Quick move down

The E/C just dropped 25 pips in 2 minutes. Looks like it was a pop in the EUR/USD that caused the rapid decline.

Trading Update 7/30

Closed the last half long position so I am now all cash. Would probably enter short here but am planning on withdrawing the bulk of my funds from the account and transferring them to my new broker.

News update on the Euro-Swiss

EURO-SWISS: Trading with a buoyant tone and tracking dollar-Swiss gains

the cross taking out the 76.4% retrace of the June-July sell-off at

Chf1.5316 and pushing on to Chf1.5335 at writing. Techs now highlight

trendline support from the March highs coming in at Chf1.5357 ahead of

the June peak at Chf1.5380.

Trading Update 7/30

I closed half of my last long position at 1.5311. This leaves me with only one half position left and my take profit point 30 pips away.

Another Euro Swiss news update

EURO-SWISS: Extending this week`s highs and moving towards offers in the

Chf1.5300 area as dollar-Swiss remains buoyed just off best levels. A

break above the figure to expose the 76.4% retracement of the June-July

sell-off at Chf1.5316 with traders then noting expiry interest for the

NY cut at Chf1.5350. June spike highs seen as the ultimate target at

Chf1.5380.

Interesting morning action

The EURCHF just gapped up 8 pips at the start of the London Session (3am EST/7am GMT). This is not a regular occurrence, actually it is fairly rare in my opinion. 8 pips isn't significant and it will probably close right away but still very interesting. Also, here is a list of today's expiring options on a few currencies. Please notice the Euro-dollar and Euro-Swiss, these could play a roll in today's price action depending on where the pairs are coming up to the cut. I'll discourse on options more later.

FX OPTIONS: Expiries of note for today`s 1400GMT/1000EDT cut

* Euro-dollar; $1.4085(lge) $1.4100 $1.4000 $1.4300

* Dollar-yen; Y95.35 Y94.70/80 Y94.00 Y96.00

* Euro-yen; Y134.00 Y135.00

* Cable; $1.6500

* Euro-Swiss; Chf1.5350

* Aussie; $0.8200 $0.8175

News update on the Euro-Swiss

This came across the wire at 10:24 am EST today. Nothing revolutionary but it is interesting to see how much the interventions have cost the SNB, and that there is another benefit to them owning Euros.

EURO-SWISS: Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman estimates that

the SNB has spent $32bn to keep the SFC from firming (vs the euro)

since March. He says Swissy has fallen about 4.3% vs the euro over this

period. Chandler stresses however that the increase in SNB euro holdings

may also have a "valuation component" to it as well. Intervention is one

of the SNB`s "unique" QE tools he reminds. "Whereas the US Japan and

the UK bought their own bonds the SNB says its bond market is too small

so it has to buy foreign bonds and to do so of course requires buying

foreign currencies" Chandler says. Euro-Swiss currently at Chf1.5240

saw a range of Chf1.4576 to Chf1.5447 in March remained in tight ranges

in April and May and saw a Chf1.5004/Chf1.5380 range in June. In July

so far the cross has Chf1.5106 to Chf1.5271 with today`s spike caused

by remarks by SNB`s Jordan stating the SNB would continue to intervene

if necessary.

Trading Update 7/29

Closed another half long position at my profit target. This leaves me with 1 full long position open. Spreadsheets and charts will be updated shortly.

Missed opportunity?

I had to leave today and set a limit on a half position I have open that was within 25 pips of my target. When I returned I found that my limit was 4 pips over the highest level reached today. Was my target too high? I don't believe so. This is a business and my plan is to make a certain amount of money on each trade, so if the market doesn't want to give that to me today then I'll wait a while longer.

Trading Update 7/27

I just closed half of my 2nd long position at 1.5244. I'm still sitting on 1.5 long positions.

Sunday opening action

The EURCHF opened with a 20 pip gap down yesterday afternoon. This presented a short-term trading opportunity to enter long and look to take profit as soon as the gap closed. I decided against entering this gap trade because neither the EURUSD or USDCHF appeared to have any gap at all, nor was there any recollection of the gap on the news wires.

As I write this the pair is sitting at 1.5247, right at resistance from the end of last week. If we can break the 1.5250 level convincingly then I should be able to ring the register on some nice pips from my 2nd long position.

Weekly wrap-up

I have just returned from a week long vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a great time and I recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing time by the ocean.

As I was on vacation this week I had set some take profit orders for my open positions, which were never quite hit. So the week passed without any trades opened or closed, and I am still holding 2 full long positions.

Charts and Trades

I just updated the total return chart and added the monthly return as well as the closed trade list. As you can see from the trade list I haven't had a losing trade yet. Then why is the account down .2% this month? Fees. Since I hold positions for days or even weeks, my broker charges the standard "roll rates" for holding the position overnight. These fees have not been offset by closed trades, which is usually the case. Also, this has the potential of being a losing month based on circumstance alone.

I am going on vacation to Mexico this Friday and am not counting on being able to access the trading platform while out of the country due to spotty internet access. Who wants to work on vacation anyway? This wouldn't normally be a problem except that the new NFA First-in First-out rules go into effect on August 1st. After that date I will no longer be able to close an individual position that is profitable, instead the oldest position will be closed first. My plan is to transfer the account to another broker to avoid these issues but I will either have to close out the positions where they are when the transfer is to take place, or leave some money in this account and transfer the balance. Neither option is ideal, but unless the price moves up from today's high that is the decision that I will have to make.

Trading update 7/14

Just closed a half position at 1.5189, which was a 30 pip gain from entry. This is a fairly strong move up considering the London session should be wrapping up if it already hasn't. I'm still long 2 full positions so this mini-trend can continue on all week in my book.

Interesting article on currency trading

This month's issue of Currency Trader Magazine has an excerpt from a new book by Marc Chandler, "Making Sense of the Dollar". The piece gives a good background of participants in the currency markets and what their motivation and advantage could be. Not every player is looking for speculative profits, even though their participation impacts ours.

Weekly wrap-up

I'm holding 2.5 long positions going into this week. Last week saw only 1/2 of a position closed for profit, which puts me down for the week when you count the roll paid to my broker for holding the positions open overnight for so long. The EURCHF has been on a steady move down since the intervention a couple weeks back. The plan hasn't changed, "Buy the dips and sell the rips."

There are a couple of macro items on the Swiss agenda for the week: ppi and retail sales. However, neither of these will have much of an immediate impact on the pair. It is a good idea to keep track of these because when the SNB sees that their export economy is starting to get back into form they could start to pull back on their goal of devaluing the Franc.

New middle eastern currency delayed

Snippet on Euromoney.com stating the the GCC have extended their deadline 3 years to have a group currency for that region, much like the Euro.

More info on reserve currency

Here is an interesting article published yesterday on Economist.com.

Trading update 7/9

Earlier I closed the position opened yesterday on the run up during the 8 AM EST hour.

Trading Update 7/8

Opened the 2nd half my 3rd long position at 1.5136. This was a fairly quick run down, and it could well have further to go, but I wanted the opportunity to capitalize on the move back up that should be coming very soon.