EUR/USD continues to trade quietly

EUR/USD continues to trade quietly in the final year of 2014. In Tuesday’s European session, the pair is trading in the mid-1.21 range. The euro is struggling, having lost about 350 points in the past two weeks. On the release front, Spanish CPI posted a sharp decline of 1.1%, while Eurozone Private Loans came in at -0.9%, matching the forecast. In the US, today’s highlight is CB Consumer Confidence. The markets are expecting a strong reading for December, with the estimate standing at 94.6 points.
Greece was in the spotlight on Monday, but this time it was a political crisis rather than trouble with the country’s bailout plan. Greece lawmakers failed to elect a new president for a third time, leaving Prime Minister no choice but to dissolve parliament. A  general election has now been scheduled for January 25. The country’s controversial bailout agreement promises to be a major election issue. The bailout agreement ends in February, and Greece owes EUR 260 billion to the troika (EU, ECB and the IMF). Negotiations between Greece and the troika are on hold until after the election. The bailout agreement forced Greece to implement stiff austerity measures have proven deeply unpopular, and the Syriza Party, which leads in the polls, wants to cancel the bailout agreement and write off much of the country’s debt. Such a move could send shock waves across European markets, as other bailout countries such as Ireland would be tempted to follow Greece’s precedent and opt out of their financial obligations to the troika. The latest Greek saga will be closely watched by the markets as we move closer to Greek election day.
EUR/USD ratio is pointing to gains in short positions on Tuesday. This is not is consistent with the pair’s movement, as the euro has posted small gains. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards the euro moving to higher ground.

Stock Market Learning Trends

Traders need to remember that they need to center their trading decisions on supply areas on their charts, demand, and trend also.  So while the premium chart with Bollinger Bands is not the holy grail of technical analysis, it is something that a stock trader can use as a important support tool.
An explanation of uptrends and downtrends are as follows: an uptrend is a series of higher lows and higher highs, while a downtrend is a series of lower highs and lower lows. Simple enough, right? Very often a trader will use a moving average or two, or even a trendline to help them to determine their trend. When used properly, these tools can be extremely helpful. Traders need to choose one or twi indicators to use and learn them inside and out.
Using your trendline tool, you will need to draw in either an uptrend or a downtrend line. As you may know, a trendline must have  at least  three touches to be proven a valid, tradable trendline. Yes, this is in both up and downtrends. As long as you stick to your stop loss rules and manage your winning trades accordingly, this can help you get into trades much earlier perhaps even at the very beginning of a new trend. Bollinger Bands are great but you need to learn how to use them when trading.

Stock Market Learning Trends

Bollinger Bands

John Bollinger is a giant in today’s trading community. His Bollinger Bands sharpen the sensitivity of fixed indicators, allowing them to more precisely reflect a market’s volatility. By more accurately indicating the existing market environment, they are seen by many as today’s standard and most reliable tool for plotting expected price action. Now, in Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, Bollinger himself explains how to use this extraordinary technique to compare price and indicator action and make sound, sensible, and profitable trading decisions.
Concise, straightforward, and filled with instructive charts and graphs, this remarkable book will be essential reading for all serious traders, regardless of market. Bollinger includes his simple system for implementation, and techniques for combining bands and indicators.

Learn how to use Bollinger Bands

EUR/USD has edged higher in the Asian and European sessions.

EUR/USD has started the week with slight gains, as the pair trades in the mid-1.22 range in Monday’s European session. The euro had awful week, losing about 200 points. EUR/USD is trading at its lowest level since July 2012. On the release front, German Import Prices posted a decline of 0.8%. Later in the day, Eurozone Consumer Confidence will be released. In the US, today’s only event is Existing Homes. The markets are expecting the indicator to soften in November, with an estimate of 5.21 million.
Recent releases out of Germany, the Eurozone’s largest economy, have been cause for optimism. The January forecast for German Consumer Climate came in at 9.0 points, a notch above the estimate of 8.9 points. This marked the fourth straight rise for the indicator, pointing to stronger optimism from consumers as we head into the New Year. These strong numbers come on the heels of German Business Climate, which improved to 105.5 points, up from 104.4 a month earlier. This edged above the forecast of 105.4 points. On the inflation front, German PPI, which tracks manufacturing inflation, improved to 0.0% in November, up from -0.2% a month earlier. Like the consumer confidence indicator, this release is on an upward trend. Strong German consumer and business confidence numbers are welcome news, as the Eurozone economy continues to struggle.
EUR/USD has edged higher in the Asian and European sessions.
1.2143 is a strong support level.
1.2286 is a weak resistance line. 1.2407 is stronger. EUR/USD ratio is pointing to gains in long positions on Monday. This is not consistent with the pair’s movement, as the euro has posted slight gains. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards the euro continuing to move to higher ground.

USD/CHF Daily

 USD/CHF  Daily
14::05 GMT - Little change last several hours with prices trading      either side of 0.9800. Close res. is still around 0.9820 followed by  0.9847.  A subsequent move above here, if seen, should target 0.9865 next. The overhead res. is at 0.9898. Sup. is a few pipseither side of 0.9750. N.I.
R5: 0.9898 * Aug 12 high
R4: 0.9972 * 2012 high
R3: 0.9898 * Aug 12 high
R2: 0.9865  projection
R1: 0.9847  Thurs high
S1: 0.9750~  recent high/low
S2: 0.9719 * Thurs low
S3: 0.9675  recent high
S4: 0.9625  intraday level
S5: 0.9592 * Wed low

Gaps are a magnet for a stock price

The simplicity of trading for short term profits or long term wealth for retirement is really down to the basic dynamics concerned with how to actually trade in an effective, objective and logical manner.Thus if there are only three things you can do in the market after all, that is buy it, sell it or do nothing. It doesn’t get much simpler then that stick to your trading plan.  Once you are in a trade you have to decide for yourself what you are going to do next. Traders need to gain experience and keep working to improve their performance.
New traders are either going to win on the trade, lose on it or maybe break even from time to time but whatever the outcome, this is the one true unknown element and thus, is what makes the act of trading not so easy. When traders kept records and got consistently better at finding decent trades, they soon learned that if they took the smart profits off the table when they had the chance to do so, they made money consistently. When traders didn’t, They would lose money. Yes we all want the most out of trades when we take them but we never really know how far they will run, so why not take a profit that is possible rather than hope the trade is going up more this is a mistake. Most successful traders hope this makes an impact in their results and more money in their accounts.

Trading Gap Zones

USD/JPY

The Japanese yen has made huge gains on Tuesday, as USD/JPY trades in the high-115 range on Tuesday. Late in the European session, the pair is trading under the 116 line, marking a 4-month low. On the release front, Japanese Manufacturing PMI was unchanged at 52.1 points. Later in the day, Japan will release Trade Balance. In the US, today’s major events are Building Permits and Housing Starts.
The yen has served as an unwilling punching bag for the US dollar for months, and last week USD/JPY pushed above the 121 line. However, the Japanese currency has turned the tables this week, as the yen has gained 200 points on Tuesday and some 320 since the start of the week. The safe-haven yen took advantage of a dip in the Chinese Flash Manufacturing PMI, which came in at 49.5 points. This pointed to contraction in the PMI for the first time May and raises concerns about the soft global economy.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party registered a convincing election victory on the weekend, giving Prime Minister Abe a comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament. However, winning the election is likely to be the easy part, as the economy is stumbling and Abe’s economic reforms will face resistance from the upper house. Growth and inflation have not met the government’s target and the yen has tumbled to around 120 under “Abenomics”, with the BoJ implementing radical monetary easing. Meanwhile, the Japanese Tankan indices were a mix in the Q3 readings. The Manufacturing Index dipped to 12 points, down from 13 points in Q2. There was better news from the Non-Manufacturing Index, improving to 16 points, up from 14 points in Q2. The yen showed little response to these key releases.