Forex Critical: Speculators Flip the Script on the Canadian Dollar

Just three weeks ago, speculators sent their bullishness on the Canadian dollar to a 4-year high. I followed along with the speculators and accumulated a short USD/CAD position. Two weeks passed before the payoff. It arrived in the form of an anti-dollar reaction to a rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Source: FreeStockCharts.com With … Read more

Forex Critical: Bullish Measure on Canadian Dollar Reaches 4-Year High

According to the latest CFTC data, speculators accumulated their largest net long position on the Canadian dollar (FXC) since February, 2013. This 4-year high in bullishness sticks out so much only because speculators have spent most of these four years being very bearish on the Canadian dollar. Prior to 2013, net longs were regularly 2 … Read more

Forex Critical: Rate Expectations Allow A Rise In Commodity Currencies

Currency traders spent much of 2016 cycling through bullish and bearish periods on the Australian dollar (FXA) and the Canadian dollar (FXC), the Western world’s two biggest commodity currencies. In particular, bullishness on both currencies waned rapidly going into the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike in December. Speculators adjusted positions to net flat and then … Read more

U.S. Dollar Weakness Dominating the Canadian Dollar Trade

The U.S. dollar index (DXY0) has started 2017 on a notable losing streak. The index’s clean close today below 100 is the latest confirmation of that weakness. The U.S. dollar index continued its dribbling down the lower part of Bollinger Bands (BBs) that define the current downtrend. Source: StockCharts.com This extension of weakness has complicated … Read more

Canadian Dollar Selling Reawakens After the Bank of Canada Responds to Trump Policies

“Uncertainty about the global outlook is undiminished, particularly with respect to policies in the United States.” – Bank of Canada press release, “Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate target at 1/2 per cent”, January 18, 2017 I start with this quote from the Bank of Canada because it stands in stark contrast to global financial … Read more

T2108 Update (December 14, 2016) – A Fed Hangover Bursts the Overbought Rally

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more

Hammond Sets Up Next Trading Opportunity On the British Pound

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 25, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) Source: UK Government Nothing shows better the edginess of traders than a quick trigger reaction to rumored news. On Friday, September 16 rumors ripped through the news headlines that the UK’s … Read more

Fresh Sympathy for Gold and Silver

The reaction caught me completely off-guard. On September 6th, the USD ISM Non-Manufacturing/Services Composite for August came in at 51.3, well below “expectations” of 54.9 and the lowest reading since February, 2010. The reaction was swift in financial markets. The 30-day Fed Fund futures pushed out the next rate hike from December, 2016 (54.2%) to … Read more

T2108 Update (August 1, 2016) – A Widening Bearish Divergence As Overbought Conditions End Again

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more

T2108 Update (July 22, 2016) – No Dollar, No Oil Have Stopped A Steady Drift of New Highs

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more