Oh Man, I'm Flat

Discussion in 'Forex' started by oldtime, May 8, 2013.

  1. Oldtime, how does it work when you are trading a non USD based pair in a USD account? I've always avoided these pairs in a USD denominated account because isn't there a double exchange rate to consider?

    For example:

    short eur.aud -> short eur.usd X long aud.usd
     
    #91     May 12, 2013
  2. you tell me

    I'm just a beginner

    I know no matter how I do it I have a hell of a lot of carry to overcome

    I've traded this Cad in the past and when all said and done it was profitable

    everynow and then Jack Larkin shows up and tries to straighten me out

    difficult for me to talk to other traders because sometimes I am just talking about one pair, and other times I am talking about the whole portfolio
     
    #92     May 12, 2013
  3. You're a beginner. You had all of 2012 to play with this. I was trading XAUUSD last year. I've only been trading forex in 2013.

    All of this gets rather complicated.

    Example:

    Short EUR.AUD
    Short AUD.USD

    But Short EUR.AUD => Short EUR.USD X Long AUD.USD. So if you're also shorting AUD.USD, you just cancelled out the Long AUD.USD.

    Conclusion: I guess you should have just gone short EUR.USD

    This spreading must leave you scratching your head at times wondering how much redundancy you have built into your trades.

    Not a criticism; just an observation.
     
    #93     May 12, 2013
  4. yes, I've talked about this many times

    at 1 to one you might as well just put on the cross

    but as one side gets lopsided it is just as difficult to figure out what you actually are

    like I said, whatever I have on, I put the cross up on my screen

    but what am I if I am long 2 aud.usd and short 1 eur.usd? Or 3 to one?
     
    #94     May 12, 2013
  5. it all started when I was long chf against 3 currencies
    and short chf against 3 currencies
    I had 80 pip stops in on everything
    that was the night of the snb peg

    my losers traded through the stops by as much as 20 pips

    but you know what happened to my winners

    I got flat and just started thinking
    and it kind of progressed from there

    at first there was a lot of cancelling, but then I started averaging down
    and then I started adding to winners

    and then I started making some kind of consistent money
    although it certainly hasn't been a straight road up

    but it beats the heck out of guessing what ES is going to do
     
    #95     May 12, 2013
  6. Yes, I know. This is where I start scratching my own head. Now, if you threw a long aud.eur, I would wonder what was going on inside of your head. This is why I am inclined to stick to pairs where the base is the same as the currency of my trading account.
     
    #96     May 13, 2013
  7. because I am worried about a move in usd

    in this case I am 25% exposed long usd.cad

    in the other case, my base could be moving all over the place

    I was betting on a stable usd

    now I am betting on a stable cad
     
    #97     May 13, 2013
  8. it's kind of a bass akwards way of thinking about things

    theoretically, before I was 50% long and 50% short usd

    now (if I ever get filled) I will be 25% long usd

    But right or wrong, I want to be exposed to something that is moving
     
    #98     May 13, 2013
  9. Why is that? Could it because you want to profit from its direction? I can see the balancing act you're playing, but in the end you too are looking for that directional trade. If you get it right, you make money, otherwise you lose money.

    So, I'm back to where I was. Investments traded in USD. Forex trading with one currency pair: EURUSD. So far, I'm in the red on my most recent trade. Lots of people do focus on a single item to trade and do very well.
     
    #99     May 13, 2013
  10. where you been kid? all spread traders are directional, it's just we like trading the spread better than the outright

    it's been that way since the beginning of time
     
    #100     May 13, 2013