Article Summary: Extremely low forex volatility favors continued US Dollar strength. Yet illiquid market conditions warn against getting chopped out of sharp intraday moves, and we favor trading larger trends instead of intraday trading ranges.
DailyFX PLUS System Trading Signals –The US Dollar (ticker: USDOLLAR) targets further declines into the end of 2012 as quiet market conditions hurt the safe-haven US currency.
The US Dollar has continued its declines against high-yielders such as the Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar as the lowest volatility in five years boosts speculative demand. In fact recent CFTC Commitment of Traders data shows that large speculative futures traders are their most net-long AUDUSD on record.
Such one-sided sentiment may make Australian Dollar shorts attractive, but sentiment extremes and tops/bottoms are only clear in hindsight. In the interim we will continue to favor our trend-following “Tidal Shift/Momentum2” trading system across the majority of USD currency pairs. With the Japanese Yen, there is risk that the USDJPY may continue to fall as it seems that traders are selling the news that Japanese elections produced a JPY-bearish result.
Our DailyFX Volatility Indices show that very few fear big moves into year-end, but it is critical to note that intraday price swings can be significant as liquidity dries up. We favor trading larger trends than intraday scalping under potentially difficult trading conditions.
DailyFX Individual Currency Pair Conditions and Trading Strategy Bias
Market Conditions:Forex options trader volatility expectations continue trading at or near their lowest levels in five years. Amidst such complacency, we see little scope for a substantive US Dollar reversal in the final weeks of the calendar year.
DailyFX Volatility Indices from 2011-2012
--- Written by David Rodriguez, Quantitative Strategist for DailyFX.com
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Definitions
Volatility Percentile – The higher the number, the more likely we are to see strong movements in price. This number tells us where current implied volatility levels stand in relation to the past 90 days of trading. We have found that implied volatilities tend to remain very high or very low for extended periods of time. As such, it is helpful to know where the current implied volatility level stands in relation to its medium-term range.
Trend – This indicator measures trend intensity by telling us where price stands in relation to its 90 trading-day range. A very low number tells us that price is currently at or near 90-day lows, while a higher number tells us that we are near the highs. A value at or near 50 percent tells us that we are at the middle of the currency pair’s 90-day range.
Range High – 90-day closing high.
Range Low – 90-day closing low.
Last – Current market price.
Bias – Based on the above criteria, we assign the more likely profitable strategy for any given currency pair. A highly volatile currency pair (Volatility Percentile very high) suggests that we should look to use Breakout strategies. More moderate volatility levels and strong Trend values make Momentum trades more attractive, while the lowest Vol Percentile and Trend indicator figures make Range Trading the more attractive strategy.
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM.
ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES IS MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION.
OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice. The FXCM group will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance contained in the trading signals, or in any accompanying chart analyses.
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