USD/CHF Ichimoku Kinkō Hyō Asian Session

I am only beginning to start using Ichimoku in my analysis, certainly not yet for entries, but I think I'm going to start using it more. USD/CHF is now challenging 1st level of resistance in my view. After going below 0.9100 a few times in the last several days, the pair has managed to carve out a temporary base at 0.9090-0.9110 and is advancing on 0.9130-40:

Slightly bullish, but cautiously considering the recent drop. In my view, if it goes higher, the next test would be 0.9170-80, above here, gains can accelerate. Aside from the move up in price, on this chart with Ichimoku cloud, the Tenkansen line (blue) has just crossed the Kijunsen line (green) in the last 4-hour candle; a sign of an impending move up if things hold up.

AUD/JPY on 4 Hour Time Frame

The 5 minute entry now on for over 24 hours, and it is in the money. The reversal is in the cards, for now...

Now that the deal is on, it is a question of management, which means exiting at the best possible moment with the information I have at the time. The first trend line of resistance has been breached, but not with excessive strength and price is hovering just above it at the moment. The second line of resistance is where I am shooting for, and is realistic in the next 24-48 hours of trading (meaning I may need to hold over the weekend). The ultimate goal, would be shooting for the monthly high of 83, or even better 83.50 of August. At this point, the next few hours may decide if I close this, take my 300ishUSD from $50,000 in positioning, or if I shoot for higher. So far it has been an incredible month, with this month being the first month that I have earned more in my part time job (trading foreign exchange) than I have in my day job; I would love to wrap it up with another decent sized win...

EURJPY Looking a bit Tempting

Looking at this 5-Minute Chart, the possibilities are very tempting. Could it break new highs or retreat lower.

I'm not sure, so I'm not taking a position, simply watching in case I do get a confirmation either way.

AUD/USD, 240 Min Chart, Yet Another Perspective

Continuing from my last few posts on this trade, this new snapshot from my charts should speak for itself. This is why everyone should look at multiple time-frames for any trade they are about to take or any trade they are into.

It looks as though price is on the way from swing low to swing high. The next few hours/days will confirm or deny. Yet another perspective, the 5-minute chart drills down to the essence of the action in the Asia session:

It also shows some short term resistance levels against price moving higher.

AUD/USD Rectangle on the 60 Minute Chart

Although I have read a few reports and seen that the AUD/USD could be forming a new downtrend, it has yet to be confirmed from my perspective.

Looking at this 60-minute chart, it could make sense to buy in the demand area of 1.0420 - 1.0450 on the possibility that the AUD/USD will return to 1.05/1.06 in the next week. Either of these are good targets, depending on which way the market and sentiment moves.

On this 240-minute chart, there may also be support found in the 1.0350, the 0.250 Fibonacci from the June 1st Lows (0.9580) up to the August 9th highs (1.0613), and a 200 hour SMA found at 1.0380. Depending on what happens, this could even be a sell signal from present price of 1.440 down to this area.

Then again, it is Friday, and who knows what will happen on the weekend, so I may just close what I have in the next few hours and call it a week.

EUR/USD Report August 16, 2012

I have been trading mostly with the YEN crosses in the last month and a half, through which I have had my best month ever. I wanted to take a breather from the volatility and decided to play a bit with the EUR/USD and also with the GBP/USD. I have found a possible bullish signal for EUR/USD, provided any bad news is limited in the next day or so. Looking at the 240 minute chart, there is a trend-line beginning in July:

If the July trend-line (starting July 24 lows) holds @ 1.2250/60, then there may be a bounce targeting 1.2400/50 depending, but if that line breaks, 1.2150 (Aug 8, 2012 lows) would be the first target of a move down. There are no guarantees either way, so be careful with your account and take responsibility for your own actions.

Buying EUR/USD Near Up-Trend Support Zone / July 29, 2009 Beige Book is Less Worse

The Fed's Beige Book came out today, and although the expectation was for a very downbeat tone, the actual contents are - as I expected, less worse than expectation.

"Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts suggest that economic activity continued to be weak going into the summer, but most Districts indicated that the pace of decline has moderated since the last report or that activity has begun to stabilize, albeit at a low level. Five Districts used the words "slow", "subdued", or "weak" to describe activity levels; Chicago and St. Louis reported that the pace of decline appeared to be moderating; and New York, Cleveland, Kansas City, and San Francisco pointed to signs of stabilization. Minneapolis said the District economy had contracted since the last report."

Full report:
Beige Book

Playing the contrarian angle, I am currently long for several contracts for the EUR/USD, which is trading at lows (so far) of the session and in-and-around the support zone I discussed in my last post, in anticipation of some (hopeful) short covering in the next 24-36 hours after the less-than-apocalyptic report that just hit the wires. Mind you, that I still need to do a bit more than skim the report myself. The consensus seems to be that major support comes in at about 1.3750/1.3850, and that short term support is near 1.3980-1.4000 which has held as of this posting. My stops are well below major support in anticipation for the usual risk aversion that has characterized the Asia session over the last few weeks. I fully anticipate more downward movement but so far as of 18:54 GMT (14:54 EST), the selling of EUR/USD has moderated but the risk is still palpable with the S&P hovering near 970. I am hoping to ride this as a swing trade over the next few days, with modest targets of 1.4180, 1.4220, and possibly another attempt at the 1.4300, but subject to change as always. I will be watching the chart for the next few hours to see the end of the New York session and I will be updating again soon.

240 Min (4hr) EUR/USD, 5:00pm GMT July 19, 2009

This is my 240 minute chart study of the EUR/USD, made in preparation for the upcoming trading week of July 20th-24th. Clicking on the image will make things more clear. To start off, I cannot say where the currency will be in a few hours, or days or by the end of the week, but I do have some ideas and areas of price interest. Before I get into the details of my analysis, you may want to check out this wonderful support and resistance webinar by Triffany Hammond courtesy of fxstreet.com.

Support Areas

Up Trending Support zone. Notice the pair of red trend lines starting at the bottom left hand side of the page, these start at the low of about 1.3823 reached on May 17th, 2009, and extend up to where they were tested and held on the July 8th Monthly low of about 1.3834. The reason I have used double lines for my support and resistance up-trend/down-trend lines is to include both the wicks and the tops/bottoms of the low/high candles of these zones; the idea being that support and resistance are better thought of as zones rather than specific price points. The interesting thing about this zone is that it has only been tested once unsuccessfully and has not been approached with strength since July 8th; in fact, if you look at the candles approaching this zone from July 8th onwards, you'll notice that they have very long wicks pointing down. This means that there was an attempt to drive the price down, but it was successfully repelled within the 4hr candle itself and at increasingly higher levels. This would indicate that long interest in the EUR is gaining ground and pushing support progressively higher.

1.3423 Might be considered as a potential bottom on a potential serious move to the downside, seeing as how this price held after the breakout to the upside - and resistance often becomes support and visa versa. This was also the start to the creation of the very large consolidation triangle that has formed since.

1.3775-1.3750 Should be as strong support zone. This zone starts at 1.3775 which is the 61.8% Fibonacci level of the previously mentioned breakout support starting at 1.3423 to the high of 1.4349 achieved on June 3rd which has yet to be approached since. I would consider the zone bottom to be at 1.3740/50 which is the June 15th monthly low.

1.3880-1.3910 Includes a number of interesting levels, where we have the 50% retracement from the down move from the 1.4339 to the June 15th low of 1.3748 which is 1.3896. Also there is the 50% retracement level from the 1.3423 to 1.4339 top which comes in at 1.3881. 1.3910 is included because no 4-hr candle body has successfully closed below since we came off that July 8th recent low.

1.3975 is a 38% retracement of the 1.4339 to 1.3748 June low.

1.4075 has held very nicely in the last couple days of trading on the week, and is a 50% retracement for the up move from the June low of 1.3748 to the July 1st (candle body high) of 1.4184.

Resistance Areas

Naturally we have the high of 2009 thus far coming in at 1.4339, which will probably make more sense on a daily chart, as I'm sure it's near an important Fibonacci level. This is the top of our triangle. This is also the begining of our complimentary down trendline in the double blue lines (which are actually black in this screen shot). This resistance zone was tested once and held the candle body at 1.4184 on July 1st but the wick extended up to peek about 1.4200 before being pushed back down again with strength. So far this has held but barely it seems, because once we get into the second half of July, this zone is violated repeatedly and we have even had 3 candle body closes within the resistance zone and one even above it before the price was chased back to the bottom of the zone in the last few hours of the trading week.

Key zones of resistance to the upside of the triangle:

1.4140 we have not had a 4 hour candle body close above this level since July 1st.
1.4180-1.4200 we have not had a 4 hour candle close in this zone since the early June highs. I have heard and read that this is the level to break for an indication of a return to long-term bullish momentum for the EUR/USD
1.4320-1.4340 we have not had a 4 hour candle close in this level since July 1st since 2008. This in my mind would be the zone to beat to make sure that we haven't turned the triangle into a rectangle - which I suspect is one scenario we might see until earnings season is over or the rest of the "summer correction" (I keep hearing about it but not seeing very much from the bears) is finished.

The Theme here is an ever higher series of lows with the main line of support strength being the uptrend line support zone which makes up the base of that triangle that most traders have been watching very carefully over the last month and a half. I would be able to say the same about the highs being lower, but the last 2 days of trading this week has the price action working fully inside the resistance zone and even above it for significant periods above it. To me and to a lot of traders out there this looks like a bullish pennant, but I've seen many of these fail on different timeframes, so caution is advised for either short or long positions. I'm favouring a break to the upside based on the balance of data and charting analysis, but waiting for confirmation (before going long at what seems like the range highs) is a good play, i.e. waiting for a close above 1.42 on the hourly. Another play might be what I have been doing since June, which is to buy very lightly near the bottom of the triangle, in an attempt to set up a swing trade, which has the potential to turn into a break out trade if the long term bullishness resumes. Regardless of what happens, the week should be intersting, and possibly very choppy. Keeping an eye on oil, the DJIA and the S&P would be a good idea as well.