Tag: forex

Could Denmark Be The Next Country To Remove Its Currency Ceiling?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By: Susan Wade

Following on from Switzerland's removal of its currency ceiling, fears are mounting that the Danish central bank may soon follow suit, sending further shockwaves through the forex market.

Forex brokers like FxPro.co.uk, global banks and traders can only watch with bated breath, waiting to see whether the country removes the fixed exchange rate policy that's been in place since the 1930s.

Mounting Fears

In the aftermath of the chaos caused by the Swiss National Bank's (SNB's) shock decision to remove its currency ceiling, investors are now beginning to ask whether Denmark could soon do the same.

The move by the SNB means that Denmark is the last major economy in the world to peg its currency to the euro. Continue reading "Could Denmark Be The Next Country To Remove Its Currency Ceiling?" →

Market insight: U.S. Dollar at 11-Year High Against Euro

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Elliott Wave International

On March 4, we spoke with Jim Martens, our Chief Currency Strategist. His Currency Pro Service is participating in our Pro Services Open House, a free week-long event that starts next Tuesday at elliottwave.com.

Elliott Wave International: Jim, it's a good time to talk about currencies, because the euro has just touched an 11-year low against the dollar. Did you ever think you'd live to see this day?

Jim Martens: Did I ever think I'd live to see this moment... Well, back in mid-2011, when EURUSD was trading near $1.50, we started talking about the upcoming retest of $1.1876, the 2010 low. We were convinced that the rally from that level was a correction -- so EURUSD would ultimately fall back to it. It took a while to get there because what followed was a wide-ranging sideways consolidation in EURUSD -- a triangle, in Elliott wave terms, an overlapping pattern labeled ABCDE that you see on this chart:

That triangle ended in May 2014 with EURUSD almost hitting $1.40. From that point we had been expecting a move below $1.1876 -- and we had lower targets, as well. Most of them have been hit, and the interesting thing is that now, all of a sudden, the idea of the dollar/euro parity is becoming popular. Someone at Goldman recently talked about parity by the end of 2017.

Elliott Wave International: Do you think we'll see parity? Continue reading "Market insight: U.S. Dollar at 11-Year High Against Euro" →

Forex Traders: The Only Question You Should Be Asking

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Elliott Wave International

I can't help it. Whenever I read the mainstream financial news, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a job interview at Microsoft.

In case you don't remember -- Microsoft was made famous, in part, for asking prospective employees one single question: Why is a manhole cover round?

They wanted to assess how a person approaches a question that has many answers. And, many answers are what they got, from the most practical (i.e. "Because a manhole is round") to the most philosophical (i.e. "The circle is the most aesthetically pleasing shape for the human eye.")

I'll now take you back to the world of mainstream finance where those in charge are regularly asked to answer this basic question: Why did market "X" move this way today? And, many answers are what they give.

Take, for a real-world example the March 9-10 upsurge to a 7-and-1/2 year high in the Dollar/Yen currency exchange pair. As for why the USDJPY rallied, the experts offered up these (and many more) explanations: Continue reading "Forex Traders: The Only Question You Should Be Asking" →

Sterling by the Charts

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


The UK economy, it seems, has been a study in opposites. It has swung from having been the fastest to the slowest, from experiencing high growth and then sluggishness, from moving from a high inflation environment to a low inflation environment. The UK economy is the great dichotomy, comprised of fading expectations and the bursting of optimistic sentiment that together carves the path of the Pound Sterling, a path that is as shaky now as it ever was and which, it seems, has been broken just this week.

Sterling Not Coming Back?

Looking at the chart below, we can tell much about the governing dynamics of Sterling buyers and sellers. Dips in the Sterling trade vs the Dollar were plentiful; back in 2009, when the crisis was at its climax, back in 2010, when UK growth was pegged as just “sluggish,” and then back in 2013, when it seemed the UK economy had finally lost all steam. Yet each and every time Sterling buyers emerged; in fact, not only did they emerge and crowd back into what they deemed an undervalued currency, but each time they emerged at a higher point, painting a picture of a fragile but steadily ascending path for the Pound vs the Dollar. Yet as the latest point on the chart shows, at this point in time the buyers have not re-emerged, letting the Pound break its ascending path. Why, this time in particular, are Sterling buyers not coming back? Continue reading "Sterling by the Charts" →

Fed on the Brink of Dovishness?

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


After fending off one blow from the SNB and another, albeit positive, surprise from the ECB, investors’ focus will, naturally, shift to next week when the Federal Reserve’s rate decision will take place. “What will Yellen say this time?” markets want to know. Can the Fed Chairman really stay hawkish while the rest of the world is plunging into a new cycle of easing? These questions have loomed over Fed meetings for a while now, especially as Oil prices plummeted and inflation expectations lowered. Yet to the surprise of many Fed watchers and investors, Janet Yellen, “the dove,” continued to press forward with a hawkish tone, giving an upbeat assessment on growth and stressing the Fed’s conviction that disinflation (low Continue reading "Fed on the Brink of Dovishness?" →