ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The strength in the Swiss Franc has accelerated. Even as the euro has stabilized somewhat against the U.S. dollar the past two weeks, the franc continues to set new record highs against the euro. The monthly chart of the euro vs the franc (EUR/CHF) shows how rapidly the franc has gained steam just in the … Read more
For four days, the Swiss franc held all-time highs against the euro (all-time lows of 1.40 for EUR/CHF). As the euro continued to decline against the U.S. dollar, I positioned (twice) in anticipation of a violent break of this support level. As the apparent support continued to hold, it increasingly appeared that the Swiss National … Read more
Currencies swung wildly and dramatically yesterday. Lost in the breathless descriptions of the continued surge in the US dollar and the sudden strength in the Japanese yen is that the drama really began with renewed strength in the Swiss franc. At around 5am Eastern, the franc suddenly surged against all currencies. In particular, it traded … Read more
On April 1, 2010, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) apparently intervened to arrest the appreciation of its currency against the euro, and I wondered whether this action would be as futile as all the other interventions this year. So far, so good for the SNB, as the previously persistent buyers of Swiss francs have all … Read more
Looks like the Swiss National Bank (SNB) tried to have the last laugh on this April Fool’s Day with another attempt to arrest the appreciation in its currency. This intervention was impressive with a 240 pip pop (2.3% move overall), but it only brought the currency back to last week’s trading levels. Source: dailyfx.com charts … Read more
Sometimes you can be smarter than the market – most times you cannot. When someone, or some institution insists on trading in one direction, you are usually smart to hop aboard or just get out of the way. These are two time-tested lessons I chose to ignore in playing the Swiss franc in anticipation of … Read more
I continue to read that the Swiss franc has been gaining on the euro because of the euro’s weakness. This observation appears correct when reviewing the euro’s slide against the dollar since early December (EUR/USD) and the parallel appreciation in the franc versus the euro (EUR/CHF). Yet, the euro has essentially stabilized versus the dollar … Read more