Possible Breakout - Daily Candle Chart GBP/USD 1st February 2010

If you are a technical currency trader, then support and resistance levels can provide excellent longer term forex trading opportunities in the spot markets, and the pound vs dollar daily chart is now approaching one of these key levels. For the last few months the currency pair has been bouncing between the 1.67 price point to the upside and 1.58 to the downside, creating a deep level of price congestion, which in turn has created the upper and lower levels of the sideways channel. To date these levels have held, but with the strong sell off in the UK pound of the last few days, we are now approaching the lower level, which to date has provided a platform of support, which has seen daily prices for the pound to dollar pair bounce higher on each occasion that the level has been tested. With the gbp/usd now falling fast, and approaching the 1.58 level once again, and break below here could signal a much deeper move, possibly as far as 1.50 in due course, which should present us with some excellent longer term trading opportunities. The key of course is to wait for the level to be broken by at least 2%, and once achieved then we can enter our trades, confident that any reversal higher now has potential resistance above, which should provide a barrier to any longer term recovery. The pound dollar daily chart is in a classic phase at present with all technical traders now waiting for the break below, whilst swing traders will be anticipating a bounce back higher once again, which is why we need to wait for a confirmation that the support level has been broken.

The MT4 platform from ODL offers all the above with the choice of either mini or standard trading accounts so you can begin to trade with as little as 500 euros so why not download your free demo copy of the metatrader 4 software by clicking on the following link – download metatrader free -  and get started today, and don’t forget to follow my daily posts for updates and analysis of the forex markets to help you with your forex trading – so good luck and good trading.

Spot Gold Price Chart - Gold Breakout Daily Chart

This is a classic example of a breakout from a pennant pattern which we had been following in the spot gold market for several weeks, and is covered in more detail on my daily market commentary for the spot gold market. As we can see from the daily gold chart, spot gold prices had been consolidating in an increasingly narrow trading range, forming the pennant pattern as a result which is outlined with the two lines above and below which give the pattern it’s name. Such trading is typified by prices moving in a ever small range day after day, until one day we see the explosive breakout that occured in the spot gold market recently, with the breakout on this occasion coming to the upside. There are two things to note in order to trade such breakouts, and the first is simply that the longer the sideways consolidation continues, then the greater will be the force and speed of the breakout when it does occur – much like a tightly coiled spring. The second point to note is that generally the breakout will be in the same direction as that which the market was taking before the start of the consolidation, so in this case we were expecting a break to the upside as the more likely for spot gold prices in this case.

The question of course, is whilst we can see the pennant forming on the daily chart, how do we benefit as traders, and the simple answer is in two ways. First we can trade the breakout before it happens by placing a long straddle in position using options. This is known as a directionless trade, as we benefit whichever way the breakout comes, but ONLY if the trade is in place when the breakout occurs. Should the market continue to consolidate sideways, then this trade will lose, unless you sell any remaining option value back to the market. So the key to success with this trade is in the timing, and you must therefore allow sufficient time for the trade to develop such that the options do not expire before the breakout occurs, and my suggestion for such trades is normally around 3 months, which I suggested on this occasion to my regular readers. The second trading option is to wait for the breakout and then to trade in the direction the breakout has occurred once the market has settled – more risky as we often see considerable volatility following the breakout from the trading range, but nevertheless this is a second way to trade – however, my preferred trading strategy for breakouts is always to use the straddle option strategy wherever possible, and if you would like further details please just follow the link here which explains this in more detail.

If you are considering trading in the forex or commodities markets it is essential to use the best trading platform and in my view there is only one platform worth considering, and that’s Metatrader 4.  As one of the most advanced, yet intuitive, trading platforms available MT4 offers sophistication combined with simple order entry, execution and stop loss management and can be used with a host of expert advisors.   Secondly, of course, it is so important to have an account with a reputable forex broker who offers ECN execution -  in other words your trades are entered automatically into the market with no dealer or broker intervention, a huge benefit which allows you to scalp or trade in your preferred style, with no worry of slippage or of broker intervention on trading positions.

The MT4 platform from ODL offers all the above with the choice of either mini or standard trading accounts so you can begin to trade with as little as 500 euros so why not download your free demo copy of the metatrader 4 software by clicking on the following link – download metatrader free -  and get started today, and don’t forget to follow my daily posts for updates and analysis of the forex markets to help you with your forex trading – so good luck and good trading.

EUR/USD 5 minute Candle Chart - 3rd March 2009

I just thought I would pop this chart up for you, which is from this afternoon’s trading on the 3rd March 2009, and is on the five minute chart for the euro dollar which was a great signal and an excellent trading opportunity. As you can see on the chart, we had a two hour rally from 12 until around 2 pm, and at this point we get a great signal, an up candle, followed by a gapped up ‘evening star’ sometimes called a spinning top, followed by a wide spread down bar – a classic reversal signal. At this point we are paying full attention, and waiting for any confirming signals which duly arrive on the next two bars with two consecutive shooting stars, signalling weakness, and confirming the earlier signal. Note also that both are contained within the body of the down bar. At this point we enter our short position and close out on the bullish engulfing candle at 16.30! They don’t come any better than that I can assure you, and a classic example of how candle patterns provide the clues to the market direction, but you always have to wait for the confirmation. I just wanted to share this one with you, as it is almost ‘text book’ analysis.

In order to help you with your trading I have added several new services to the site. First there is an economic calendar which provides details of all the fundamental news items from around the world, including details of the forecast and previous figures, but if you prefer your news on video, then the latest currency news is the place to go, with updates three times a day. In addition there is a live news feed, and for the latest prices, live currency charts covering over 70 of the world’s most popular traded pairs. Finally if you would like help with choosing your ECN broker, I have provided some guidance and suggestions for you, which I hope you fin useful.