Forex Power Trading Course

Sunday, June 28, 2009

US Dollar Guru (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

You are a currency trader. Which currency pairs are the best for trading? Focus on the four major currency pairs EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF and USD/JPY. Consider becoming a specialist in USD. Yes, its true! You should become a specialist in trading the greenback.

Each currency pair actually consists of two currencies. So if you take a long position in GBP/USD then you are in fact buying British Pound and selling US Dollar. In each of the four major currency pairs, US Dollar is one currency of each pair.

This means that you should study and understand the fundamentals that drive the US Dollar and the US economy. You should also understand the workings of the Federal Reserve System (FED). Then you have done your homework. Now you can trade any one of the four major currency pairs as all of them depend on USD.

These four major pairs are the most liquid pairs in the currency markets and involve the vast majority of the currency trading. Think like this. Majors are the most heavily traded pairs in the currency markets. US Dollar is half of each major pair so if you can understand what drives the USD, it will have a huge impact on your trading plans.

What do you think; USD will weaken or strengthen in the near and medium term. The only thing you need to determine is your bias for USD before each trade. Off course develop a system that guides you in forming an educated bias. Then apply that bias to the major currency pairs.

Just a small reminder, when you buy a currency pair, you are buying the first currency and selling the second currency in the pair. Suppose, your bias is that USD is going to strengthen. You can go long on USD/CHF and USD/JPY. You can go short on GBP/USD and EUR/USD.

One bias, four trades! But each currency pair will react differently to USD. For example, if Euro is also strengthening. The currency pair EUR/USD will move less with USD also strengthening as compared to USD/JPY if JPY is weakening.

Lets say you can only afford to trade one standard lot. You have a bearish bias for USD. You can consider going long on either GBP/USD or EUR/USD. What pair you should trade? Which one!

Take a look at British Pound (GBP) and the Euro (EUR) both at the same time. You should trade the stronger currency. Find out which of the two currencies is getting stronger. You can find that by taking a look at the EUR/GBP cross charts. If the EUR/GBP cross chart is going down, it means EUR is weakening and GBP is getting stronger. You should choose GBP/USD pair for entering a trade!

You should always evaluate the currency correlations for the major currency pairs in every trading plan that you create. Correlation is determined by what is known as the correlation coefficient. Correlation coefficient always ranges between +1 and -1. The correlations between the currency pairs are dynamic and can change any time. So you need to calculate the correlations at least on weekly basis to give you a fair idea of how the correlations are changing. - 23310

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