events'. But I must admit so far it's been absolutely relentless & it's only Wednesday! Coming up we have Aussie retail sales & Trade Balance - both very important numbers, and so far it's been a buy of the Aussie except against the euro - a trade we've been following. Of the two releases - the Trade Balance number has been negative since July last year, and whilst February's number was encouraging, coming in at -0.44b against a forecast of -0.85b, the subsequent releases have been dire. Tonight's headline number is -2.17b against a forecast of -1.32b, in fact a further deterioration, and with AUD/USD having moved strongly higher yesterday as a result of USD weakness. it's no surprise to see a doji on today's daily chart, which by coincidence is...
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EUR/USD turns bearish moving through the VPOC

The EUR/USD continues to look bearish as it sits on support between 1.0885 & 1.0890 & just below the VPOC the yellow line on the volume point of control indicator. This level has now been breached on good volume and should take the pair to 1.0863. In addition the trend monitor has also transitioned from blue to red and with the US unemployment data coming up shortly, this could provide further downwards momentum if the numbers are on target or better than expected. The forecast this time around is 271k against a previous of 274k and whilst this is an important number it is the backwash from Janet Yellen's US dollar positive comments which continue to drive the US dollar higher, coupled as always with ongoing concerns over the Greek debt issues, which have yet to be resolved - if ever! The currency strength indicator is confirming the negative sentiment for the single currency with the orange line, the euro, reaching an...
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GBP gets a boost from retail sales

UK retail sales have given GBP a real boost higher & it's occupying six top spots on the currency matrix. Number was a great improvement & market has temporarily forgotten the negative CPI number. What's interesting is at 8.00 am at the London open, there was a huge buy of cable off an important order board level at 1.5520 with retail sales then just adding the momentum. Cable is also benefiting from USD pull back from its recent bullish move higher. The 4hr currency strength indicator is particularly revealing as the USD has been overbought for some time, but is now moving lower. The move higher in the London session has now moved to test the VPOC level in the daily chart, and we are now waiting to see if this afternoon's US data can help to push the GBP/USD through this key level. This is denoted on the chart with the yellow line.  ...
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An interesting week ahead for the British pound

An interesting week ahead for the British pound

It was an interesting week for the British pound and in particular against the US dollar, with the pair selling off sharply on Friday and closing with a wide spread down candle on the daily chart. The move lower was in stark contrast to the recent trend for Cable which had been firmly bullish rising in tandem with the EUR/USD as US dollar weakness prevailed on the dollar index. The move on Friday came as no surprise to those traders using a currency strength indicator, with the British pound moving to a deeply overbought region on the indicator, and counterbalanced with the US dollar being equally oversold in the slower timeframes. With Thursday's election now on the horizon, and with a slew of opinion polls due for release in the next few days, these are continually signalling a close result with no party likely to have an overall majority in Parliament. As a result we can expect to see further...
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Cable very bearish on the longer term charts

Ahead of the manufacturing production number the British pound has been particularly lively in the past couple of hours with 6 volatility candles alone being triggered on Cable on the 3 min chart. For Cable, yesterday's rally which saw the pair bounce off support in the 1.4760 region was a move more akin to a 'dead cat bounce' as once the pair hit the major resistance at 1.4840 at the start of the US session opened the floodgates for some heavy duty selling. This took cable down 1.4684 before it finally managed to find some support as the market moved into Asia. A number of reasons have been suggested for this move, including the tensions and uncertainty surrounding the upcoming UK election, and as highlighted yesterday, we are seeing a major sell off in UK gilts. In the face of such uncertainty It appears foreign investors would much rather move their money into US Treasuries and Asia, and Japanese investors in particular...
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Another great trade on the EUR/AUD

It's been another great day's trading on the EUR/AUD, which has continued the bearish tone from yesterday, following the RBA statement and a decision to keep interest rates on hold for the time being. The 60 minute chart has delivered a consistent trend today with the pair moving through the platform of support in the 1.4125 region and as defined with the accumulation and distribution indicator. The trend monitor at the bottom of the chart continues to confirm the bearish tone, supported by the trend dots indicator. Early this afternoon the wide spread down candle saw the pair close at 1.4016 on very high volume, and confirming the current bearish tone for the pair. To the left of the chart, the Quantum currency strength indicator confirms the technical picture, with the euro (the orange line) now deep in oversold territory, and with the Aussie dollar (the blue line) continuing to rise deep into the overbought region. A great trade on this...
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Terrific trend on the EUR/AUD this morning

In this morning's forex trading session with Anna and David, one of the currency pairs they focused on was the EUR/AUD, which was the strongest performing currency pair in the currency matrix. The 60 minute currency strength indicator confirmed the longer term position, with the euro (the orange line) climbing strongly towards the overbought region on the indicator, with the Aussie dollar ( the blue line) moving firmly towards the oversold region in this timeframe. The 5 minute chart alongside reflects the trend, with the trend monitor maintaining the bullish picture, and only moving into a transitional color during the minor congestion periods. The trend monitor sister indicator,  the trend dots completes the picture and highlighting these congestion phases in advance. Volumes throughout the move were in agreement and confirming the bullish sentiment for the pair with the accumulation and distribution indicator on NinjaTrader, highlighting the keys areas of support and resistance. The support platform at 1.4252 held firm during the...
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Forex currency strength indicator explained

Question Hi Anna, Firstly, I just wanted to say I've just finished "Forex For Beginners" and I thoroughly enjoyed the book; found if extremely helpful and useful. Opened my first forex account on Friday of last week. Made some mistakes at first, lacked the discipline to follow my strategy, I think I was a tad over keen to trade at first. I've just purchased "A Complete Guide to VPA" so I'll start on that tonight. I have a quick question though if you wouldn't mind answering. In Forex for Beginners, you use the Currency Strength Indicator to look for potential indicators of an upcoming reversal. And then from this you use the currency matrix and analysis to confirm the reversal. I was just wondering, if you could use the same strategy to indicate a continuing trend? If this is explained in the book I've just purchased I apologise, I just thought I'd ask. For example, if both the Aus and Usd are...
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