Currency Secrets

Forex Factory have just released an economic calendar that is similar to my favored DailyFX economic calendar.

With DailyFX’s calendar they highlight announcements that are likely to be market movers, but with Forex Factory they grade economic announcements as either having a small, medium or high impact on the markets.

Forex Factory also provides a small snippet of information on each announcement so that you can better understand what the economic release is all about AND they allow you to select your time zone so that you know when the economic announement is going to be released according to YOUR time zone - how neat is that?

I’d have to say that I’m pretty impressed with this economic calendar, and due to the fact that it provides more detailed info than DailyFX I think it takes my number 1 spot for the best free economic calendar available on the internet.

Check it by going to: Forex Factory’s Economic Calendar now.

What do we have on the announcement front this week (so as not to be taken by surprise if anything sudden happens with price)?

Again, I start by looking at DailyFX’s calendar.

Monday doesn’t seem to offer anything that’s too exciting, therefore today I’d be expecting further USD weakness.

Tuesday at 0500 NY EST we have the ZEW survey which seems to indicate a further strengthening of the EURUSD.

Also at 0830 NY EST we have the CAD releasing retail sales. Both reports seemed mixed as one is stronger from the previous month whereas the other weaker from the previous month. From this I can probably only foresee a lot of whipsaw action.

Wednesday looks to be an active day as we have the EUR Trade Balance being released, therefore keep an eye out for the figures that are being published at 0500 NY EST. We also have the NZD releasing their current account which looks quite strong in comparison to the previous figure, this is published at 1845 NY EST.

Thursday looks like a dead day… nothing really exciting.

Friday at 0700 NY EST we have the CAD releasing their CPI which looks marginally weaker than last month’s figures, possibly expect some weakness.

And lastly at 0830 NY EST we have the USD releasing their Durable Goods Orders which looked mixed (one looks weaker than the previous month, the other stronger).

The highlight of this week will be New Zealand’s Current Account announcement on Wednesday… stay tuned for our next post on our analysis on the NZDUSD.

From a fundamental view I would likely expect the USD to remain weak throughout the week!

FX Solutions have set up a currency challenge where they are giving away US$60,000 during the monthly competition.

The challenge requires you to open up a LIVE account with FXSol and requires you to open it with an initial deposit of no less than US$2,500.

The competition will run from June 10 to July 8 and the breakdown of the prizes are:

• US$35,000 first place award
• US$10,000 second place award
• US$5,000 third place award
• Four weekly USD $2,500 awards
• TOTAL = $35,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + (4 x $2,500) = US$60,000

Official rules and an updated leader board will be available at www.currencychallenge.com along with an online registration form.

The latest Currency Trader magazine has just been published.

If you would like to obtain a free copy of the magazine just go to the Currency Trader Mag web site and subscribe. Free subscriptions to their service will expire in Oct 2005 (or whenever they receive 5000 subscribers), so be sure to be quick in getting your free copy by going there now!

Some of my favorite sections in this month’s magazine include:

• Page 24-27: Barbara Rockerfeller’s article on spotting sideways trends… very interesting
• Page 32-34: Thom Hartle’s article on Bollinger Bands - very interesting strategy using the highs and lows (instead of the closes) for calculating where the bands lay
• Page 42-46: Currency Trader Staff - very good article on support and resistance for those new to the scientific art of it all

So, go get your copy today!

There used to be a time where the Japanese open was hardly ever watched (except amongst those who LIVED in the region).

However, lately there has been some extra volatility during these hours and one has to immediately wonder what has brought about this change.

In one word: China.

Since 18th May 2005 China has publicly announced from the People’s Bank of China that it is now trading the 6 major currency crosses, as well as the USDHKD & EURJPY crosses.

It now seems that the Asian open should no longer be dismissed considering that China is becoming one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world.

China opens around 2100 NY EST, Japan opens around 2000 NY EST.