Trading bias is a predisposition or perspective of the financial markets whereby traders believe there is a higher probability of a certain outcome as opposed to any other alternate possibilities.

These trading biases are determined by technical and/or fundamental factors that support a specific outlook that explains market behaviour. This often relates to market trends being either bullish/bearish which signals appropriate trading strategy and style.

Technical analysis of charts aims to identify patterns and market trends by utilising differing forms of technical chart types and other chart functions. Interpreting charts can be intimidating for novice traders, so understanding basic technical analysis is essential. This article reveals popular types of technical analysis charts used in forex trading, outlining the foundations and uses of these chart types.

“Is there a best time frame to trade forex?” is a common question a lot of traders ask, especially those new to the forex market. The truth is, there is no single answer. It all depends on your preferred trading strategy and style.

Traders utilize varying time frames to speculate in the forex market. The two most common are long- and short-term-time frames which transmits through to trend and trigger charts. Trend charts refer to longer-term time frame charts that assist traders in recognizing the trend, whilst trigger chart pick out possible trade entry points. This article will explore these forex trading time frames in depth, whilst offering tips on which can best serve your trading goals.

Talking points:

The ISM manufacturing index plays an important role in forex trading, with ISM data influencing currency prices globally. As a result, the ISM manufacturing, construction and services indicators can provide unique opportunities for forex traders, which makes understanding this data (and how to prepare for its monthly release) essential.

Talking points:

Risk management is at the core of any good trading plan, without having a sound set of principles to follow a trader is doomed to fail. We outline rules and factors to consider when customizing a risk management game-plan right for you.

We understand the difficulties of trading, which is why we’ve put together a variety of guides designed to help traders of all experience levels.

Risk management is one of the most important aspects to successful trading, but far too often it’s overlooked. Job #1 for a trader is to always keep yourself in the game. A sound strategy and the discipline to follow it will go long way towards ensuring you stick around.

If you are in the learning stage, your objective is to keep losses very small until you figure out what you are doing from an analytical and strategy standpoint. Adhering to sound risk parameters early-on will go a long way towards building a foundation for later on.

For the more...

Slippage can be a common occurrence in forex trading but is often misunderstood. Understanding how forex slippage occurs can enable a trader to minimize negative slippage, while potentially maximizing positive slippage. These concepts will be explored in this article to shed some light on the mechanics of slippage in forex, as well as how traders can mitigate its adverse effects.

The US Dollar levelled off against some of its ASEAN counterparts this past week, either slowing or reversing lower against the Singapore Dollar, Thai Baht, Philippine Peso and Indonesian Rupiah. Emerging APAC currencies have generally been under intense selling pressure amid surging regional Covid cases due to the more contagious Delta variant. Over the past week, the rate of virus case growth in ASEAN countries has been leveling off – see chart below. Could this be a turning point for these currencies and the US Dollar?

Chart Created Using TradingView

Emerging market currencies are often vulnerable to fundamental forces that can inspire capital outflows, especially if the pace is rapid. A frequent benefactor of this dynamic is the haven-linked US Dollar. That is why pairs like USD/SGD, USD/THB, USD/IDR and USD/PHP have been rising lately. Lockdowns, or the possibility of shutdown extensions, pose a risk to local growth.

In the Philippines, the government...

The price of gold is largely unchanged this week despite a lackluster US Dollar. Last week, gold prices rallied after Fed Chair Jerome Powell tempered hawkish expectations for tapering later this year. The Fed Chief cited the labor market specifically, which seemed to imply that for now, inflation data will be thrown to the wayside. That makes sense after months of driving home the transitory narrative. Now that the markets appear to have capitulated on that view, Fed commentary is more keenly focused on jobs.

That said, this week’s non-farm payrolls report, slated to cross the wires on Friday, may be of particular importance to commodity prices. According to a Bloomberg survey, analysts expect an addition of 875k jobs in July. That would see 25k more jobs added compared to June’s 850k figure. The same survey sees the unemployment rate dropping to 5.7% from 5.9%.

The Fed’s focus is on jobs, which makes this NFP report of particular importance to gold prices....

The Nasdaq 100 could stand to benefit from key fundamental forces this week, opening the door for the tech-heavy index to outperform Dow Jones futures. On the chart below is a ratio of the Nasdaq 100 versus the Dow Jones. When the line is rising, that means the former is outperforming the latter and vice versa. The ratio can be seen tending to inversely track the 10-year Treasury yield.

Declines in the latter have been occurring amid a combination of weakening global growth prospects and cooling concerns about sooner-than-anticipated Fed tapering. Rising Covid cases around the world amid t spread of the more contagious Delta variant have been forcing nations, such as Australia and recently China, to reintroduce lockdowns.

Unsurprisingly, this has applied outsized pressure on cyclical stocks, which are over-represented in the Dow Jones. Tech shares have seen material outperformance compared to other sectors since last year’s Covid outbreak. With that in mind,...

Natural gas prices are up over 4% this week, bolstered by strong demand prospects. A heatwave across Southern Europe is likely translating into elevated liquified natural gas exports (LNG). According to Greece’s weather service, the country saw its highest temperature on record Monday. Meanwhile, drought conditions across the Western United States are pressuring hydropower capacity. That bodes well for alternate energy sources like natural gas.

Prices remain elevated near multi-year peaks, despite being lower from last week’s swing high. August is on track to see a fifth monthly rise after a strong fundamental backdrop kept demand elevated through the summer months. A massive heatwave across the United States in June resulted in an over 20% monthly rally. Hot and arid conditions have moderated somewhat since then, but not enough to sap the rosy demand outlook that has kept bulls in firm control.

The National Weather Service’s 8-14 day temperature outlook sees...

According to IG Client Sentiment (IGCS), retail traders appear to be increasingly betting that the Japanese Yen could depreciate against currencies such as the US Dollar and Australian Dollar. IGCS can at times be a contrarian indicator. If this trend in positioning continues, the Yen could stand to benefit instead. To learn more, check out this week’s recording of my webinar above.

The IGCS gauge implies that roughly 57% of retail traders are net-long USD/JPY. Upside exposure has increased by 8.59% and 28.31% over a daily and weekly basis respectively. The fact that investors are net-long hints that prices may continue falling. This is further underscored by recent changes in sentiment, offering a stronger bearish contrarian trading bias.

The Singapore Dollar is facing its next test against the US Dollar after USD/SGD broke under rising support from June. The pair left behind a Hammer candlestick pattern as it retested the former 1.3495 – 1.3530 inflection zone. This is a sign of indecision which can at times precede a turn higher. While the near-term bias still holds slightly bearish, a ‘Golden Cross’ between the 50- and 200-day Simple Moving Averages underpins an upside bias in the medium-term. Keep a close eye on these SMAs which may act as key support.

Chart Created in TradingView

The US Dollar continues to make gains against the Thai Baht, as USD/THB retests highs from 2020. Clearing this range exposes peaks from 2018 which make for a key zone of resistance between 33.518 and 33.320. Negative RSI divergence does show that upside momentum is fading, which can at times precede a turn lower. In such a case, keep a close eye on the 20-day SMA. Breaking under could open the door to a material...

It’s not uncommon for forex traders to approach trading with the aim of collecting ‘x’ many pips a day from the market. Some may even consider adopting a strategy that only makes X amount of pips per day. However, there are complications that arise from this approach and setting such unrealistic goals.

This article will answer the question: “how many pips per day?” and explore the best approach to using pips – considering market fluctuations which affect daily pip movements and how to capitalise on this with a solid trading strategy.

“Is there a best time frame to trade forex?” is a common question a lot of traders ask, especially those new to the forex market. The truth is, there is no single answer. It all depends on your preferred trading strategy and style.

Traders utilize varying time frames to speculate in the forex market. The two most common are long- and short-term-time frames which transmits through to trend and trigger charts. Trend charts refer to longer-term time frame charts that assist traders in recognizing the trend, whilst trigger chart pick out possible trade entry points. This article will explore these forex trading time frames in depth, whilst offering tips on which can best serve your trading goals.

Talking points:

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Forex sentiment analysis can be a useful tool to help traders understand and act on price behavior. While applying sound technical and fundamental analyses is key, having an additional feel for the market consensus can add depth to a trader’s view of forex and other markets. In this article, we outline what market sentiment is, how it relates to forex trading, and what the top sentiment indicators are.

Throughout history there have been a number of extremely meaningful volatility spikes across major financial markets. Each had defining characteristics that made them similar, despite occurring in very different markets and for different reasons.

The continuity seen across these volatility cycles is a good thing, because while it doesn’t necessarily make a major volatility spike predictable, historical precedence offers a blueprint for identifying conditions that are supportive for a potential vol-event to occur, and how they are likely to unfold once in motion. This can be of great help in guiding trading decisions, whether that is to steer clear of a potential vol blow-up or move towards it with the appropriate strategy that can take advantage of the outsized price swings that come with unusual levels of volatility.

We will first discuss what a volatility event typically looks like in terms of the behavior of volatility itself, then take a close look at...

Risk management is at the core of any good trading plan, without having a sound set of principles to follow a trader is doomed to fail. We outline rules and factors to consider when customizing a risk management game-plan right for you.

We understand the difficulties of trading, which is why we’ve put together a variety of guides designed to help traders of all experience levels.

Risk management is one of the most important aspects to successful trading, but far too often it’s overlooked. Job #1 for a trader is to always keep yourself in the game. A sound strategy and the discipline to follow it will go long way towards ensuring you stick around.

If you are in the learning stage, your objective is to keep losses very small until you figure out what you are doing from an analytical and strategy standpoint. Adhering to sound risk parameters early-on will go a long way towards building a foundation for later on.

For the more...

Trading bias is a predisposition or perspective of the financial markets whereby traders believe there is a higher probability of a certain outcome as opposed to any other alternate possibilities.

These trading biases are determined by technical and/or fundamental factors that support a specific outlook that explains market behaviour. This often relates to market trends being either bullish/bearish which signals appropriate trading strategy and style.

The US Dollar levelled off against some of its ASEAN counterparts this past week, either slowing or reversing lower against the Singapore Dollar, Thai Baht, Philippine Peso and Indonesian Rupiah. Emerging APAC currencies have generally been under intense selling pressure amid surging regional Covid cases due to the more contagious Delta variant. Over the past week, the rate of virus case growth in ASEAN countries has been leveling off – see chart below. Could this be a turning point for these nations and the US Dollar?

Chart Created Using TradingView

Emerging market currencies are often vulnerable to fundamental forces that can inspire capital outflows, especially if the pace is rapid. A frequent benefactor of this dynamic is the haven-linked US Dollar. That is why pairs like USD/SGD, USD/THB, USD/IDR and USD/PHP have lately been rising. Lockdowns, or the possibility of shutdown extensions, pose a risk to local growth.

In the Philippines, the government...

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The Singapore Dollar is attempting to regain lost ground against the US Dollar, but the broader USD/SGD outlook still remains tilted to the upside. There may be room for losses in the near term after the pair confirmed a breakout under rising support from June. Now, prices are retesting the 1.3530 – 1.3495 inflection zone. A bullish ‘Golden Cross’ between the 50- and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) underpins a bullish bias in the medium-term. These lines may reinstate the focus higher should prices turn materially lower.

Chart Created in TradingView

The US Dollar has also slowed its advance against the Thai Baht, but USD/THB remains relatively elevated. It sits around the highest since April 2020, with key resistance sitting above between 33.188 and 33.064. Keep a close eye on RSI, negative divergence may emerge. That would be a sign of fading upside momentum which can at times precede a turn lower. This is where the 20-day SMA may come...

The price of gold is largely unchanged this week despite a lackluster US Dollar. Last week, gold prices rallied after Fed Chair Jerome Powell tempered hawkish expectations for tapering later this year. The Fed Chief cited the labor market specifically, which seemed to imply that for now, inflation data will be thrown to the wayside. That makes sense after months of driving home the transitory narrative. Now that the markets appear to have capitulated on that view, Fed commentary is more keenly focused on jobs.

That said, this week’s non-farm payrolls report, slated to cross the wires on Friday, may be of particular importance to commodity prices. According to a Bloomberg survey, analysts expect an addition of 875k jobs in July. That would see 25k more jobs added compared to June’s 850k figure. The same survey sees the unemployment rate dropping to 5.7% from 5.9%.

The Fed’s focus is on jobs, which makes this NFP report of particular importance to gold prices....