International Trading

Eur/$, "ideal" area to top (but no confirm yet).....




International Trading


Eur/$ has indeed continued higher, breaking above the July 20th high at 1.3030 and on way toward the long held 1.3120/35 resistance area next (38% retracement from the Nov high at 1.5140). However, the market is nearing overbought after the gains from the Nov low at 1.1880, is potentially within the final upleg from that low (wave 5, see numbering on daily chart below), lots of other currencies are reaching longer term $ support areas (cable at 1.5630/50, 50% retracement from the Aug 2009 high at 1.7040, $/index at 81.40/55, 50% from Nov low at 74.25, etc.), and the short term eur/$ chart may be nearing a high. These all suggest that risk is rising for at least a few weeks/month of consolidating lower and "ideally" would do so in this area. I use the word "ideally" as there are no signs of such a high "pattern-wise" (at least so far). In general from a position standpoint, don't want to make the mistake of just running in and shorting in these types of situations, as there is often a big difference between "ideal" and what actually occurs. I prefer to be a little more patient, managing the risk (if in a position) or waiting for signs of a short term pattern/reversal before going against the larger trend. Though this will usually mean not getting at the exact reversal point, the risk by waiting, will most times be quite less (remember its all about risk/reward). In the case of eur/$, rebought on July 23rd at 1.2840 and given the potential increase in risk in the position, would use a very aggressive close below the week long bullish trendline (currently at 1.2975/85) as a sign to stop. Further support below there is seen at the bullish trendline from late June (currently at 1.2920/30), while resistance above the 1.3120/35 area is at the rising trendline since June (currently at 1.3260/75).

Longer term no change in the bullish view on way toward 1.3120/35 (almost there), with potential for 1.3940/55 (50% from the Nov 2009 high at 1.5140) and even the bearish trendline from that high (currently at 1.4725/50) still favored over the next number of months. However as mentioned above, risk is rising for a month (or more) of consolidating on the way higher (see "ideal" scenario on weekly chart/2nd chart below). Switched the longer term bias to neutral on May 25th at 1.2260, from bearish which was put in place last Nov 2nd at 1.4825. Though further upside is favored in the bigger picture, just too much near term risk to switch the longer term bias here, and instead would wait for a better opportunity to switch (expected to be to the bullish side and at lower levels ahead).

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Strategist touting iron condor sees range−bound shares for China fund




International Trading



FXI – iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund – The implementation of a large-volume iron condor on the FXI, an exchange-traded fund that corresponds to the performance of the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index – an index created to represent the performance of 25 of the largest and most liquid companies in the Chinese equity market, suggests one options strategist expects the price of the underlying fund to stagnate through August expiration. Shares of the FXI are currently down 0.90% on the day to stand at $40.80 just before 11:35 am ET. The investor essentially enacted a pair of credit spreads in order to reel in available premium, which he keeps in full if shares trade above $40.00 and below $43.00 through expiration day next month. To establish the iron condor the investor sold 15,600 calls at the August $43 strike for a premium of $0.30 each, and purchased the same number of calls at the higher August $45 strike for a premium of $0.06 apiece. On the put side, the trader shed 15,600 contracts at the August $40 strike for a premium of $0.57 each, and bought the same number of August $38 strike puts at a premium of $0.22 a-pop. The investor receives a net credit of $0.59 per contract on the transaction, which he keeps as long as shares remain range-bound between the $40.00 to $43.00 strike prices through August expiration day. The trader responsible for the iron condor faces substantial risk of loss should the price of the underlying fund move significantly in the next several weeks. Losses start to accumulate for the investor should shares rally above the upper breakeven price of $43.59, or if shares slip beneath the lower breakeven point at $39.41 by expiration. Maximum potential losses the investor could incur amount to $1.41 per contract should shares rally sharply to surpass $45.00, or if shares nosedive to trade below $38.00 by expiration in August.

GMCR – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. – Shares of the specialty coffee company rallied as much as 10.2% today to reach an intraday high of $31.60 after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter results on Wednesday. GMCR’s shares are currently up 8.20% to $31.02 as of 11:55 am ET. The firm posted third-quarter net income, excluding items, of $0.19 a share, which beat average analyst estimates of $0.18 a share. One options trader was well positioned for the current surge in the price of the underlying shares. It looks like this individual booked profits by selling a previously established long call position in the August contract, and subsequently initiated longer-term bullish stance on the stock by purchasing a fresh chunk of calls in the December contract. The investor appears to have originally purchased roughly 7,690 calls at the August $29 strike for an average premium of $1.90 each back on July 22. Today, with the August $29 calls currently in-the-money, the trader sold 7,690 lots at a premium of $2.40 per contract. Net profits on the sale amount to $0.50 per contract. Next, the options player looked to the December $30 strike to purchase 7,690 in-the-money calls for premium of $3.83 a-pop. Profits on the new position start to amass should Green Mountain Coffee’s shares rally another 9.05% over the current price of $31.02, exceed the current 52-week high of $33.20, to surpass the effective breakeven price of $33.83 by expiration day in December. As of 12:05 pm ET, the overall reading of options implied volatility on the stock is down 27.6% to 38.10% post-earnings.

XLP – Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR – In the first 5 minutes of the trading session one investor enacted a three-legged bearish options combination play on the XLP, an exchange-traded fund designed to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Consumer Staples Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, to prepare for continued erosion in the price of the underlying shares through September expiration. Shares of the XLP slipped 1.60% lower to trade at $26.80 by 12:10 pm ET. It looks like the options strategist sold call options in order to partially finance a ratio put spread. To establish the pessimistic play, the investor sold 8,900 calls at the September $28 strike at a premium of $0.19 each, purchased 8,900 now in-the-money puts at the September $27 strike for premium of $0.59 apiece, and sold 17,800 puts at the lower September $25 strike for a premium of $0.16 a-pop. The net cost of the transaction is reduced to just $0.08 per contract. The makeup of this trade positions the responsible party to profit should the XLP’s shares trade below the effective breakeven point on the spread at $26.92 through September expiration. Maximum available profits of $1.92 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if shares of the underlying fund decline another 6.7% from the current price to settle at $25.00 at expiration. The sharp increase in demand for XLP option contracts lifted the overall reading of options implied volatility on the fund 10.7% to 15.55% as of 12:20 pm ET.

KR – Kroger Co. – Optimistic options players appear to be building up short interest in September contract put options on the supermarket operator today with shares of the underlying stock increasing as much as 1.2% to an intraday high of $21.28. Investors looked to the September $20 strike to sell approximately 9,500 puts for an average premium of $0.30 apiece. Put sellers keep the full premium received on the transaction as long as Kroger’s shares exceed $20.00 through expiration day in September. Investors short the puts are apparently willing to have shares of the underlying stock put to them at an effective price of $19.70 each should the puts land in-the-money at expiration. Similar put selling behavior was observed back on July 22 when traders sold some 5,400 puts at the same strike price for an average premium of $0.70 per contract.

U.S. Dollar Forecast To Fall Further Against Euro, British Pound, and Japanese Yen




International Trading



The FXCM Speculative Sentiment Index is an excellent tool to gauge trader positioning and sentiment in the FX market. Unlike major equities or futures markets, there is no single centralized exchange for forex trading. Such decentralized activity makes finding uniform volume or open interest data impossible. DailyFX fills the gap by offering access to FXCM’s proprietary volume and positioning information—giving an unparalleled view of forex market sentiment.
LastWeekPresent%LongChange: Open InterestSignals
EUR/USD-1.33-1.6957.0%-9.1%Bullish
GBP/USD-1.16-1.7656.0%2.4%Bullish
USD/JPY4.894.9783.0%4.0%Bearish
USD/CHF3.775.8779.0%6.4%Bearish
USD/CAD1.822.5772.0%4%Bearish
GBP/JPY1.45-1.1345.0%1.1%Bullish

Euro Forecast To Gain Versus US Dollar

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EURUSD - The ratio of long to short positions in the EURUSD stands at -1.69 as nearly 63% of traders are short. Yesterday, the ratio was at -1.50 as 60% of open positions were short. In detail, long positions are 9.1% lower than yesterday and 2.6% weaker since last week. Short positions are 3.0% higher than yesterday and 28.3% stronger since last week. Open interest is 1.8% weaker than yesterday and 103.9% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more EURUSD gains.

British Pound Turnaround May Be On The Horizon

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GBPUSD - The ratio of long to short positions in the GBPUSD stands at -1.76 as nearly 64% of traders are short. Yesterday, the ratio was at -1.74 as 63% of open positions were short. In detail, long positions are 1.5% higher than yesterday and 0.7% weaker since last week. Short positions are 2.8% higher than yesterday and 54.0% stronger since last week. Open interest is 2.4% stronger than yesterday and 133.5% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more GBPUSD gains.

Japanese Yen Positioning Remains At Extreme Levels

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USDJPY - The ratio of long to short positions in the USDJPY stands at 4.97 as nearly 83% of traders are long. Yesterday, the ratio was at 3.47 as 78% of open positions were long. In detail, long positions are 11.5% higher than yesterday and 16.2% stronger since last week. Short positions are 22.1% lower than yesterday and 7.4% stronger since last week. Open interest is 4.0% stronger than yesterday and 126.1% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more USDJPY losses.

Swiss Franc May Continue To Strengthen Against The Dollar

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USDCHF - The ratio of long to short positions in the USDCHF stands at 3.87 as nearly 79% of traders are long. Yesterday, the ratio was at 2.48 as 71% of open positions were long. In detail, long positions are 18.6% higher than yesterday and 31.7% stronger since last week. Short positions are 23.9% lower than yesterday and 11.7% weaker since last week. Open interest is 6.4% stronger than yesterday and 137.1% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more USDCHF losses.

Canadian Dollar Forecast To Break Below Narrow Range

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USDCAD - The ratio of long to short positions in the USDCAD stands at 2.57 as nearly 72% of traders are long. Yesterday, the ratio was at 2.19 as 69% of open positions were long. In detail, long positions are 9.1% higher than yesterday and 32.5% stronger since last week. Short positions are 7.2% lower than yesterday and 2.4% stronger since last week. Open interest is 4.0% stronger than yesterday and 145.1% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more USDCAD losses.

British Pound Forecast To Advance Against Yen

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GBPJPY - The ratio of long to short positions in the GBPJPY stands at -1.13 as nearly 53% of traders are short. Yesterday, the ratio was at -1.33 as 57% of open positions were short. In detail, long positions are 10.3% higher than yesterday and 4.5% weaker since last week. Short positions are 5.8% lower than yesterday and 77.1% stronger since last week. Open interest is 1.1% stronger than yesterday and 137.7% above its monthly average. The SSI is a contrarian indicator and signals more GBPJPY gains.

Weekly Overview

Speculative Sentiment Index Points to Further U.S. Declines
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Choppy U.S. dollar price action has led to mixed Forex trading crowd sentiment, moderating our conviction in calling for further USD weakness. Our sentiment-based algorithmic trading strategy remains short the U.S. dollar against the British Pound and the euro, while positioning in the USDJPY calls for additional declines as the ratio is up from 3.47 yesterday, and unchanged from last week. Indecisiveness across the FX markets makes it difficult to a make short-term forecast with assurance. However, market participants are sure to keep an eye on further developments as they may prove important in deciding market direction for the greenback.

Today's Live Show: Is the JPY Bound to Revisit 14−year Highs vs. USD?






Forex traders, join the daily All Things Forex broadcast- a live one hour program covering Forex and major economic events, trend developments, research, analysis, ideas, education, live traders forum, interviews with some of the most respected names in the trading world, and much more..
In the broadcast today: Is the JPY Bound to Revisit 14-year Highs vs. USD? Ahead of a sequence of important economic data from Japan, we focus on the JPY and explore the potential for the Yen to re-test its 14-year high against the USD, we analyze the latest trend developments with the USD/JPY currency pair, we note the bullish stance of the EUR/USD pair climbing to a new multi-month high above $1.31, we follow up on the NZD after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand interest rate announcement, we highlight the market's reaction to the Euro-zone Economic Sentiment and the U.S. Jobless Claims, we discuss new forecasts from Bank of New York-Mellon, Standard Bank and UBS, and prepare for the busy trading session ahead.  

The Experts' Recommendations for Holiday Time




International Trading


beach

Summertime. What should I do?
Dreaming about white sand? Vacation on a boat? Hiking in the mountains? Road trip with your family? Or will you stay at home this summer? In any case, this is holiday season and market typically behaves differently... So what strategies should we adopt?
We've asked some of our contributors how they recommend to trade in August if you're not away on vacation... and what to do if you're going to leave for holidays and how to trade upon your return. 

They also give us their book recommendation for the summer as well as their forecast for the rest of the year.
The questions for all the experts were: 

1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays?

2. What book do you recommend us to read this summer? 

3. What should we do when returning to the markets in September and what is your forecast for the major currencies in Q4?

Ed Ponsi

“It’s important to enforce discipline; if the market isn’t giving you a good chance to turn a profit, you have to sit tight or walk away […] Also, beware of rumors in the summer.” [Read all Ed's answers]

Phil Newton

“There is only one thing to do: trade your plan. […] Assuming you have taken a break you should ease yourself back into you're trading routine.”[Read all Phil's answers]

Dr Sivaraman

“If one wants to do trades while enjoying holidays then do 1 lot position trade identifying the extreme levels ( limitations) and keep lower level buy or higher level sell orders - whichever is filled you may keep a stop and limit of 50-60 pips.” [Read all Dr Sivaraman's answers]

Marco Mayer

“I’ve seen both, summers where literally nothing happened and summers where the markets were completely crazy. You have to be prepared for both, when things slow down, so do I.” [Read all Marco's answers]

John Jagerson

“If the market does slow this summer - I think it is the perfect time to start creating conditional plans not just for inflation but for a variety of potential market conditions that may emerge through the end of 2010 and 2011.”[Read all John's answers]

Gonçalo Moreira

“I wouldn't take a slow price action during August for granted - instead I prefer to be prepared for possible cascades in price due to thinner market conditions.” [Read all Gonçalo's answers]

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Rob Booker

“I'll be focusing my time and attention on the GBP mostly - the crosses and against the USD - and I expect to see some significant moves.” [Read all Rob's answers]

Wayne McDonell

“Preparation needs to be made for a return from holiday, not before the holiday. Traders need to anticipate what the "investors" intend to do when they return.” [Read all Wayne's answers]

Valeria Bednarik

“My recommendations will be to reduce your leverage, use a tight stop and be patient! Use cyclic indicators to support your trading, like stochastic, or CCI.” [Read all Valeria's answers]

James Chen

"When it gets slow (which it never really does for me), I would definitely say that people should keep trying to learn and practice as much as humanly possible." [Read James' full answers]

Ilian Yotov

“The carry trade has made a comeback. If this continues [...] in August, the higher-yielding currencies could remain well bid [...]. Traders should watch throughout the month of August if the current market environment remains the same.” [Read all Ilian's answers]

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