Follow Up With Abe!
By Mike Conlon | July 8, 2010
As a follow up to my original interview and due to overwhelming viewer response, Abe Cofnas has provided the answers to your questions. You can view that interview here. In addition and going forward, Abe has graciously agreed to provide forex trading blog with a weekly feature, giving us insight into his unique perspective accumulated through years of forex trading.
So I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Abe and look forward to his weekly feature.
QUESTION: HOW DO YOU SUGGEST TRADERS SCAN THE MARKET AS THEY START THEIR TRADING DAY?
The best approach is first to have a mind-set that realizes that there is a lot of volatility in forex and therefore it is important to get a top-down viewpoint of what is happening. So one of the first things to do is to use multiple time frames.
When you are looking at a currency pair, look at three time frames at once. I suggest a 4 hour, 15 minute, and 5 minute time frame. The example below shows this for the EURUSD.
(click chart to enlarge)
Now follow that and the 15 minute chart offers a lot more granularity. Of course we have swings down, but the prevailing sentiment from the 4 hour was up and this means that the trader should only look for buy situations.
QUESTION: WHAT ROLE DOES THE 5 MINUTE CHART PLAY?
The 5 minute chart acts like the local traffic guard. If you want to go long, then you need confirmation on the 5 minute chart.
QUESTION: ARE THESE THE ONLY TIME FRAMES ONE SHOULD USE?
The concept is 3 time frames. One can use a 2 hour, a 15 minute, and a 3 minute chart. The essential feature is to never only look at one time frame.
QUESTION: WHEN DO YOU GO COUNTER-TREND?
Counter-trend moves can make you money, but a starting trader should not go against the trend. It’s a numbers game and the trend is your friend because it can provide you with more winning trades if you go with it.
Having said that, if the 4 hour breaks down support- or, I will be flexible - the 2 hour breaks support, you can look to the 15 and 5 to confirm it. The 2 hour chart below shows support at 1.255. So if the EURUSD broke through this- even though the 4 hour chart is still not broken looking for a sell is legitimate.
QUESTION: WHAT ELSE IS GOOD TO LOOK AT ?
Definitely look at the Dollar Index (DXY). It provides a quick look at global sentiment. So make sure you’re trading WITH the sentiment
QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY OTHER GOOD INDICATORS YOU LOOK AT?
Let’s deal with that on the next blog.
Tags: blog, comments, course, currenc, currency, currency pair, data, dollar, dow, EUR, forex, forextrading, fx, Il, index, lot, market, money, pairs, sentiment, time, tip, trade, trader, trades, trend, uptrend, USD
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Fundamentals Do Matter!
By Mike Conlon | March 10, 2010
Now that the fears of global collapse have abated—for now—the markets have returned to heavier scrutiny on the fundamental numbers being reported in various countries. It is times like these that remind traders that indeed the fundamentals do matter. The longer the global economy can sustain itself without Armageddon taking place, the more and more traders will focus on specific stories and not overall risk themes.
So, while one might look at this morning’s action and be inclined to say that today is risk-taking because commodity currencies are higher, a more appropriate reaction would be that are actually both good and bad stories out there which are driving individual currency pairs.
More specifically, in currencies:
Aussie (AUD): One of the good economic stories out there is coming out of Australia which has had good gains as of late. Tomorrow they will be reporting their employment figures, which are expected to gain for the sixth straight month. In fact, the economy is buzzing along so well there that there is no an expectation that they may raise the benchmark interest rate again next month. The Aussie is in a clear uptrend and I expect it to test 2010 highs very soon.
Kiwi (NZD): The Kiwi is also another good economic story, though not as strong as the Aussie. While the interest rate decision due out tomorrow is expected to be unchanged, overall Asian recovery will benefit the Kiwi. The most important take-away from the rate decision will be the language used to give a clue as to a timeframe for further hikes. And should they surprise the market with a rate hike (highly unlikely), then lookout above!
Loonie (CAD): The Loonie is just kind of hanging out today, with no real news on tap in Canada. Oil is higher so the Loonie is up; and also riding the coattails of the Aussie and Kiwi. The only anomaly is USD/CAD, as there is dollar strength this morning.
Euro (EUR): The Euro is mixed this morning. On the one hand, now that the risk of a Greek default is mitigated, the focus is back on the fundamentals in the Euro zone. On the other, news out of Germany is that German exports are down, but German CPI is up. Traders are using this opportunity to cover some EUR/USD shorts, but otherwise the Euro is down vs. the commodities and up vs. the rest. I expect EUR/USD to be range-bound for a bit.
Pound (GBP): Another tough day for the Pound, which would be down across the board if not for the Yen. The Industrial production figures and manufacturing came in negative, marking the first decline since last August. This is likely to keep rates low in the UK for an extended period. Meanwhile, the BOE’s Adam Posen stated that he hopes their bond purchase plan “has done it” with regard to stimulating the economy but he didn’t rule out further quantitative easing.
Dollar (USD): There’s a bit of optimism about the dollar this morning as economic recovery appears to be going faster in the US than in Europe and Japan. As risk of a global collapse is lessening, traders are looking more toward the fundamentals. So the expectation is that we may see a rate hike in the US sooner than in Europe or Japan. However, don’t be surprised to see Dollar weakness should commodity inflation pick up.
Yen (JPY): The Yen is down across the board this morning in advance of the Japanese GDP report due out tomorrow as fears of deflation are warranted. Combine this with good news from the commodity currencies, higher commodity prices, and “risk-taking” and you have a recipe for Yen weakness. Carry traders are gaining more confidence and the Yen is the funding currency of choice.
As you can see, when global economic conditions become more stable, market fundamentals return to center-stage. Under “normal” conditions, currencies from the best economies will flourish, while those not doing as well will be sold.
And that’s the basic idea behind forex trading; that you want to own the strong currencies and sell the weak ones, hopefully picking up interest along the way!
To learn more about how you can take advantage of world events through the currency market, be sure to check out our currency trading courses!
To follow these events live with a free, real-time practice account, click here! Don’t miss out on the world’s fastest growing market!
Tags: account, AUD, Aussie, Australia, cad, canada, carry trade, commodities, commodity, course, currenc, currencies, currency, currency market, currency pairs, currency trading, decision, dollar, dow, economic, economy, EUR, Euro, Europe, fear, forex, forex trading, fundamental, fx, fxedu, gbp, Il, interest, interest rate, Japan, jpy, Kiwi, live, loonie, market, Mike Conlon, news, nzd, oil, pair, pound, practice, practice account, rate decision, short, ssi, time, trade, trader, trend, uptrend, USD, Yen
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Weekly Outlook from InnerFX 12/07
By Mike Conlon | December 7, 2009
EURUSD
Despite several attempts to breach higher last week, the euro failed to hold gains as the dollar rallied across the board on Friday, as a result of better than expected unemployment figures. The 270 points decline of Friday has cleared half of euro’s gains accumulated during the previous two months, hence December started by favoring the dollar bulls. Is this the time of a prolonged correction? Could be… but I maintain my positive view on EUR against the buck, for now, treating such declines as potential opportunities to re-initiate EUR long positions. Speaking of current market conditions – short-term sentiment is slightly bearish due to recent rejection into the 1.5150 region along with Friday’s collapse below the 1.49 handle, back into the key support region around 1.4850. A rising trend line support coming from July’s low at 1.3830 has been reached and limited intra-day losses but in case of the decline’s resumption within the coming trading sessions, we should focus towards the next support levels – into the 1.4700/30 and 1.4600 regions. In case of a recovery, which at this moment seem more plausible to me, I expect the 1.5000 mark, along with 1.5050, to provide a minor barrier – a lot weaker than before (during October and November). A sustained breach above the 1.5 handle would also turn momentum positive, signaling that the correction is over. Also keep an eye on the S&P500 as important levels are still intact into the upside – the 1113 barrier which is still intact, despite several attempts to breach higher along with false breaks/spikes to as high as 1119. Another key barrier is the median retracement of the long-term decline from 1576 to 666.75 which is set at 1121. Due to the solid correlation between EURUSD and S&P500: no sustained break above 1113 -> no breach above the 1.5100/50 region, simple as that.
(click all charts to enlarge)
Gold
The superior band of the uptrend channel (seen in the chart below) is, once again, providing support on current pullback. In case of a break lower, next downside barriers into the 1126 and 1100 regions may limit losses. Short-term sentiment shows some bearish signs but it was about time to look for a correction – because it can’t just climb to record highs forever, right? However, if the correction continues – below 1100, bulls should start to worry. On a medium term basis – uptrend is intact and extended dips will favor further buying.
GBPUSD
In my previous article, when cable was trying to recover some ground pushing on the 1.6600 handle from below, I pointed out that more selling towards 1.64 was likely – further weakness emerging, as expected, and cable printed session lows around 1.6420 before closing the week .36% lower. Downside remains favored for now, and a break above 1.6700 is needed to confirm the positive bias. Recent hesitation into the 1.6700 zone confirms the indecision of both bulls and bears and the 1.6270-1.6700 range will probably remain valid for now. However, the said 1.6270/00 support region may limit extended losses and provide a reversal point, as that’s quite an important level.
NZDUSD
Former support provided by the rising trend line coming from .6475 of July has provided a stable resistance on last upside attempts into the .7280/00 region. A break was needed to resume uptrend but selling into rallies favored the current decline which extended to as low as .7130 on Friday. Although NZD’s losses have been relatively smaller comparing to EUR (-0.86% vs. -1.37%), there are no signs of uptrend’s recovery yet. Below current market levels, important support is formed around .7050 by the 61.8% fibonacci retracement of .6685 – .7635. We’ll see how it reacts if current decline continues.
Happy trading!
Tags: analysis, article, blog, buck, charts, decision, dollar, dow, EUR, Euro, forex, forextrading, gbp, gold, Il, lot, market, momentum, nzd, sentiment, ssi, time, trend, unemployment, uptrend, USD
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
Weekly Outlook from InnerFX
By Mike Conlon | November 24, 2009
EUR/USD
Yesterday’s rebound against the US dollar (USD) provides a clue about a potential resumption of the longer term uptrend. We’ll see if the euro will manage to hold gains above the fresh breached barrier into the 1.4950 region (which is currently under minor pressure) – formed by the falling trend line coming from 1.5045 over the previous lower highs. In case of an extended pullback below 1.4950, the 1.4850-1.4900 level will eventually limit losses in order to keep the bullish structure under development. I maintain my bullish stance on euro but I’m slightly cautious due to the repeated price action hesitation against the 1.5000-1.5060 top side. As I said earlier today: it won’t be easy to break higher, but it won’t be easy to drop lower (below 1.4800/50) either, while signs of hesitation continue to rule across the board – resulting in short-lived moves in a chop-chop manner.
- EURUSD 4hrs chart 11-23-2009
- EURUSD daily chart 11-23-2009
NZDUSD
In my previous short-term outlook, I mentioned that a pullback from .7440 would probably face solid bids around .7300, and eventually lower – around .7150. The upside remains favored for now as the pullback has faced a solid support, indeed. The rising trend line coming from .6475 also coincided with the recent bottom, so there are some valid reasons to keep the bullish view on NZD valid. Keep an eye on the .7400 handle as a breach is needed to fully confirm that the corrective cycle has ended.
Gold seem unstoppable and continues to rally to fresh highs on a regular basis – recently exceeding the upper boundary of the uptrend channel, as seen in the chart below, and the 1130 region is expected to provide support on pullbacks within the coming days. While it continues to push higher, dollar weakness across the board is likely to continue.
Let’s take a look at current Gold and S&P500 charts: both seem to provide enough bullish clues (for now) to support the ‘weaker dollar’ scenario. The important levels to watch are: 1130 support for Gold; 1095-1100 support region for the S&P500 along with the 1113 resistance.
- Gold chart 11-23-2009
- S&P500 short-term chart 11-23-2009
Have a great week!
Tags: analysis, charts, Conlon, data, dollar, dow, easy, EUR, Euro, eurusd, fx, gold, Il, live, lower, nzd, pair, pairs, scheme, short, Swiss, time, trend, uptrend, USD
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ECB Comments and Risk Taking!
By Mike Conlon | September 8, 2009
In a continuation of Friday’s move out of the US dollar as signs of improved economic conditions are improving, EUR/USD is experiencing a nice move to the upside. Positive comments from ECB President Trichet and the notes out of the G-20 meeting are giving investors confidence that recovery is underway and therefore investors are selling dollars.
The top gainers on the morning are the Swiss franc (+1.14%) and the Euro (+1.01%). Look for this uptrend to continue as risk takers seek higher-yielding currencies.
Ready to trade the forex markets? Get a free, live practice account here
Tags: comments, currenc, currencies, dollar, ECB, economic, EUR, Euro, franc, invest, investor, meeting, Swiss, trend, Trichet, uptrend, USD
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Dollar’s rally is just about to run out of steam!
By Sean Hyman | August 12, 2009
Even bear markets have rallies. But why would I refer to the dollar’s recent rally as a “bear market rally” and not a rally into a “new trend”? Because there is no technical indication that has surfaced to think otherwise. Click on the chart below to enlarge it.
Several things worth noting on that chart of the U.S. Dollar Index:
The pair is still downtrending as shown by it trading below BOTH the 50 and 200 Simple Moving Averages. Also, the MACD lines are below the zero line (red boxed area) and the Slow Stochastics are just about to go into the “overbought” territory once again as the dollar approaches its 50 day SMA resistance area.
There’s an old Wall St. saying….”trade the trend until it ends”. However, do realize that there are rallies in every bear market (downtrend). These are to be expected. After all, they usually can’t go “straight down”. Therefore, upward corrections are involved…much like the pull backs that happen within an uptrend.
Therefore, there’s no reason to see this as any other thing unless this technical picture changes. So far it has not. So I’ll stick with the trend “until it ends”.
That means, it’s probably better to be a buyer of strong currencies as these dollar rallies happen and start to roll over once again. Two of the top “strong currencies” right now are NZD and AUD…so being a buyer of NZD/USD and AUD/USD after these dollar rallies (which cause pull backs in these pairs) is to be favored until such time that there’s an actual re-emergence of a “dollar uptrend” which I think is a long ways off.
Sean Hyman
www.forextradingblog.com
Tags: AUD, blog, currencies, dollar, dow, downtrend, forex, forextrading, Hyman, index, market, nzd, pair, pairs, Sean, Sean Hyman, time, trade, U.S., uptrend, USD
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
Which is more important? Trend direction or Support/Resistance?
By Sean Hyman | July 31, 2009
Many traders grapple with this all the time. To me it’s clear. The “trend is the trend” because it continues on and blows through supports in a downtrend and resistances in an uptrend.
A current example of this is AUD/USD. Get ready for the AUD/USD to break higher as the “bottom and top pickers” try to short this pair soon (since they are believers that the resistance will hold). The trend traders will get the last laugh, as the top pickers get caught on the wrong side of the market and have to scramble to cover their losing positions which only “fuels the fire” for the trend trader. Click on the charts to enlarge them.
This is why “top and bottom pickers” almost always give up their money to the trend followers. Oh sure, there’s eventually ONE of these that will ultimately be the true “top or bottom” but in between ..there are tons of places that appear to be the top or bottom and are losing trades. So the odds are skewed against them and skewed towards the trend trader.
See a historical example of this here.
Sean Hyman
www.forextradingblog.com
Tags: AUD, blog, charts, dow, downtrend, forex, forextrading, Hyman, lower, market, money, pair, Sean, Sean Hyman, short, time, trade, trader, trades, uptrend, USD
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AUD/USD prepares to bolt higher!
By Sean Hyman | July 27, 2009
Trend trumps support/resistance! As you can see on the chart below, the trend’s direction is THE most important thing (green moving average line). The uptrend has prevailed through many black resistance lines before and it’s about to do it again, after a resting/consolidation phase.Click on the chart to enlarge it.
Aussie’s inflation is still high…it’s rates are the highest among the industrialized nations and the world needs its commodity exports. The global economy is recovering…China is buying up commodities to fuel its expansion…and Australia is the beneficiary of all of this.
Update on EUR/CHF: It continues to make “higher bottoms” as the Swiss National Bank, their central bank, continues to “sell francs vs. the euro. This continues to gradually push EUR/CHF higher.
Sean Hyman
www.forextradingblog.com
Tags: Aussie, Australia, bank, blog, central bank, CHF, China, commodities, commodity, economy, EUR, Euro, forex, forextrading, franc, Hyman, rate, Sean, Sean Hyman, ssi, Swiss, trend, update, uptrend
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
The key level to watch on EUR/CHF!
By Sean Hyman | July 23, 2009
Be sure to watch the 1.5220 region of resistance. Once this is cleared (and it won’t be long), then we’ll likely start the next “up leg” of the uptrend. Click on the chart to enlarge it.
The improvement in the global economy recently will only help this carry trade pair. Recent buying in the EUR/USD is also helping the euro rise overall as the dollar tanks. This has a “spillover effect” onto EUR/CHF as the Swiss sell their francs and the euro generally rises.
Look for more EUR/CHF gains over the coming days/weeks.
If you haven’t gotten in on this trade yet, it’s not too late. Get your account open today so that you can take advantage of the move! See yesterday’s post for the link to the live account application.
Sean Hyman
www.forextradingblog.com
Tags: account, blog, carry trade, CHF, dollar, economy, EUR, Euro, forex, forextrading, franc, Hyman, live, Sean, Sean Hyman, Swiss, trend, uptrend, USD
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
Buy EUR/CHF in newly established uptrend with “blessing” of the Swiss central bank, while earning daily interest too!
By Sean Hyman | July 22, 2009
The best of all worlds…
Trade a pair that recently broke into a new uptrend. Trade it because the Swiss are intervening in their currency to weaken it and boost the EUR/CHF pair. Trade it to earn intereest daily with little downside likely.
Take your pick, on your reasoning…personally, I trade it for all three reasons. Click on the chart to enlarge it. You’ll see that the daily downtrend is broken by almost any measurement you can think of. It’s above its red downtrend line, above its 50 SMA, also above its 200 SMA (long term moving average).
Then check out the 4 hour, 40 day chart below. You can buy the breakouts of these red downward corrections and get in “in a timely fashion”. Click on the chart to enlarge it.
Want to learn more about fundamentals and technicals? Sign up for an inexpensive, only forex course today and we’ll show you how: http://www.mywealth.com/currency-trading.php
Also, get a free, real time demo trading station here: http://www.fxedu.com/practice-forex-account
Sean Hyman
www.forextradingblog.com
Tags: account, blog, breakout, CHF, course, currency, demo, demo trading, dow, downtrend, EUR, forex, forextrading, free, fundamental, fx, fxedu, Hyman, mywealth, pair, practice, real time, Sean, Sean Hyman, station, Swiss, technical, time, trade, trading station, uptrend
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