New Forex Trading Strategy

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Dollar Guru (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Knowing currency correlations between the major pairs can help you a lot in your trading. Suppose you have the data about the currency correlations of the major currency pairs. The correlation between GBP/USD and EUR/USD is 0.68. This correlation coefficient is positive and it means both the pairs move in the same direction 68% of the time.

USD/CHF and EUR/USD have a correlation coefficient of -0.975 and is pretty close to (-1). It means both USD/CHF and EUR/USD pairs move in the opposite direction almost 97.5% of the time. It means if USD/CHF moves up, the pair EUR/USD will move down!

You have this information. It tells you how much these pairs move in the same or opposite directions. Suppose you trade both the pairs USD/CHF and EUR/USD by going long at the same time. What you will be doing is in fact canceling both the positions.

If you win on USD/CHF pair, you will lose on EUR/USD pair. Due to the negative correlation between the two pairs, the two trades would effectively cancel each other. A savvy investor would go long on USD/CHF. At the same time he/she will go short on EUR/USD. So he/she will be shorting USD in both the trades and diversifying the USD bearish investment.

You can make trade entry and exit decisions based on currency correlations. Suppose GBP/USD starts showing volatility and approaches a resistance level. You anticipate going long on a breakout.

However, you notice on the charts that the other three major currency pairs are not showing volatility and moving as much as the GBP/USD. EUR/USD is not showing volatility and moving up on the chart. USD/CHF is not showing much volatility and moving down on the chart. USD/JPY is also not showing much volatility and not moving down on the chart. This means that the volatility in GBP/USD is solely GBP driven. The move is maybe related to some news in the British economy about Bank of England raising or lowering interest rates or some big companies merging.

Now you know that the move in GBP/USD pair is Pound driven and not US Dollar driven. You can take advantage of this information by ignoring the GBP driven move and waiting for a later opportunity that involves simultaneous correlated moves of all the major pairs.

Lets take another example. Suppose you have taken a short position on EUR/USD pair. You want to be sure whether the pair will proceed down towards your profit target. You also want to know can it go against you and cause you to exit the trade with a small loss.

Your EUR/USD is heading towards M1 level after having broken the S1 support pivot level. You should take a look at the pair EUR/GBP. You find that it has paused at its S1 support pivot level. It is showing signs of reversing to the upside.

In this type of a situation, knowledge of currency correlations can tell you if EUR/GBP breaks through the S1 level, you are poised for a profitable trade. However, if it reverses and heads back to the upside, you should watch the indicators and exit before taking a big loss. As you mature in forex trading, you might consider trading a basket of all the major currencies. - 23305

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