Something Interesting in Financial Video September 2013 - page 3
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In our last lesson we continued our free forex trading course with a look at interest rates and how the capital flows associated with movements in the interest rates of a country affect the value of its currency. Now that we have a basic understanding of how interest rates move the forex market, lets help drive this point home with a specific example from today's market environment.
For our example we are going to say that I am a savvy investor located in the United States who is seeking a good place to park some savings where I can earn a decent return on my money. For this particular slice of my portfolio I am looking for an interest paying instrument that will pay me a steady stream of cash on my money.
As many of you already know a government or corporate bond will do just this paying me whatever the interest rate is as set by the country's central bank that I am investing in, plus an additional interest rate depending on the length of the bond that I am investing in (for example a 1 year bond is generally going to pay me a lower rate of interest than a 10 year bond) and for the extra risk that I take on for different type of bonds (for example a government bond is normally going to pay me less than a corporate bond because there is less chance that the government is going to default on the loan).
So, knowing this, I decide that I would like to invest in a bond that pays me a good rate of interest, and I am not looking to get too speculative about this investment, so I prefer a government bond over a corporate bond. For our example we are going to say for simplicity's sake, that the bonds of the countries that we have available to invest in pay an interest rate equal to the interest rate in the country as set by the central bank.
Now with this in mind the next thing that I do is list out all the different interest rates for the major countries of the world and I come up with:
United States: 2.00%
Euro Zone: 4.00%
Japan: .50%
United Kingdom: 5.00%
Australia: 7.25%
Canada: 3.00%
New Zealand: 8.25%
Switzerland: 2.75%
After reviewing my options its seems pretty clear that if I am just going on interest rates, then New Zealand is the place to put my money as this will earn me an extra 6.25% in interest each year over investing that same money in the United States. Now I am not going to drag the lesson out by including all the history of the interest rates in New Zealand here, but I will tell you they have been in a high interest rate environment relative to the United States for quite some time. With this in mind if I would have have followed this logic in the past then it would have played out very well for me not only from an interest rate standpoint but also from a currency appreciation standpoint.
Now obviously hindsight is 20/20 and I have simplified things here for our understanding, but this is not too far off from how international investors including large market moving hedge funds and other players think. It is also a great example of the forces we have spoken about in our lessons on capital flows and in our last lesson on interest rates at play in today's market.
As we learned about in our lessons on how rollover works in module two of this course, when holding a position past 5pm NY time traders earn interest when they are long the currency with the higher interest rate. Conversely, when traders are long the currency with the lower interest rate they pay interest when holding a position past 5pm NY time. Like the US investor in the example from our last lesson who took his US Dollars and invested them in New Zealand Bonds to earn a higher return, currency traders can also take advantage of countries which offer higher interest rates. Luckily for us however taking advantage of interest rate differences between countries is generally much easier for currency traders who can do so with a simple click of the mouse.
To help demonstrate this lets look at the interest rates as set by the central banks for the main currencies which we are interested in. As you can see here and as we went over in our last lesson, rates as set by the Federal Reserve in the United States are currently at 2%, and rates as set by the Bank of New Zealand are currently at 8.25%.
Now lets bring up a screen shot of the simple dealing rates window and locate the New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar Currency pair. If we buy this currency pair, then we are long the New Zealand Dollar which is the higher yielding currency, and short the US Dollar which is the lower yielding currency. With this in mind we earn $10 per contract held past 5pm NY time as shown in the Roll B column of the simple dealing rates window. Conversely, if we sell this currency pair then we are short the higher yielding New Zealand Dollar and Long the lower yielding US Dollar, so we pay $15 dollars per contract held past 5pm NY Time, as shown in the roll s column of the window. As you can see here, we can take advantage of the higher interest rates in New Zealand by buying New Zealand Dollars and Selling US Dollars with the click of the mouse, and without having to go through the trouble of figuring out how to buy New Zealand bonds as we would have had to in our last lesson. Because of the simplicity of this strategy and the fact that in addition to the interest that one earns by being long the currency with the higher interest rate there is the opportunity for capital appreciation should the higher yielding currency move in one's favor, this is a hugely popular strategy. This is important to us as traders not only because it is a strategy that we may want to consider trading at some point, but also because a huge amount of capital flows in and out of currencies based on this strategy, making it a major market mover in both the long and short term time frames. Lastly, it is important to us as traders to understand that when a trader is long the carry, meaning that he or she is long the currency pair with the higher interest rate, then that trader is normally trading with the wind at their back as they are getting paid every day they hold their position, regardless of what happens to the exchange rate. Conversely when a trader is short the carry, meaning that they are long the currency pair with the lower interest rate, then they are generally trading with the wind in their face as they are paying money every day, regardless of what happens with the exchange rate.
The Technical Tools I Use
First, I largely recommend keeping it simple. I think it is better to focus on a few things and become really good at them rather than trying to learn everything but having a cursory understanding instead of real mastery of many technical analysis subjects. For me, at least, specializing in a few markets and methods is what gives me the edge I need to succeed.
The three technical tools I use are as follows:
1. Horizontal Support and Resistance Levels. Support and resistance is a concept I think is worth mastering; perhaps the most important technical concept, in my opinion. The basic idea is to look for levels that are acting as a “wall” of sorts; a barrier where price tends to have trouble breaking through, and often reverses from. Price levels where support (a lower barrier) and resistance (a higher barrier) emerge signal where buyers and sellers may be sitting. As a result, they are often good entry and exit points; levels where we can find a low-risk way of speculating upon a reversal in price.
2. Trendlines. Trendlines are a bit like diagonal support/resistance levels. In order for a trendline to be valid, I like for it to be touched three times, with the market failing to close below it each time, and preferably rallying strongly off it. Trendlines can also be a point that the market reverses from, and thus a potentially low-risk way to speculate upon a price reversal.
3. Candlesticks. The last technical concept I like to focus on is candlesticks. Specifically, I look for long wicks -- a condition where the straight line of the candlestick is much longer than the body of the candle. I view long wicks as an indication of where bulls/bears will step in to defend a price level and create a reversal. When a market forms a long wick off a trendline or a support/resistance level, I view it as a particularly favorable sign for a price reversal.
Trailing Your Stop
Of course, identifying levels that price will reverse from is only one part of the equation; stop loss placement (the price at which you will exit and take a loss) and position-sizing (how many shares, ounces, or currency units being purchased) are very important. My previous article on managing risk across timeframes illustrates my position-sizing strategy; I believe position-sizing and stop loss management need to be designed in a complementary fashion, in consideration of one another.
Here is my my basic approach:
1. First, I identify where buyers/sellers will step in to defend a price zone, and I place my stop just beyond that reach. Invariably I will miscalculate and incur some losses; I accept this and view it as almost inevitable. What percent of my account I am willing to risk on this trade depends on what timeframe the trade is being placed upon, as I previously noted.
2. Based on where I put my stop-loss, I enter a position size accordingly. For instance, if I purchase stock ABC at $10 per share and place my stop at $9, that means I am risking $1 per share. If I have $1,000 in my account and am willing to risk 2% per trade, that means I can risk $20. This means I can purchase 20 shares.
3. I re-evaluate the market after each candle on the timeframe I place the trade on. For instance, if I am trading off the daily chart, I re-evaluate the position each day, after the new candle forms. What I like to see is a big move in my favor, and a new support/resistance level established. Once I see a new support/resistance level established, I move my stop up accordingly.
4. Once I can move my stop up to break even, I look to take on more risk. One way I like to do this is by looking at a lower timeframe. For instance, once I’m able to trail my stop up to break even or lock in some profits on the weekly timeframe, then I’ll look at the daily timeframe to see opportunities there; once I can enter and safely trail up on the daily, I’ll look at intraday opportunities. Of course, I have to be sure I can manage this within the parameters of my lifestyle; trading on a 15 minute chart and re-evaluating the market every 15 minutes can be exhausting, and may require certain technological aids (smartphones to enable mobility, timers to remind me).
And that’s basically it; my goal is to ride trends until they are exhausted.
As we saw in previous lesson, if a trader buys the NZD/USD currency pair, then as of this lesson, they will earn $15 per contract held past 5pm NY time on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. As we learned in our lesson on rollover in module two of this course, they will earn 3 days worth of rolls or $45 on Wednesday to take into account Saturday and Sunday when the market is closed. This brings the total interest paid for the 7 days in the week to 7 * 15 = $105. As there are 52 weeks in a year if a trader held this position for an entire year and the rollover rate did not change, they would earn (105 * 52) = $5460 in interest from the rollover portion of the trade.
At the current market rate for NZD/USD as of this lesson of .7687 this is an annual return from just the rollover portion of the trade of $5460/$76,870 = 7.1%. This of course makes the large assumptions for simplicity's sake that the exchange rate and rollover rate will remain the same as they are today for the 1 year period that the trader is in the trade.
Now you may be thinking to yourself at this point, "well Dave I was kind of excited about this whole carry trade thing and was seeing how it was so popular until I see a 7.1% return plus all the caveats. To be honest with you this does not get me too excited and I don't really see why this is all that popular."
As some of you may have already realized however, if we were to utilize some of the leverage that is available to us in the forex market as we learned about in module two of this course, then we might be able to take that 7.1% return and juice it up into something a little more interesting. So with this in mind, lets say I leveraged this position 2 to 1, which most traders I think would agree is still pretty conservative. This would double the return from the rollover portion of the trade to 14.2%, a return that if generated consistently would out perform the long term average return of the US Stock market. Taking this a bit further, if I increased the leverage to a more aggressive 3 to 1, that would put my return from rollover at 21.3%, and if I upped the leverage to an even more aggressive 4 to 1 that would put me at 28.4%, a return that if I consistently generated year after year, would put me among the top traders in the world.
When people first see this many times their initial reaction is one of excitement, which makes them want to jump right into a trade. As with most things however, if making money was this easy then everyone would be a millionaire, so while this is an enticing return, and while there has been a lot of money made by people employing carry trade strategies, there are other things to consider:
1. Exchange Rate Fluctuations which can cause additional profits or wipe out all profits and cause losses on the trade.
2. Changes in Interest Rates which can increase the positive rollover, decrease it, or cause a trader to end up paying for holding the position instead of earning.
3. The Use of Leverage amplifies any gains made on the strategy but also amplifies any loss should the trade begin to work against the trader.
It is how traders deal with these unknowns that separates traders who consistently make money with carry trade strategies from those who do not, a topic which we will discuss in our next lesson.
As we have learned in our first two lessons on the carry trade, it is the size of the difference between interest rates in the countries whose currencies we are trading that ultimately determines how much we either pay or receive for holding a position past 5pm New York Time. With this in mind it is only logical that if the difference in interest rates between two countries changes, then so will the rollover amount that is either paid or collected when trading those country's currencies.
As a quick example lets take another look at the NZD/USD. As of this lesson if we were to buy the NZD/USD currency pair then we would earn $10 for each contract we held past 5pm NY time. As we have learned in our first two lessons the reason why we would earn $10 is because we are long the NZD where currently interest rates are at 8.25% and short the USD where interest rates are currently 2% as of this lesson. So with this in mind we are long the positive interest rate differential of 8.25%-2% which equals 6.25%.
Now lets say in our example that interest rates in the United States went up by 1% to 3%, while interest rates in New Zealand stayed the same. If this were to happen then our positive interest rate differential of 6.25% would drop to 5.25%. Very simply here, as the positive interest rate differential has decreased the amount of money that we earn for holding the position has decreased as well.
Conversely, if rates were to rise in New Zealand and stay the same in the United States then the interest rate differential would grow in our favor, and the amount we earn for holding a position past 5pm should grow as well. So you can see here that one of the first things that must be considered when thinking about a carry trade is what the current interest rates are, and what they are expected to be for the life of the trade.
A second thing which must be considered when thinking about a carry trade is the exchange rate fluctuation that may occur while a trader is in the position. Traders may consider a number of things here, the most popular of which are one of or a combination of:
1. Capital Flows: Most importantly here is interest rate expectations which as we discussed in our lesson on how interest rates move the forex market, when interest rates rise in a country, interest bearing assets generally become more attractive to investors, which will many times drive the value of a currency up all else being equal, and vice versa when interest rates fall.
Notice here that I say interest rate "expectations". As we have talked about extensively in module 8 of our free basics of trading course, markets anticipate fundamentals so in general once an interest rate increase or cut is announced, it has already been priced into the market.
2. Trade Flows: Most importantly here is affects on the current account.
We will be discussing how traders go about forcasting changes in capital and trade flows in the coming lessons. The third thing which traders focus on and which we have already covered in our basics of trading course is:
3. Technical Analysis: As carry trades are generally longer term trades many traders will look at the overall trend in the market and use technical analysis to try and determine when they think the trend is going to be in their favor if they open a carry trade.
Understanding Standard Deviation in Trading
Traders analyze any financial market including the forex market in one of 3 ways:
1. Through Fundamental Analysis
2. Through Technical Analysis
3. Through a Combination of fundamental and technical analysis
While which method a trader chooses is ultimately up to them and their trading personality, it is my opinion that a trader who at least has an understanding of both technical and fundamental analysis is in a better overall position to trade profitably, than someone who focuses on only one school of thought.
To help understand this lets say that I am a trader who studies technical analysis and believes that at least in the short term, which is the time frame that I trade on, that technicals are all that matter. Next lets say that I am looking at a chart of the EUR/USD at 8:20 AM on the first Friday of the month, and my technicals are telling me that the trade is a good buy.
If I focused purely on technical analysis then I would probably enter that position not knowing that at 8:30 AM I may be in for a surprise that I was not expecting. As those of you who have been through module 8 of my basics of trading course know, at 8:30 AM on the first Friday of the month Non Farm Payrolls (NFP's) are released, which historically has been one of the most market moving fundamental releases in the forex market.
While I am not saying that a trader who trades on technicals should not take a trade that looks good to them from a technical standpoint because of weak fundamentals, what I think this shows is that technical traders who at least have an understanding of fundamentals have the ability to decide whether or not they should factor in a specific piece of fundamental information or no. In my opinion this gives them a big leg up on technical traders who dismiss fundamentals altogether.
Now lets say that I am a trader who trades a carry trade strategy which trades based off of a model I built to forecast interest rates based on fundamental news releases. Next lets say that my model generates a buy signal at 1.4700 which I have included on the chart on your screen. Would my trading not be better served if I at least knew that there was a major head and shoulders top in place, so technically the market is very weak here?
As with our technical analysis example what I am not saying is that a trader who trades on fundamentals should not take a trade that they feel is good from a fundamental standpoint when the market is weak from a technical standpoint. What I am saying however is that fundamental traders who at least have a basic understanding of technical analysis have the ability to decide this for themselves. In my opinion this gives them a big leg up on fundamental traders who dismiss technicals altogether.
As you have probably realized if you have been following my courses, they are designed to give traders a knowledge of both fundamental and technical analysis because I believe a knowledge of both puts traders in the best position to learn to trade profitably. I also believe that you can't really make a decision if you are going to trade based mainly off of technicals, fundamentals, or a combination of the two unless you have a sound understanding of the basics of both fundamental and technical analysis.
Moving Average Shift, What It Is And How It Works
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15 Ways To Manage Opportunity Through Moving Averages
1. The 20-day moving average commonly marks the short-term trend, the 50-day moving average the intermediate trend, and the 200-day moving average the long-term trend of the market.
2. These three settings represent natural boundaries for price pullbacks. Two forces empower those averages: First, they define levels where profit- and loss-taking should ebb following strong price movement. Second, their common recognition draws a crowd that perpetrates a self-fulfilling event whenever price approaches.
3. Moving averages generate false signals during range-bound markets because they're trend-following indicators that measure upward or downward momentum. They lose their power in any environment that shows a slow rate of price change.
4. The characteristic of moving averages changes as they flatten and roll over. The turn of an average toward horizontal signifies a loss of momentum for that time frame. This increases the odds that price will cross the average with relative ease. When a set of averages flatline and draw close to one another, price often swivels back and forth across the axis in a noisy pattern.
5. Moving averages emit continuous signals because they're plotted right on top of price. Their relative correlation with price development changes with each bar. They also exhibit active convergence-divergence relationships with all other forms of support and resistance.
6. Use exponential moving averages, or EMAs, for longer time frames but shift down to simple moving averages, or SMAs, for shorter ones. EMAs apply more weight to recent price change, while SMAs view each data point equally.
7. Short-term SMAs let traders spy on other market participants. The public uses simple moving average settings because they don't understand EMAs. Good intraday signals rely more on how the competition thinks than the technicals of the moment.
8. Place five-, eight- and 13-bar SMAs on intraday charts to measure short-term trend strength. In strong moves, the averages will line up and point in the same direction. But they flip over one at a time at highs and lows, until price finally surges through in the other direction.
9. Price location in relation to the 200-day moving average determines long-term investor psychology. Bulls live above the 200-day moving average, while bears live below it. Sellers eat up rallies below this line in the sand, while buyers come to the rescue above it.
10. When the 50-day moving average pierces the 200-day moving average in either direction, it predicts a substantial shift in buying and selling behavior. The 50-day moving average rising above the 200-day moving average is called a Golden Cross, while the bearish piercing is called a Death Cross.
11. It's harder for price to break above a declining moving average than a rising moving average. Conversely, it's harder for price to drop through a rising moving average than a declining moving average.
12. Moving averages set to different time frames reveal trend velocity through their relationships with each other. Measure this with a classic Moving Average-Convergence-Divergence (MACD) indicator, or apply multiple averages to your charts and watch how they spread or contract over different time.
13. Place a 60-day volume moving average across green and red volume histograms in the lower chart pane to identify when specific sessions draw unexpected interest. The slope of the average also identifies hidden buying and selling pressure.
14. Don't use long-term moving averages to make short-term predictions because they force important data to lag current events. A trend may already be mature and nearing its end by the time a specific moving average issues a buy or sell signal.
15. Support and resistance mechanics develop between moving averages as they flip and roll. Look for one average to bounce on the other average, rather than break through it immediately. After a crossover finally takes place, that level becomes support or resistance for future price movement.
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As we now have a basic understanding of how trade flows and capital flows move the forex market, the next step is to look at each of the individual currencies we will be focusing on so we can gain an understanding of their backgrounds, and the makeup of their economies. Once we have an understanding of this it will become clear what fundamental factors are the most important drivers of individual currencies, and therefore what we as traders should watch for.
Before we get into this however it is very important that everyone has a sound understanding of how trade flows and capital flows move the forex market (which is covered in module 3 of this course) as well as the following concepts, all of which are covered in module 8 of our free basics of trading course:
- We all need to understand what the business cycle is.
- The difference between monetary and fiscal policy.
- What a central bank is and how they go about changing interest rates. In module 8 of the basics of trading course we cover the Federal Reserve which is the central bank in the United States. While the central banks that we are going to be covering going forward may differ in how aggressive they are with monetary policy in relation to the Federal Reserve, the methods they use to conduct monetary policy, and the reactions of the forex market that monetary policy generates, is basically the same no matter what central bank you are looking at.
- The first currency we will be covering will be the US Dollar, so you should have a good understanding of the basic components of the US Economy.
I am going to give everyone 10 questions here that you should now have the knowledge to answer if you have been through module 8 of my free basics of trading course, and module 3 of this course. To help make it interesting for everyone, I will offer a free copy of Kathy Lien's excellent book Day Trading the Currency Market, to the first person that posts the correct answers to all 10 questions in the comments section of this lesson on InformedTrades.com. If you are watching this video on Youtube you can find a link to this lesson on InformedTrades to the right of the video. Ok so here we go:
1. If inflation is low and a Central Bank is concerned about recession, what would the expected monetary policy response be?
2. If inflation and growth are both high what would the expected monetary policy response be?
3. If a central bank raises interest rates, what affect if any is this expected to have on the currency of that country, all else being equal?
4. If a central bank lowers interest rates, what affect if any is this expected to have on the currency of that country, all else being equal?
5. If a country's imports grow and all other trade and capital flows remain equal, what affect would this have on the current account and what would be the expected affect on the currency if any?
6. If a country's exports grow and all other trade and capital flows remain equal, what affect would this have on the current account and what would be the expected affect on the currency if any?
7. If a country is a major exporter of gold and the price of gold moves up by 50% over the course of a year, what would be the expected affect if any on that country's currency all else being equal?
8. Japan is a major importer of oil and Canada is a major exporter of oil. If the price of oil goes up by 50% over the course of a year, then what affect if any should this have on the CAD/JPY currency pair all else being equal?
9. Traders who follow US Dollar fundamentals pay particular attention to any numbers which reflect the overall health of the consumer. Why?
10. The US Economy in the past was referred to as an Industrial Economy, now it is referred to more as a ________________ Economy.
The basic points discussed in the video are as follows:
1. Only go short if price is below the 50 simple moving average
2. Only buy if price is above the 50 simple moving average
3. If price is above the 50 SMA and the oscillator reaches an overbought level, wait for a pullback. If price rallies and goes back to where it was when the oscillator flashed the overbought signal, then buy
4. The same principle can be applied with oversold levels and shorting when price is below the 50 SMA