Topping Out?

It looks like the AUDJPY may be topping out. The following 15 minute chart shows a return to a previous high with something that could end up being a head and shoulders pattern emerging.

However, the 3 hour chart is showing a possible continuation and has been trending upwards for quite a while.

Open up your trading platform and choose your play...


Play safe!

Weekend Notes

I've been through a lot of (non-trading) issues since I last wrote.

My family and I have moved halfway across the nation, we've gotten new jobs, and had to take care of a million minor items that occur when you relocate your life. Sorry for the lack of updates.

I have been doing a little manual trading here and there.

The AUDJPY has been failing in the 87.xx range for most of this month. Greece, Goldman Sachs and various other items are scaring risk takers while continuing signs of improvement placate them. I'm expecting an eventual spike once the 87.xx resistance is overcome -- so I'm very willing to open long positions when we pull back into the 83.xx, 84.xx or 85.xx zones.

On another note... trading seems to be getting "easier" as time goes by.

AUDJPY: Profit Is My Density

No, that's not a typo. It's a rip-off of a line from the Back To The Future movie. Anyway, this post is another in the series of theoretical considerations with respect to various robot building strategies.

In this scenario let's consider fixing our maximum total position size across a specific price range. For example, perhaps we are willing to purchase 10000 units per 1000 pips (remember, I'm generally talking about small account sizes). For Oanda traders this will run you up to about $175.00 in margin.

If you want to limit your overall positions to 10% of your account capital then you'll have to ante up $1750.00 to play in that 1000 pip range. Obviously, a large account value will either give you a larger playing field or a higher density of positions if you don't expand the playing field.

Are you still with me?

I know, at this point things are pretty boring. In fact, we're looking at a simple grid that we can play every time price passes through our space. However, this gets a bit spicier if we can find a way to optimize the open and close activities.

For example, what if we can compress our position openings towards the low end of a short term movement? Similarly, what if we can compress our position closings towards the higher end of price movements within our price space?

If you have good ideas for these processes, then you are set!

My thought is to adjust the probability of closing profitable positions based on the amount of profit a position embodies. For example, perhaps a position with a 10 pip profit has a 1% chance of being closed while a 20 pip profit has a 5% chance of being closed -- per bar. What would this do to the expected profit per position? Are some probability formulas able to provide much better returns?

Remember, we're talking about trading a maximum density of positions while prices move through our trading space. We know our total position, our total risk, and simply want to allow our winners to run as much as we can based on historical price movement patterns. Basically, we know that prices range for a while and then take off up or down. It's the multi-day upward movement that we want to catch... letting go of positions slowly during smaller moves until we can eventually latch onto a bigger move.

I'm probably about 85% into building a new robot based on this concept. I like the measured aspect of this on the risk side. I like the less definable profitability expectation -- it's beyond my math skills at any rate -- which is suggestive of an ability to preferentially capture larger profits. I also like that it should continue to eek out smaller profits if the price decides to languish in a smaller range for some period of time.

Maybe I'll be able to fire this up on Monday.

AUDJPY: Range Or Reversal?

The AUDJPY has had a nice run just recently.

However, the 1HR is showing a small double top. Obviously, we might be looking at the beginning of a range discovery action or perhaps even a reversal if we get renewed panic concerning Greece or similar situations.

Be patient and look for good opportunities.

Now if only I can take my own advice... ;)

AUDJPY: A Change Of Mind

Finally, something has happened to lift the pall from the AUD/JPY market.

What happened? The Australian economy showed signs of heat. We have recent employment numbers that absolutely blew away expectations.

Apparently, today, the AUD/USD moved from a value that gave a 25% chance of a hike in march to a 50% chance of a hike in march.

Do you remember me talking about the need for a upside surprise to start movement off a possible bottom? In order to continue upward all we need is some nice stats from China and the lack of a new crisis of confidence.

There is a lesson in this -- as if you don't know this already.

When the world has given up and this has been priced in (baked in) there will be a good chance to grab an upside move. The employment report could have been traded by taking a position with a reasonable stop prior to release... if you thought employment was going to be strong (hopefully because you had insight or evidence instead of just raw gambling).

My insight offering would be that a ship the size of China doesn't turn around overnight just because of some tightening. Alternately, tightening credit in China with an aim to keeping growth at 8% or so isn't tightening in the same sense that we'd consider it in the western world.

This was an obvious and big miss...

What I see is an opportunity to figure out some of the blind spots that the big money has -- let them spend their powder moving the herd and then pick a good point to have their mistake revealed, such as Australian employment stats, and take a stop protected position on it.

AUDJPY: Oh Oh

While I've been talking about the cake being baked we've just done nice big double top over the course of October 2009 through February 2010 on the daily charts.

Obviously, this doesn't have to "fire" but it does invite a big panic drop to retest the July 2009 low of 70.75 or so. Considering today's rapid plummet of 300 points at this point who can say.

As I noted on my last post I do think people are being too pessimistic. However, they can panic and be pessimistic far long than I can stay solvent if I bet against them. Be careful out there.

AUDJPY: The Cake is Baked

Well, the RBA just decided not to increase rates.

Recently, China decided to tighten up capital requirements for lenders.

Also, there has been talk of taxing or otherwise restricting carry trade activities.

Lest we forget, recent news in Australia is mixed.

The US market has been skittish.

Emerging markets have been very skittish.

So, what am I trying to say?

I'm thinking the cake is baked. You might want to let the dust settle from the RBA decision -- but I think we have become overly pessimistic. We are so pessimistic that all the bad news and presumptions of bad news should soon be baked into the price of the AUDJPY.

All we need now are some upside surprises...

UPDATE: It's thursday morning and we are having a nice panic day apparently due to a less than stellar jobs report. I think the panic is unnecessary but I do understand the lynchpin that is being attacked here. If jobs don't come back then how can the economy recover? However, I think they have it backwards, as we do see spending continue to recover, which should after a lag lead to jobs. Obviously, the market can stay irrational far longer than you can remain solvent, so don't jump in just because you have a long term belief (as I do).

I guess the cake is baking, but not yet ready to come out of the oven.

AUDJPY: Signs Of A Bottom?

First, I have to warn you, I'm eternally bullish on the AUDJPY. This means I'm wrong on my predictions a fair amount due to my long term viewpoint.

With that said, I've noticed a chart sign that implies some possible upward movement.

Take a look:


It may not be easy to see, but notice how the recent tails, at 09:00, under the last few candlesticks did not project below the closing prices during a recent, at 03:00, previous low?

Up until now, for days now, we'd see the close of each new low at the level of the tails of previous lows. This doesn't mean we can't go further down -- especially during the Asian session. However, it does mean that we have the potential to be running out of downward pressure.

If so, whether it is short lived or not will depend on upcoming news and the impact this has on the sentiment of traders. As you know the political unrest in the US and the tightening in China has set the mood negative lately.

UPDATE: Boom. Instant downward movement to invalidate my sign. The fact it showed temporarily may hint at trend weakening. We do have a fair amount of gloom and momentum to work through.

UPDATE: It's now 23:00 and AUDJPY has just risen to just under 81.60 which would seem to suggest that downward pressure had indeed been flagging. Of course, nothing goes straight up or straight down... but trading 100+ point moves is rather nice.

AUDJPY: Poised?

I don't have time to snip a chart or anything, however I'd suggest taking a few moments to analyze the AUDJPY.

What I see is the potential for a so-called "big W" on the 3 hour chart. You'll notice the right side of the W has a double bottom. If we do get the full "big W" we should see some dramatic upward movement over the week.

Fundamentally, inflation, employment and other indicators in Australia seem to indicate the need for the RBA to continue to increase rates. If any more hot growth news comes out prior to February we may see speculation on a 50 basis point increase instead of the widely expected 25 basis points.

In summary, look for a safe low-risk entry point if your analysis of the charts agrees (or even disagrees) with mine.

UPDATE: If you disagreed with me you'd be happy with this morning's (Jan 20) breakdown... though so far the next resistance point seems to have held.

AUDJPY: Technical Analysis

Well, my posts are few and far between these days.

In case anyone else is still following long here is some good information on the 3hr AUDJPY.

We have a nice symmetric triangle going all the way back to November 25th.

See?


I'm expecting this to break (upward) and then run into a downward sloping resistance line on the 1d AUDJPY. However, we'll have to wait and see. I've been wrong (more than a few times) before.

UPDATE: Here we have the price dropping, on the 1hr, giving us a good entry point. We can easily set a stop loss relatively close while targeting the upper boundary for profit. However, as there was news earlier, we may find that the support line yields to changed market expectations.


UPDATE: The bar isn't closed on the 1hr but it's almost 11:00pm ET and it looks like we are breaking downward at the moment.

AUDJPY: Ominously Flat

I'm looking at a short term chart, but the lack of volatility suggests that something is in the air.

Even with the recent good news from China things have been relatively lethargic.

The daily chart is also showing the potential to have a few down days.

This seems like a good time to manage risk.

UPDATE: This evening, while I was on the road, I see that we had a nice spike upwards, hitting my take-profit points and leaving me flat. Nice.

AUDJPY: Support Becomes Resistance

My last post showed a profitable overnight setup based on a week long support line on the 1hr chart.

Here, I've got an example of a support becoming resistance once it has been violated.

Take a look at the following 15min chart:


See the violation around 9:00pm last night? As an aside, this was a good point to try a well protected short. Overnight we tested a longer term support line (see my previous two posts) which held.

Finally, notice that recently this previous support line held as resistance just before 6:00am. I do expect it to be violated as the longer term support held -- but obviously we'll have to wait and see.

AUDJPY: Price Alert

Since I'm awake I thought I'd point out a price alert.

The AUDJPY currency pair is testing a support line.

A long tail break (closing on or above the support line) would still be a bullish sign.

Anywhere, here's a recent 1hr chart snip.


This is a good place to look for a trade. Good luck.

NOTE: See the previous post... it shows the support line valid since November 1st.

UPDATE: Upon waking this morning I see my take profit was hit and I managed to add 2% to my NAV while sleeping. Honestly, this is quite rare, but a good trendline (one that has been and does get honored again) gives you a well defined opportunity.


See how the violations are "tailed" and the line provides support? I got in at 83.21 at 12:38am and took profit at 83.70 at 5:35am. If I had of been awake I probably would have been nervous during the second testing after 3:00am.

AUDJPY Forecast

What the heck, I may as well jump out on a limb and let you know what I'm seeing with the AUDJPY.

Basically, if you look at the chart, we've had a good support line since the beginning of November.

Now, if I've got the right chart uploaded, take a look below:


Personally, I'd suggest taking a long position when the price approaches the support line. You can set a nearby stop and protect yourself from much by way of downside risk.

The only issue, for me, is that Sunday trading seems a bit wild at times.

UPDATE: Well, I hope somebody played the bounce...


It was worth it.

Robot Trading: Six Weeks In

Things are going well. As you can see BREAD (Basic Robot Earning All Day) is starting to look like a winner.

   Return   Day
   0.1900%  Sun 13          September
   3.2339%  Mon 14
   3.1616%  Tue 15
   3.2615%  Wed 16
   2.1510%  Thu 17
   0.4442%  Fri 18
   ---------------  13.05%
 
   0.1850%  Sun 20
   2.0259%  Mon 21
   0.9016%  Tue 22
   1.1536%  Wed 23
   0.2460%  Thu 24
   0.1338%  Fri 25
   ---------------   4.72%
  
   0.0000%  Sun 27
   0.1900%  Mon 28
   0.6862%  Tue 29
   2.3444%  Wed 30
   0.3317%  Thu 01          October
   0.7376%  Fri 02
   ---------------   4.44%
 
   0.7311%  Sun 04
   1.0346%  Mon 05
   1.0587%  Tue 06
   1.9310%  Wed 07
   1.6854%  Thu 08
   0.9897%  Fri 09
   ---------------   7.75%

   0.0915%  Sun 11
   1.2179%  Mon 12
   1.4263%  Tue 13
   1.9298%  Wed 14
   1.3023%  Thu 15
   1.2064%  Fri 16
   ---------------   7.38%
  
   0.2985%  Sun 18
   1.6787%  Mon 19
   2.1774%  Tue 20
   2.3200%  Wed 21
   2.3552%  Thu 22
   1.2715%  Fri 23
   ---------------  10.52%

Looking back, this system was too aggressive during the first week. Later tweaks reduced this aggressiveness to some degree but also lead to lower earnings. At the moment aggression is scaled based on market factors so that in some situations it will take a larger slice.

Although the last week of earnings was great it's really too early to know how this robot will perform in the long term. As mentioned in a recent post I know that BREAD will earn the most during a consolidation period with prices confined in a range that ends in an upward break. I do expect the AUDJPY to exhibit this behavior a lot but it certainly won't do this all the time.

Now what?

This thing has been trading live for a while now. The only thing I plan to do is keep on letting it run until I'm able to create something better. ARTFAB (A Rising Tide Floats All Boats) is the latest attempt...

UPDATE: Something I'm curious about is if I'll notice a longer term cycle in robot behavior. For example, the last time BREAD earned more than 10% in a week there were a couple of weeks that then underperformed. It is possible that the market will exhibit behavior that is clearly visible through trading profits.

UPDATE: I have discovered this very good blog... Hack the market. From there I've noted the following graph:


This suggest to me that I can gauge my daily returns against that of the bigger players to see whether not I'm doing well. Notice that the smallest group seems to have much better returns -- and thus is where I should be comparing my results. Perhaps my stretch goal of 2.5% is a little two low? Regardless, I'll be happy to up my goal when I reach it.

Forex Robot Wars: BREAD vs ARTFAB

Two titans of the forex robot trading industry are squaring off in the search for higher profits.

In the green corner we have BREAD (Basic Robot Earning All Day) with consistent earnings of approximately 1.2% per day. In the other green corner we have the relatively new ARTFAB (A Rising Tide Floats All Boats) with very promising early results. Already today ARTFAB has locked in over 3.0% returns.

Wait, before you change the channel, neither of these robots is for sale and I do not want to manage your money. Relax, it's safe here.

In a macro sense BREAD and ARTFAB work using very different concepts. BREAD attempts to time the market and move money in and out during cyclical movements. This allows a small amount of risk to be taken, hopefully profited from, and then put back to work during another apparent down cycle.

ARTFAB, on the other hand, doesn't care about cycles when opening positions. It accumulates small positions and releases them when larger price moves have made them significantly profitable. However, cycles are examined with respect to determining when it may be a good time to close a position.

Both of these strategies appear to be working reasonably well. I'm hoping that ARTFAB will prove to consistently earn more than BREAD, such that I am enticed to move capital from one robot sub-account to the other. However, I have to keep in mind that BREAD functions best during a consolidation while ARTFAB's best earnings occur during a market move.

Of course, as I trade the AUDJPY currency pair almost exclusively both of these robots are trading it. As I have mentioned from time to time my trading account is with Oanda (which let's me scale trade sizes down to the unit level) and I'm using the FxSpyder platform to create and run robots. I prefer Oanda's platform for discretionary trading.

AUDJPY: Market Call

The AUDJPY has done a whole lot of nothing for the last few days.

Can you blame it? It must be tired after the recent climb.

More seriously, with the RBA considering whether to raise rates another 25 or perhaps even 50 basis points, I don't expect any type of calamitous drop.

I think we might see a drop down to 83.00 again but if it does stop in that region I'd consider the range between there and 84.30 to be a consolidation zone. Again, given the interest rate decision in the near term future I'd eventually expect more upward movement as long as there is not an RBA based negative surprise.

Your mileage may vary.

UPDATE: Wednesday after 10:00am, we have an apparent AUDJPY breakout... currently at 84.50 and testing the underside of our previous support channel. I'm hoping that we reject 84.50 a few times before crossing -- as that will help my trading robot better take advantage of the movement.


See what I'm talking about? You can go back through a few previous posts to get a wider view of recent events.

AUDJPY: October Trend

The AUDJPY has been on an upward trajectory for a while now.

There is no telling, at least not in advance, whether we'll see more massive upward movement due to hawkish statements from the RBA or not.

However, here is a 3hr chart showing recent movements:


Obviously, clear support and resistance helps identify some lower risk entry points.

Meteoric AUDJPY Rise

I'm starting to get more than a little cautious about the stellar increase in the AUDJPY over the last several days.

While it's true that markets can continue to move higher or lower for long periods of time it's important not to get too caught up in recent events. In fact, though we all react to these things at different rates, you can consider it a warning whenever there is something to get caught up in.

Insidiously, it is often those things that happen over a very long period of time that we forget to take notice of. For example, the smart phone has been growing in leaps and bounds and will probably do so for years, but at some point it is likely to turn into the next PC. If you haven't noticed PC's are now relatively cheap commodity products which leaves PC makers turning to the service sector in an attempt to fuel continued growth.

In any case, this is a point at which I have to resist ramping up the aggression factor in my trading robot... and the notion that it might be a good idea to take a bigger bite out of upward movement needs to serve as a warning to me.

AUDJPY: Possible Bull Flag

My last post focused on a short term channel.

This time I'm looking at a longer term trend -- though still on the 1hr AUDJPY chart. This one looks like it might be a bull flag.

It's always hard to tell. However, with future interest rate hikes expected, it's likely we'll continue our upward movement if signs of an Australian recovery remain strong.

Here's the chart:


Play safe.

UPDATE: It's 7:00am the next morning... and our chart now looks like this:


Any other AUDJPY traders out there? If we pull back near the top of the possible bull flag channel that would potentially be a good entry point. I'd expect a bounce off of 82.00 as it's a recent and long term high as well as a psychological point.

UPDATE: Pennant? Flag? It's still bull... ;)