Sterling net positions 12/9

Traders have been cutting bets on a weaker sterling ahead of Thursday's U.K. general election, ING says. As the Conservatives continue to cement their lead in opinion polls for the election, "speculative investors" have trimmed short positions in the pound, ING FX strategist Francesco Pesole says, citing CFTC data. "Sterling net positions are currently at -13% of open interest, which is in line with its five-year average and suggests that the upside potential for GBP stemming from more short squeezing should be fairly limited." GBP/USD is last up 0.1% at 1.3155 and EUR/GBP is flat at 0.8417.

AUD/USD Daily Chart 12/8

Data released at the weekend showed China’s exports fell 1.1% y/y in November, the fourth consecutive month of negative growth. It is evident that the 18-month tariff was with the US is taking its toll on China’s export sector and could imply that they may be more ready to get a Phase 1 deal signed off as soon as possible. That might be construed as positive for risk, but the headline data is dominating sentiment for the time being.

Imports came in better than expected, rising 0.3% y/y versus the -1.8% expected and as a result the trade surplus narrowed to $38.7 billion. The Australian dollar was buoyed by the US payrolls data but has started the week in the red after the poor China trade data. The weak imports growth being one of the driving forces. The 55-day moving average looks poised to rise above the 100-day moving average at 0.6810 for the first time since February 8.

AUD/USD Daily Chart

Source: OANDA fxTrade

Oil and Gold 12/8

Oil The Saudis won the week. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman made quite a debut representing Saudi Arabia at the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna. The Saudi oil minister stunned markets by announcing an additional cut at the final press conference. The Saudis had a couple goals this week, to secure firmer oil prices and for the Aramco IPO to have positive news before its starts trading next week. The deeper production cuts by OPEC + was being faded by traders but the surprise announcement that the Saudis would bring their production to 9.7 million bpd stunned markets. Energy traders were expecting OPEC + to simply confirm a supply cut that the market was used to by overcompliance. The Saudi surprise cut exceeded everyone’s expectations. The other key part of the meeting saw the compliance cheaters come clean and signal they will comply going forward. The big three cheaters are the Russians, Nigerians and Iranians. The Russian got a rule changed that will now not see condensate count on their quota, while the Iranians and Nigerians both admitted guilt to their non-compliance and promised to behave. Gold Gold lost some off its luster after a barrage of US economic data showed the world’s largest economy has not lost its mojo. The killer jobs number was the exclamation point for the Fed’s call to keep rates on hold. With a strong US consumer still in place despite the ongoing trade war, US stocks, Treasury yields and the dollar have all turned very bullish again. Gold’s bullish outlook has been derailed on trade optimism and now it seems an unbreakable US economy. Its not just about jobs, wages were strong today and sentiment improved. Scalping Strategy Course (DVD + Online)

Forex traders

Traders need to study and think when filtering through information on charts. Find news outlets and brokers that you enjoy and trust, but be willing to listen in on new people and news outlets for the latest information. Follow as many as you like, but realize that there is so much information out there that eventually it will be important to narrow your scope. Forex traders are reacting on social media within seconds of publication, and articles blogs usually follow within minutes. It's a frenzied atmosphere that makes for very difficult terrain to navigate, especially if you are an active investor. And buyers beware, as the information can be wide-ranging and often motivated by hindsight. Keep watching small-cap stocks and China for any hint of money chasing beta to new all-time stock highs. It is all a learning process to making money in the markets. ADVANCED FOREX PATTERNS (AFP) helps you to master 10 very powerful Forex patterns available to the Forex trader.

How to trade

Traders entered a trade and immediately began to feel your heart pound, noticed that you were breathing heavily, found that it was difficult to maintain your concentration and on top of that felt a strong wave of anxiety travel through your body? This is what you were experiencing are the effects of stress and once they begin to affect your body mind functioning you have gone over the threshold that is, imaginary line beyond which abundance of physiological, emotional, and mental issues start to pile up. Because the nature of trading is performance oriented, which is extremely challenging as it relates to maintaining self discipline while following through with plans and rules, becoming stressed is a common occurrence. As you become more advanced at trading these emotions will go away. A major advantage is the elimination of emotional and psychological influences determining what and when to trade in favor of a cold, logical approach to the market. Scalping Strategy Course (DVD + Online)