Banks are seeing a steep decline in profits from currency trading, as once-lucrative businesses are eroded by the rise of electronic trading and the proliferation of new platforms...



As the easy profits from handling trades for clients vanish, banks are being forced into an arms race, analysts and traders say. That means offering better terms to customers and spending heavily to develop electronic-trading platforms of their own...

***Note how it…

Hello Traders,

I wanted to post a few trades I took recently on AUDUSD and Silver.  You can see the entry and exit points for each trade which I did just using price action strategies.

Here they are below;

AUDUSD…

A great experiment on unequal pay.

Check out the reaction from the Monkey the first time they realize they are getting the short end of the stick...hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g8mynrRd7Ak&noredirect=1

EURUSD

Attempting to bottom and make some headway to the upside, the EURUSD failed to clear the 1.2800 role reversal level which was the Oct. swing lows. For now, the pair is stuck between 1.2800 weekly highs and 1.2659 lows which was the pin bar rejection on Tuesday.  So bears can look to sell any weak rallies up to 1.2800 while bulls can…

GBPUSD

Similar to how the Euro I discussed on Tuesday reversed with an engulfing bar + pin bar combo, the Cable is possibly attempting to bottom after losing ground for six days in a row. After forming a final flag pattern to end yesterday and start today, the pair rallied off of 1.5825 with a strong bullish piercing bar,…

EURUSD

As I had discussed in yesterday's market commentary, the pin bar and engulfing bar combo highlighted did produce higher prices for the Euro, and went to the first resistance level I mentioned yesterday (around the 1.2763 area). Some of the course members got in on this trade and profited nicely from it…

Israel takes out Hamas Chief of Staff



oh my, I was wondering where the super fast price action spike in brent came from.  Good thing I was long, but man, it smacked my target so fast, I didn't have time to expand it :-ooo



Although I will confess…

Home to some of the greatest programmers and hackers in the world (I dated one not too long ago :-ooo), The MICEX (Moscow Exchange) halted FX trading due to a software (skynet) glitch.



I talk about this in my upcoming fxstreet interviews how we are trying go regulate human traders, but not algos, or the programmers behind them.  Its the software's fault is a convenient scapegoat, but the programming and programmers need to be regulated as well.



Case in point with the MICEX…

The markets are continuing to change, and the direction is (for now) continually becoming more algorithmic in terms of trading, markets and price movements.  I personally think a lot of these algos, particularly HFTs, are highly toxic to markets, if not the global economies which are subject to them.



Take for example the Knight Capital disaster, the Facebook IPO, the Flash Crash, the Reverse BATS, and on and on and on...



Shoot, we now have Twitter-Feed based hedge funds…

Silver

Liquidity and volumes were definitely lower today with most pairs and instruments playing in a tight range today.  In the process, Silver has formed back to back inside bars, or an ii pattern, and this will not go on for much longer.

Although the precious metal is trying to form a base, it has yet to show any bullish legs,…

Starting to see more of this from the world of Skynet:

from Reuters:

Computer-driven hedge funds are headed for their worst monthly performance since the start of the credit crunch after making losing bets in dozens of markets including bonds, currencies and commodities.

Many of the funds, known as managed …

Dow Jones

Skynet was offline today, along with all human traders as hurricane Sandy forced US exchanges to close today.  Regardless, a key support level in 13000 is coming under pressure for the Dow Jones.  Although a decent sized pin bar formed Friday off this level, pressure remains on the major index, and should the key support fail, 12750 and 12500 will be under attack shortly after.

Bears currently have control so …

EURUSD

Staying put inside a channel/triangle, the Euro continues to oscillate virtually on a weekly basis since early Sept.  Since we are still midway through the triangle, I expect it to continue as we generally do not exit triangles till later on in the pattern.  That plus the elections in the US will likely keep things tamed down a bit for the next few weeks.

It should be noted the last 6 weeks of price action have all been …

Silver

As I had noted two days ago, Silver was showing reducing price action spreads which communicated it was likely bottoming out around $31.50.  That is exactly how it played out, and has now broken above the dynamic resistance for the last 12hrs.  If the $32 figure and dynamic support can hold, an attack…

Gold

Getting pummeled every which way but loose, Gold resumed its sell-off today, now at 6 week lows and barely holding above $1700.   I am noticing how the buybacks have been getting shorter and weaker in angle each time.  This would generally indicate a weakening buying or counter-trend presence.  But that has also been accompanied by weaker sell-offs each time, with the latest being the weakest.  This culminated in a …

Silver

Failing at the critical $35 figure, Silver has been getting pummeled, dropping $3.50 in the last 2.5 weeks.  What I am noticing is how the price spreads have been getting smaller on each leg down (especially the last one), suggesting we could be seeing a bottom soon.

If price can get above $32.00 and break above the dynamic resistance and 20ema, then I suspect perhaps the precious metal will put in a HL…

Dow Jones

After the bloody hit the Dow Jones took on the 25th anniversary of Black Friday, the US index formed a large bullish pin bar, and a fake out in the process. This could very well have trapped traders short just below the 13300 support level.

What I am noting is how the DJ…

GBPJPY

After a 5 day rally, the GBPJPY found resistance at 128.25 forming a pin bar rejection in the process. Although the last major swing was down and formed a LL (lower low), the last upswing formed a HH suggesting an increase in volatility. Key resistance for bears lies between 128.25-128.81 so bears can watch for…

Gold

Today, Gold has continued its sell-off, losing its luster as it shed over $15 breaking a key support level at $1739.  In the process, it hit an intraday low sub $1730.  Before the major sell-off today, it formed three inside bars, and then started the impulsive sell-off on the break of their lows.  It has since then formed another inside bar, so a pullback towards the…