Tuesday, April 27, 2010

4/27 Watchlist: Forex

The problem with forex is that most of the pairs are weakly trending, so they're prone to whipsaws. So most trades based on signals end up as losers by the time a countervailing signal is given.

It calls for a better exiting strategy. Must ponder.

One method would be to exit upon any successful day, or to exit after three days whatever the outcome. I'll note the status of both of those in a second posting, called 4/27 Watchlist: Forex Method.

Forex currency pairs showing parabolic sar bull signals:
  • GBP/CHF, 4/21
  • GBP/JPY, 4/23. Sharp drop and a bear signal on Person's Proprietary Signal (although the parabolic sar remains in bull mode). Exiting the signal as a FAILURE for a 1.7% loss. This pair has a low average directional index, 16, and so is prone to whipsaws.
  • USD/CHF4/22, 4/23.  Added twice; the original signal disappeared and has now reappeared.
  • USD/JPY, 4/23.Pps bear signal, sharp price drop, exiting as a FAILURE for a 1% loss. Low adx of 18, so whipsaw prone.
Forex currency pairs showing parabolic sar bear signals:

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A note on method: For stocks, I choose among signals, only watching those that meet a set of criteria aimed at  moving the probabilities more in my favor.

For the 16 forex pairs I follow, I watch all signals, even when the trend is weak and the whipsaws likely.

Abbreviations:
psar - Parabolic Stop and Reverse
adx - Average Directional Index
pps - Person's Proprietary Signal
ma20 - 20-day moving average
macd - Moving Average Convergence-Divergence
mfi - Money Flow Index
sto - Fast Stochastic
   

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