BoJ Rate Decision - High Volatility Risk We have the Bank of Japan rate decision coming up this evening and anticipated Yen volatility measures are running extremely high. In fact, the overnight implied volatility on USD/JPY is at levels not seen since the Great Financial Crisis. Below is a chart to give some comparison to the anticipation that was building up in the GBP/USD overnight implied volatility reading heading into Brexit. John Kicklighter explains why this event is so important in his article on DailyFX.com
New Indicator of Trader Sentiment FXCM has created a new Speculative Sentiment Index indicator for Trading Station. It graphs the data in real time, so you can see both current and historical trading sentiment on your charts. One of my favorite features of the new SSI indicator is that you can view sentiment data either as an index value or a percentage. For example, you see below the Speculative Sentiment Index value for USD/JPY is 3.23 which means there are 3.23 long positions for every short position. That equates to 76.38% of traders being long. SSI is a contrarian signal to price action, so the fact that more traders are buying USD/JPY is a bearish signal for the pair. Notice in the chart above how the price action in USD/JPY tends to move in the opposite direction to the SSI percentage. When traders increase their buying, the price tends to fall and vice versa. This makes trader sentiment an interesting complement to the signals you can get from technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
I will be out of the office until Tuesday, August 9th and will respond to your posts and private messages when I return. For immediate assistance, you can contact our 24-hour live customer support.
Recently I've gotten many questions about this news: SEC bans Broker-Dealers from retail forex transactions. I thought it would be good to add some clarification here for traders in the US: On May 20th of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that as of 7/31, regulated Broker-Dealers will be prohibited from offering retail forex trading. The prohibition also applies to Broker-Dealers who are dually registered as a Futures Commission Merchant or a Forex Dealer Member, such as Wedbush Securities, Interactive Brokers and Phillip Capital. Phillip Capital decided fairly quickly to halt its retail forex operation altogether in the US. Based on recent statements, it appears Interactive Brokers has been similarly affected. FXCM on the other hand is not a registered Broker-Dealers and is not impacted by the prohibition in anyway. FXCM will continue to offer FX services to US customers. In fact, latest financial data from the CFTC show traders have more money on deposit with FXCM than any other US-regulated forex broker. If you currently have an account with a broker that can no longer offer forex trading in the US, I encourage you to consider us particularly for the No Dealing Desk (NDD) execution and low spreads we provide to all Standard and Active Trader accounts. High volume traders might be especially interested in a trial of our new Market Depth indicator. (free to all Standard and Active Trader account holders)
NEW Trading Station Desktop update Attention Trading Station Desktop users: A new update is available for your platform. This update is not yet automatic when you log into your account, but clients who want to use the latest features now can get the new version today. Simply go to "Help > Software Updates" from the menu bar at the top of your Trading Station and follow the steps to complete the installation. One of my favorite new features is the Simulation Mode. This allows you to replay market data at real or accelerated speed (for example, 10 times real speed). The best part is that Simulation Mode is available 24/7 even during weekend maintenance. This is great for traders who like to do their charting, practicing and strategizing over the weekend when trading is closed. Test how well you would have traded key market moves from the past! In future posts, I willl provide you with more information on other new features available in the latest version of Trading Station Desktop. Our service includes products that are traded on margin and carry a risk of losses in excess of your deposited funds. The products may not be suitable for all investors. Please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
With the recent Trading Station Desktop update, you can now draw arrows on your Marketscope charts. (To update your platform to the latest version, go to "Help > Software Updates" from the menu bar.) To create an arrow: Right-click on your chart. Select Add Tool from the pop-up menu. Select Arrow Up, Down, Left or Right. Customize your arrow color and other setings in the Properties window and click OK. You can change the shape of an arrow by first left-clicking on it to select it, and then left-clicking and dragging on one of the 4 points that appears in the outline. You can modify or delete an arrow by right-clicking on it and selecting Change or Remove from the pop-up menu. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on the new features added to Trading Station Desktop. Our service includes products that are traded on margin and carry a risk of losses in excess of your deposited funds. The products may not be suitable for all investors. Please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
Please note there is a holiday in the US on Monday, September 5th for Labor Day. You can see our holiday trading hours for CFD's here: What are the CFD Holiday Hours? Forex trading hours remain unchanged, and you can view the holiday rollover interest (swap) schedule here: Forex Rollover Calendar
I will be out of the office until Monday, September 5th and will respond to your posts and private messages when I return. For immediate assistance, you can contact our 24-hour live customer support. To my fellow traders in the US celebrating Labor Day, I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend!
Whats this about Javascript as I can't see any link or reference to this in the latest version of FXCM Trading station. As far as I can see all indicators and strategies use Lua.
EUR/USD short positions up 15.6% since yesterday The Speculative Sentiment Index (SSI) is a contrarian indicator and the fact traders are selling EUR/USD is a bullish signal for the pair. Note in the image above how the price action of the EUR/USD candles tends to mirror the histogram of short positioning in the pair.