Since the Euro, give or take, has been such a runaway success, stand by for another single currency. Coming your way some time, the khaleeji.

The Khaleeji is a proposed single currency for member states of the GCC ( Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.) The plan is that it will be legal tender in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, with a proposed start date some time in 2010. Oman and Yemen are other states that may become involved.
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• 19.00 GMT USD Treasury Budget – Ready to trade the spike? Or maybe off the spike #
• Forex EUR/USD not being very helpful today – maybe some news later will bring (mini) breakout #
• Forex 13.30 GMT USD International Trade figures might move things http://bit.ly/12eU8 #
• Reckon today might be best to stay away from GBP/USD trades – various news is going send it any which way. #
• Carnage involving the strong US dollar yesterday later on – wonder what today brings? #

If you can’t get the idea of trading forex succesfully during these market movements, I guess it would be back to the drawing-board.

Here’s some nice clean charts – EUR/USD 1-hour, from yesterday and the day before. Overall, you’d probably describe confidence in either currency as weak, with each successive news event setting off a trend one way or the other. The market is undecided, but these are relatively large swings in terms of pips – a sign of the volatile times.
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Electronic Communications Networks, or ECNs, are electronic trading systems that automatically match up pairs of buy and sell orders at given prices. There’s a fair few sites around the place that tap into these in one way or another to provide a forex trading service. This said, these are very definitely for the bigger player than the average (small) trader on the retail forex market.
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• http://twitpic.com/1f5bb – GBP/USD 1-hr chart – that’s going to walk right back to the centre of the bands – sometime… #
• GBP/USD showing around 1.4600 and out of its bollinger bands, not that I mind, of course… back to 1.40 at this rate #
• Hell, that USD is getting strong across all charts – the right things must have been said #
• EUR marching back well this morning after yesterday’s fall, very nice clean chart for EUR/USD #
• AUD/USD drifting into oversold – but in this climate, not so sure… #

The boring stuff that you probably ought to know - if you’re going to make a successful trader.

There’s quite a few people who trade on the retail forex market every day, who watch their charts go up and down, click on their trades, but only have the very vaguest idea of what’s happening in the big wide world out there. Here’s the very simple version – how the retail forex market works in relation to the world of the big players, banks, institutions, the people we love…

Two quick points to clarify first (which you may well know already).

1. Watching pairs go up and down – you aren’t seeing ‘the forex market’ – you’re seeing your chosen broker’s version of that market. Which is a completely different thing.
2. Liquidity. If you buy something, there must be someone willing and able to sell you it first – the stuff has to a) exist and b) be owned, even if it is a fairly notional ownership at times. Otherwise, no forex deal.

The Interbank Level
The top level of the fx market is known as the Interbank level. It’s not a centralised exchange, in the same way as stocks usually will have an exchange, with intermediate brokers entering the market on behalf of clients – the Interbank level is essentially a collection of bids and offers existing at any one time in order to make potential currency transactions.
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Japan spent a lot of yen during their financial crisis of the 90’s – they might be doing it again. The Japanese ecomony is heavily dependent on exports, so they feel it necessary to keep JPY low at (almost) all costs. The very low interest rate is also part of this policy.

Tokyo has let off verbal volleys against sharp yen rises, but so far Japanese officials have stopped short of saying they will intervene in currency markets, and many market players don’t believe they will.

In the early noughties, Japan kept their economic recovery going by selling yen to the tune of 35 trillion yen (US$383 billion). There’s more info here

• You’d have to think that 1.50 will be a psychological resistance for bullish GBP/USD, wouldn’t you…? #
• Strong USD end last week might be buy on the rumour of favorable US economic plan – faced with the facts this afternoon, maybe bearish…? #
• NZD not very strong atm #
• Should be a quiet news day – US treasury secretary speaking this afternoon #

Today, let’s have a look at one of the entrants in the global forex broker’s market, HYMarkets – offering mini, standard and premium accounts which allow you to trade forex, oil, precious metals, together with other commodities – and you can open an account with just $50.

About HY Markets
Live prices, Dow Jones news, market information and calendars, advanced charting systems, and technical analysis tools to give you a competitive edge. The online trading platform is supported by a promise of 24 hr live support via telephone, email or chat.
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In times of global recession, it’s always the bad news first. Falling indices everywhere, crisis, panic…

At some point in the wonderful economic cycle that we seem permanently locked in, the good news – the green shoots of recovery – starts to become more important. Now, this is particularly so in the stock and bond markets, but with fundamental analysis in the forex market also. Durable goods orders are one of the important indicators of future industrial production and expenditure.
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