Nick Mastrandrea
Market Tea Leaves
Good Morning Traders,
As of this writing 4:20 AM EST, here’s what we see:
US Dollar: Up at 98.895, the US Dollar is up 370 ticks and is trading at 98.895.
Energies: May Crude is down at 56.01.
Financials: The June 30 year bond is up 11 ticks and trading at 164.14.
Indices: The June S&P 500 emini ES contract is down 7 ticks and trading at 2098.00.
Gold: The April gold contract is trading up at 1206.40. Gold is 51 ticks higher from its close.
Initial Conclusion
This is not a correlated market. The dollar is up+ and oil is down- which is normal and the 30 year bond is trading up. The Financials should always correlate with the US dollar such that if the dollar is lower then bonds should follow and vice-versa. The indices are down and Crude is trading up which is correlated. Gold is trading up which is not correlated with the US dollar trading up. I tend to believe that Gold has an inverse relationship with the US Dollar as when the US Dollar is down, Gold tends to rise in value and vice-versa. Think of it as a seesaw, when one is up the other should be down. I point this out to you to make you aware that when we don’t have a correlated market, it means something is wrong. As traders you need to be aware of this and proceed with your eyes wide open.
Asia traded mainly higher with the exception of the Sensex and Singapore exchanges which traded lower. As of this writing all of Europe is trading lower.
Possible Challenges To Traders Today
- Unemployment Claims is out at 8:30 AM EST. This is major.
- Building Permits is out at 8:30 AM EST. This is major.
- Housing Starts is out at 8:30 AM EST. This is major.
- Philly Fed Manufacturing Index is out at 10 AM EST. This is major.
- Natural Gas Storage is out at 10:30 AM EST. This could move the Nat Gas market.
- FOMC Member Lockhart Speaks at 1 PM EST. This is major.
- FOMC Member Fischer Speaks at 3 PM EST. This is major.
Currencies
Yesterday the Swiss Franc made it’s move at around 9:40 AM EST with no real economic news in sight. The USD hit a low at around that time and the Swiss Franc hit a high. If you look at the charts below the USD gave a signal at around 9:40 AM EST, while the Swiss Franc also gave a signal at just about the same time. Look at the charts below and you’ll see a pattern for both assets. The USD hit a low at around 9:40 AM EST and the Swiss Franc hit a high. These charts represent the latest version of Trend Following Trades and I’ve changed the timeframe to a Renko chart to display better. This represented a shorting opportunity on the Swiss Franc, as a trader you could have netted 20 plus ticks on this trade. We added a Donchian Channel to the charts to show the signals more clearly. Remember each tick on the Swiss Franc is equal to $12.50 versus $10.00 that we usually see for currencies.
Charts Courtesy of Trend Following Trades built on a NinjaTrader platform
Bias
Yesterday we said our bias was to the downside however the markets had other ideas as the Dow gained 76 points and the other indices gained as well. Today we aren’t dealing with a correlated market and our bias is neutral. A neutral bias means the markets could go in any direction today.
Could this change? Of Course. Remember anything can happen in a volatile market.
Commentary
Well the taxman has come and gone and hopefully that worked out positively for you. Once again we are dealing with the scenario whereby the markets should have gone down yesterday but didn’t. Originally I thought that we were in the situation where it was one day up, next day down. But no, we’ve had two back to back up days and ironically the economic news wasn’t that stellar. Empire State Manufacturing Index came in at -1.2 versus 7.2 expected and none of the other reports beat expectation either. It could very well be that we are entering the same situation we had two years ago whereby the markets went up on bad economic news as the mindset seemed to be “the Fed won’t hike if the news is bad”.
Trading performance displayed herein is hypothetical. The following Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) disclaimer should be noted.
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 trading 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 are 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.
Trading in the commodities markets involves substantial risk and YOU CAN LOSE A LOT OF MONEY, and thus is not appropriate for everyone. You should carefully consider your financial condition before trading in these markets, and only risk capital should be used.
In addition, these markets are often liquid, making it difficult to execute orders at desired prices. Also, during periods of extreme volatility, trading in these markets may be halted due to so-called “circuit breakers” put in place by the CME to alleviate such volatility. In the event of a trading halt, it may be difficult or impossible to exit a losing position.
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