3rd in $3.50-Rebuy SNG 180 players

Took a break from Forex as the currencies were behaving like a rockabye baby and ended up on the final tournament table. Managed to get a 3rd placing prize money of USD$211.82( for 2.75 hours worth of effort)! I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't go further than 3rd though.


Continue reading to see the stats of my final hand which had me knock out.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall - EURUSD H&S

Saw something on the H4 chart that somewhats look like a mirror image of the PA / CS but this time on the sell side at 1.4323. Will be holding on to the shorts with tight SL at this point till the Employment and ISM Non-Manufacturing data are out which might prove my sentiments wrong. Till then.

Swiss Cuts Interest Rate

The swiss interest rate was cut at an unscheduled meeting and has caused the CHF to plunged with Euro/CHF taking almost 250 pips up. I closed my lot earlier than expected and would have probably made a neat and nice profit instead of a negative 30 pips. Tough luck.

Source : http://www.xe.com/news/2011/08/03/2070973.htm?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=TL&utm_content=NOGEO&utm_campaign=News_RSS_Art1

I wanted to open a long at 1.0960 but didn't had the guts. I can only knock myself in the head because it rose by 100 over pips in mere minutes after I went off my desk to take some stuffs from the car. Must definitely been a good day for anyone trading against the Euro and Swiss francs.
On a fundamentals sidenote, the soaring Spanish and Italian bonds will yield weight on the Euro. We can also see that the Euro has been consistently following the direction of the gold and with intervention from the Swiss, will the bulls come for the EUR/USD again? Not quite, because the Swiss probably won't want to acquire any of the major currencies but GOLD! However, the retail news for EU will be out soon and I won't be trading on it. Will wait till U.S data tonight.

Thanks.

[Trading The News] Australia's Interest Rate and Retail Sales 02.08.2011

There is still no confirmation that the RBA(Reserve Bank of Australia) will be increasing its interest rates. At the same time, the retail sales for AU will be out too which I'm pretty confident it will turn out good. These 2 important indicators will determine the trade setup later.

[01.08.2011] Nikkei - JAPAN PREPARES FOR CURRENCY INTERVENTION

Been a landslide for the euro the whole day especially after the U.S data just now. Retracement for the Euro should be done at 1.4240 area and I'll advise a sell. Meanwhile there has been rumors that Japan are preparing for intervention. It can either be acquiring Euros or the Dollar but my spider sense has prompt me to go in for the USD/JPY with a tight SL.

Trade Plan :
Sell Eur/USD @ 1.4240.
Buy USD/JPY @ 77.09

[Trading The News] UK Manufacturing PMI on 01/08/2011

UK Manufacturing PMI (Leading Indicator)
Forecast : 51.1
Previous : 51.3

The UK Manufacturing data due to be released in 30 minutes is our first important indicator of the week. Many traders will keep an eye on this data release as it will help to shape the trend and strength of the currency in the coming weeks and indirectly have an impact on future indicators like employment and retail etc.

The Plan
A +(-) of 2.5 to 3 will be enough to move the market. If the result is positive (52.6 above), we can look into buying the GBP/USD, whereas a sell into the GBP/USD will be expected if the result comes out to 48.6 and below. Good luck.

Update: No optimal trade as actual came in at 49.1 . Cheers.

Will Super Heroes be there to save America on 2nd August?

Will the real superman please stand up. America needs you now to assure the world that there will be no default on dooms day. Even if the United States can escape a default (which I'm 90% sure they could), a downgrade of its AAA credit rating seems inevitable. I have put together a few scenarios that will happen and the consequences or favors that will impact the nation and the dollar. All these are based on my analysis and at the end I will even pick the most likely scenario that we will be seeing.

Interesting Visualization of the Current U.S Debt Problems

An interesting website depicting American's current debt problems in a very different perspective. I am pretty impressed by the artist's comparison of the debts to the different scenarios.

http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us/

2nd Placing in Pokerstars SNG $3.50 Buy-In

I have been playing Texas Hold'em at Pokerstars for awhile now and have been placed regularly at the Sit & Go touraments. I have recently moved up to the $2.50 / $3.50 buy ins and tonight is probably the best result I have achieved. A combination of starting hands and luck brought me heads on only to lose a all-in call by my opponent. Overall, the 3 hours of poker bag me a cool USD$348.34 which I'm kinda contented with.


My opponent called an all in before flop. Seeing that he has been doing it all night, I followed and called everything I had too. I had AJ and while he had K4. In the end, he won with a straight 2 to 6. :(

EU rallies for 150+ pips after U.S GDP data

The Euro bulls has once again pushed ahead of the USD after very bad GDP data of 1.3%, way below the initial forecast of 1.9%. Luckily I was home on time and able to catch up on the news 5 minutes prior to release and enter right after the data was out at 1.4356. It was a pity I lock my profits after 120 pips while disgustingly watching the euro climb past the 1.44 mark before heading back to the 1.4380/90 area. Some scalping of shorts and longs made my total pip collection tonight standing at +147. What a great day and will be looking forward to next week.

[Trading The News] U.S GDP Advance GDP q\q on 29/07/2011

The U.S Advance GDP q\q data is one of the most important piece of data as it has a signficant impact on the forex market and how the market will move with it. The forecast for the GDP is as follows :

U.S Advance GDP q\q
Forecast : 1.9%
Previous : 3.9%

I will be looking at a deviation of > 0.4% before my trade would be entered. Therefore, if we get a figure of 1.5% and below, we will be looking to buy EUR/USD with a TP of more than 100 pips (your choice here). If the numbers looks good, > 2.3 , a SELL option would be your only choice. However, we would be looking into other pairs for sell options (GBP,JPY) rather than the Euro for the best bang for pips.