“Australia is about to enter a boom that should last decades…The Australian dollar is unlikely to go back to where it was, and manufacturing will shrink in importance to the economy, perhaps even faster than it has been.” This, according to Martin Parkinson, Treasury Minister of Australia. While 30 years from now, Mr. Parkinson’s prognosis might probe to be accurate, I’m not so sure it applies to the period 3 months from now. Here’s why:
First of all, the putative economic boom that is taking place in Australia is being driven entirely by high commodity prices and surging production and exports. Since peaking at the end of April, commodity prices have fallen mightily. You can see from the chart above that there continues to exist a tight correlation between the AUD/USD and commodities prices. As commodities prices have fallen over the last two months, so has the Australian Dollar.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Bad News About Forex Automated Trading
I’ve read a lot about how automated forex trading systems just don’t work in the long run but I can’t conclude this from personal experience. I’ve never seriously traded forex using automation. The following is an email from a trader who can conclude this from his experience. I found it totally worth sharing.
I came across your blog this afternoon whilst casually surfing the various forums in lieu of watching rubbish on TV.
I find your search for trading success an interesting one as in many respects it mirrors my own experience in many ways.
I spent well over two years, pretty much full time, searching for automated solutions to trading, having been in the process automation business for 25 years. To summarise, I have concluded it is a futile exercise with the technologies currently open to the average retail trader. I have yet to find any expert that is reliable enough to be left trading on its own and have pretty much concluded that most are really curve fitting solutions. I have seen no strategies posted anywhere that are consistent or reliable and capable of being automated without significant risk. I see some that pertain to be profitable (Artemis would be an example) but it needs constant adjustment and tuning which makes it akin to semi automation, not full automation.
However, there are manual strategies that are available that are profitable; they just do not lend themselves to automation due to the ability of the human braoin to make decisons based on proce movement that are pretty much impossible for any expert to make. So I abandoned my search for full automation solutions a year ago and concluded semi – automation was probably the right route. I trade manually today, with a few automated aids.
Linked with that, money management and certainly trading psychology are massive keys to success, the first to ensure you are alive to trade tomorrow and the latter because it takes time to get your mental state right to be able to trade at all, and that is what takes the time Rich. Sure, you need to understand the basics of trading, but without the right mental state, you’ll never be consistently profitable.
Your target of 50% per annum is achievable so keep up your search.
I came across your blog this afternoon whilst casually surfing the various forums in lieu of watching rubbish on TV.
I find your search for trading success an interesting one as in many respects it mirrors my own experience in many ways.
I spent well over two years, pretty much full time, searching for automated solutions to trading, having been in the process automation business for 25 years. To summarise, I have concluded it is a futile exercise with the technologies currently open to the average retail trader. I have yet to find any expert that is reliable enough to be left trading on its own and have pretty much concluded that most are really curve fitting solutions. I have seen no strategies posted anywhere that are consistent or reliable and capable of being automated without significant risk. I see some that pertain to be profitable (Artemis would be an example) but it needs constant adjustment and tuning which makes it akin to semi automation, not full automation.
However, there are manual strategies that are available that are profitable; they just do not lend themselves to automation due to the ability of the human braoin to make decisons based on proce movement that are pretty much impossible for any expert to make. So I abandoned my search for full automation solutions a year ago and concluded semi – automation was probably the right route. I trade manually today, with a few automated aids.
Linked with that, money management and certainly trading psychology are massive keys to success, the first to ensure you are alive to trade tomorrow and the latter because it takes time to get your mental state right to be able to trade at all, and that is what takes the time Rich. Sure, you need to understand the basics of trading, but without the right mental state, you’ll never be consistently profitable.
Your target of 50% per annum is achievable so keep up your search.
Places To Get a Great Forex Trading System
It’s very important that if you’re exploring forex trading or already trading that you have a trading system. One aspect of that trading system are the actual setup rules which usually contain entry and exit techniques. Traders put a lot of time and effort in developing these setup rules too often neglecting other aspects such as position sizing or relative size of your profits compared to losses. Therefore it’s important to find a comprehensive forex trading system.
Where can you find a comprehensive forex trading system? Throughout the last three years, I’ve been through many trading systems obtained mostly from books, forums, or other websites. I’ve found that almost every time, I’ll mold that system into something totally different than the original incarnation, something that fits my personality and style of trading. Many times, the original system will also need to be expanded to include things that were neglected or forgotten. Those of you searching for the perfect system may find this method of modifying existing forex trading systems desirable. There are places where you can find the whole package without any need for modification.
This brings me to the question, "where did you get your forex trading system?" I think there are four main ways of getting a trading system.
Buy it. There are tons for sale out there on the net but heed caution. Many were just copied from forums, books, or other websites. Sometimes when you buy forex education, part of the package will include a trading system. For instance, Rob Booker provides his Arizona rules as part of his mentoring program.
Get a free one. There are many free systems that can be found in books, forums, or other websites. I guess one can question whether a system found is a book is free since you paid for the book.
Create an original system yourself. My main trading system is an original creation. There may be other systems out there that are similar to it since it’s a culmination of years of exposure to other systems and experiences.
Modify someone else’s system and make it your own. As I stated above, I have done this many times.
Where can you find a comprehensive forex trading system? Throughout the last three years, I’ve been through many trading systems obtained mostly from books, forums, or other websites. I’ve found that almost every time, I’ll mold that system into something totally different than the original incarnation, something that fits my personality and style of trading. Many times, the original system will also need to be expanded to include things that were neglected or forgotten. Those of you searching for the perfect system may find this method of modifying existing forex trading systems desirable. There are places where you can find the whole package without any need for modification.
This brings me to the question, "where did you get your forex trading system?" I think there are four main ways of getting a trading system.
Buy it. There are tons for sale out there on the net but heed caution. Many were just copied from forums, books, or other websites. Sometimes when you buy forex education, part of the package will include a trading system. For instance, Rob Booker provides his Arizona rules as part of his mentoring program.
Get a free one. There are many free systems that can be found in books, forums, or other websites. I guess one can question whether a system found is a book is free since you paid for the book.
Create an original system yourself. My main trading system is an original creation. There may be other systems out there that are similar to it since it’s a culmination of years of exposure to other systems and experiences.
Modify someone else’s system and make it your own. As I stated above, I have done this many times.
Rich is Trading Forex Again
So after yet another hiatus from trading forex, I just recently had my first trade in months. It was a successful one also. But the question I want to answer is, “Is this blog dead?” The answer is no. I’ve made a living over the past 3 years ducking in and out of here depending on what’s going on in my life. Sometimes I’m just too swamped at my real job, other times I just don’t feel like writing, but I always come back. The great thing is I’ve built up a lot of content over the years so a lot of it applies to the type of forex trader you’re trying to become.
So where do I go from here? I’m in the mood to start trading forex again so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m also going to talk a little about stocks. I’ve had a lot of success, believe it or not, trading the stock market in the last couple of months and I think I’ve learned some things that I could apply to trading forex. So you’ll hear me talk about some of these things also.
So where do I go from here? I’m in the mood to start trading forex again so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m also going to talk a little about stocks. I’ve had a lot of success, believe it or not, trading the stock market in the last couple of months and I think I’ve learned some things that I could apply to trading forex. So you’ll hear me talk about some of these things also.
Loonie and Aussie Share Downward Bond
In yesterday’s post (Tide is Turning for the Aussie), I explained how a prevailing sense of uncertainty in the markets has manifested itself in the form of a declining Australian Dollar. With today’s post, I’d like to carry that argument forward to the Canadian Dollar.
As it turns out, the forex markets are currently treating the Loonie and the Aussie as inseparable. According to Mataf.net, the AUD/USD and CAD/USD are trading with a 92.5% correlation, the second highest in forex (behind only the CHFUSD and AUDUSD). The fact that the two have been numerically correlated (see chart below) for the better part of 2011 can also be discerned with a cursory glance at the charts above.
As it turns out, the forex markets are currently treating the Loonie and the Aussie as inseparable. According to Mataf.net, the AUD/USD and CAD/USD are trading with a 92.5% correlation, the second highest in forex (behind only the CHFUSD and AUDUSD). The fact that the two have been numerically correlated (see chart below) for the better part of 2011 can also be discerned with a cursory glance at the charts above.
UR/USD Fluctuates, US Fundamentals Worse Than Expected
EUR/USD was falling today, but attempted to rally after the set of poor economic report from the United States was released. The attempt failed so far. Almost all US fundamental data was worse than anticipated by analysts. One notable exception was unemployments claims that stayed almost unchanged for the second week, letting economists believe that employment reports will be good this month.
Initial jobless claim were little changed at the seasonally adjusted rate of 351k last week from the previous week’s 353k and in line with the forecast of 350k. (Event A on the chart.)
Personal income and spending increased in January. Income rose 0.3%, compared to the median estimate of 0.5% and spending was up 0.2% compared to analysts’ prediction of 0.4%. The figures were 0.5% and 0.0% respectively in December. (Event A on the chart.)
ISM manufacturing PMI was 52.4% in February, frustrating experts that predicted an increase to 54.6% from the January value of 54.1%. (Event B on the chart.)
Construction spending shrank 0.1% in January from December when it rose 1.4%. Market participants was unpleasantly surprised by the actual reading as they expected growth by 1.1%. (Event B on the chart.)
Initial jobless claim were little changed at the seasonally adjusted rate of 351k last week from the previous week’s 353k and in line with the forecast of 350k. (Event A on the chart.)
Personal income and spending increased in January. Income rose 0.3%, compared to the median estimate of 0.5% and spending was up 0.2% compared to analysts’ prediction of 0.4%. The figures were 0.5% and 0.0% respectively in December. (Event A on the chart.)
ISM manufacturing PMI was 52.4% in February, frustrating experts that predicted an increase to 54.6% from the January value of 54.1%. (Event B on the chart.)
Construction spending shrank 0.1% in January from December when it rose 1.4%. Market participants was unpleasantly surprised by the actual reading as they expected growth by 1.1%. (Event B on the chart.)
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