The importance of market timing | Aussie dollar example

The importance of timing in Foreign Exchange trading cannot be overemphasised. In this connection the currency pairs we study all have their own price movement characteristics and fundamental features.

Right now all news in relation to the pound Sterling, for example, is dominated by the fear that Scotland will vote for independence as a country in less than two weeks time. A poll over the weekend exacerbated this fear, and there were large price gaps against the pound in terms of all its major counterparts apparent on the charts this morning.

In the USA the Non Farm Payrolls report was a real disappointment on Friday although we maintain, as always, that it is the overall trend in employment rates that is important and not just one particular data point.

Aussie dollar example

As an example of the importance of timing, consider the Aussie dollar against the US dollar. Our feeling is that the bias in this pair is to the downside. This is based on the fundamentals of the Australian economy and the belief that the pair is only supported by the attraction for the Carry Trade of the interest rate differential of Australia against all other major jurisdictions. At some stage the realisation will come that QE is finally over in the US and that same Carry Trade will start to be dismantled. It is not the actual ending of QE that matters, but rather the timing of the realisation of the reality of this event on the large Hedge Funds and institutions, in rather the same manner as they only seemed to wake up to the imminence of the Scottish referendum as late as last week, to send the British pound into a tailspin.

The chart above shows a tentative move in favour of this thinking last week. On Tuesday 2^nd September it looked as if a fall in the Aussie had arrived. And the exchange rate was moving in the anticipated downward direction, when Australian GDP figures came in somewhat better than expected, causing this move to stall. Then, on Friday, as mentioned, US Non Farm Payrolls were particularly soft, which had the effect of placing everything related to the Aussie / US dollar pair back to where it was before – in a protracted sideways movement.

So, to get the timing right here we must, perforce, wait a little longer.