Gold continues to shine

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Some solid gains for gold last week as the precious metal ended last week in a bullish mood following an extended period of price consolidation within the spread of the volatility candle triggered back in early February. Cannot stress the importance of this candle, moving as it did way beyond the average true range for the metal in this time frame, it has since defined and described any further move higher. Friday's price action too is important for the longer term with substantial volume coming into gold, helping to push the metal to test the $1279 per ounce region, before falling back on profit taking ahead of the weekend. Gold has started the new trading week in a very positive move with the 200 ema on the weekly chart providing the necessary support as the precious metal attempts once again to take out the $1279 per ounce high. A move through here on strong and rising volume will see gold move to...
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NZD and USD in focus on the currency strength indicator

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Thanks to everyone for coming along to our forex webinar for the London session earlier, where our focus was the euro & eurodollar, particularly with some pretty heavy option expiry strike prices due up later today. Also in view was the kiwi which was in a similar state to the British pound ahead of Chancellor Osborne's autumn statement. In other words totally beaten down across multiple time frames, and despite various efforts to rise kept falling back into oversold territory. Interesting to see the Kiwi (white line) has now moved off the floor on the 30 & 60 min CSI. Also note the USD (the red line) is very overbought, so we need to keep an eye on what it is likely to do the remainder of the day. What happens in our next webinar for the US session is difficult to tell given it was Thanksgiving yesterday, and today is Black Friday. Appreciate it's not a national holiday, but given many in the...
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Don’t ignore the Kiwi – it can deliver some great trades!

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
A currency often overlooked by forex traders is the New Zealand dollar, which is a great shame because this commodity dollar can often deliver some impressive and consistent trades, particularly on the slower time frames. And for a reason we only need to glance at the daily chart of the currency strength indicator. Following a sharp move lower in August towards the oversold region of the CSI, the New Zealand dollar then spent the next four weeks trying to move away from this region, before finally finding some traction towards the end of September. Since then the NZD has moved sharply higher against most of its counterparts, with a number of pairs lifting off simultaneously. Of the pairs which make up our NZD matrix, it has been the NZD/USD and NZD/JPY which have delivered some of the best trades, followed by the GBP/NZD and EUR/NZD. The move higher in the NZD/USD followed a period of consolidation for the pair as it bumped along...
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Eurodollar regains its bullish mojo

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
At last Thursday's ECB press conference it was enough for Mario Draghi to hint at further QE for the eurodollar to sell off sharply, taking the pair from a high of 1.1243 before coming to rest at the support platform at in the 1.1087/96 region. This support platform was tested again on Friday as a degree of buying for the pair stepped in ahead of the Labor Day holiday in the US and Canada. And whilst the start of this week has seen relatively muted price action for eurodollar given Monday's holiday, the tone of this action has been overall bullish with each session threatening to take the pair through and away the volume point of control in the 1.1200 price region. This has materialised in today's trading session which has seen eurodollar move from a low of 1.1171 to trade, at time of writing at 1.1278. The 1.1171 low also coincided with the `100 ma which has also added its...
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Cable finally finds some support (& buyers!)

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Following longest fall since 2008 no surprise to see British pound and the 6B move higher in this morning's trading, on the back of profit taking and closure of US and Canadian markets for the Labor Day holiday. From a VPA (volume price analysis) perspective the recent move lower has also been associated with falling volume suggesting the downwards pressure is, for now, running out of steam, with the platform of support at 1.5160 providing the reason for the pullback. Longer term, however, the outlook remains bearish for Cable, and should the 1.5160 price point fall to hold we may see a move towards 1.50 and even a possible re-test of the 1.46 region in due course.  ...
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Aussie dollar continues lower

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
As spot forex traders we sometimes forget the futures market can often help with market sentiment towards a currency and the daily chart for 6A, which is the contract for the Aussie dollar is particularly revealing. For the 6A,  it has been a return to business as usual over the last couple of weeks, since the breakaway from the VPOC at 0.7320 once again confirming the heavily bearish sentiment for the AUD. The initial break was on the 24th August where the wide spread down candle also triggered the volatility indicator, and as expected the price action moved back within the spread of the candle; a cynical move designed to trigger stops. Since then the candle has duly been confirmed with a rapid move through the low volume node on the VPOC indicator at 0.6980 with the pair now trading lower once again at 0.6934 in the London session. With the weight of transacted volume now sitting overhead in the 0.7320 price area and...
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Pause in cable’s sharp move lower

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Last Tuesday's failure by cable to take out the 1.5818 resistance resulted in a down candle on high volume, which when it was combined with the previous day's bullish candle on very high volume gave us a two bar reversal (aka a shooting star), and the first signal that cable's preceding move away from the volume point of control region was likely to fail. This view was also validated by the volume which accompanied the shooting star, and a further clear signal of weakness to come. Against this backdrop Wednesday's sharp 267 pip sell off in cable came as no surprise with the pair also moving firmly below the VPOC to close out at 1.5463 on the session. The bearish sentiment was cable continued for the remainder of the week, as the pair closed out August 1.5390. The start of the new trading week saw cable once again come under pressure, on relatively low volume, but this is easily explained as Monday was...
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Bears take hold of cable

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Today's reversal in cable has once again taken the pair back to the VPOC (volume point of control) support which sits in the 1.5573 price region. This price area is where cable has been rotating since early July, and despite what appeared to be a decisive break away on Monday when cable touched a high of 1.5803, yesterday's down candle has had the effect of creating a classic two bar reversal. Therefore, no surprise to see the resulting fall in today's trading session where cable has fallen over 200 pips. Today's price action has not only taken cable below the VPOC for the first time since early August but also seen a break through the 100 ma, and with today's move supported with good volume the next stop for cable would appear to be 1.5424 on the daily chart. Moving to the hourly chart cable has found some good support at 1.5466, a price point first hit by a volatility candle earlier...
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CSI highlights GBP sell off

by Quantum Trading Comment Closed
Ahead of the release of the Monetary Policy Minutes from the RBA, and tomorrow's CPI number for the UK, it's been interesting to see how the Aussie and British pound have been behaving in today's trading session. And of the two currencies it has been the British pound which has seen some heavy selling against both the USD and the Aussie. The hourly chart of the CSI (currency strength indicator) highlighted the extent to which the British pound was overbought, and Cable's failure to take out the resistance at 1.5688 signaled the start of a reversal in fortune for the pair and a move lower of over 100 pips.  And it has only been a combination of the VPOC at 1.5585 and support at 1.5578 that has prevented any further move lower for Cable. Moving to the GBP/AUD  here too we have seen a move lower for the British pound with the pair eventually finding support at 2.1094 from which we have...
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