August has been a great month

Yesterday was the last trading day of the month. This month ended with a bang, I beat my target returns with minimal risk.

I closed all my open positions except NZD/USD long. EUR/USD and USD/CHF would have given me at least another 40+ pips had I held on, but I wanted to close my positions.

US preliminary GDP beats advanced figures

Bull run for the USD for at least the next couple of days. The preliminary GDP for the second quarter stood at 4.2%. There are three figures for the GDP figure each quarter, with advanced giving the most impact, followed by preliminary a month later and then final.

Last month, I covered the advanced GDP in this post. The advanced figure carries the most influenced, thus fueling the strength of the USD for about two weeks.

I expect the preliminary figure to set a bullish tone for at least a few trading days to a week.

I went in long for USD/JPY and shorted EUR/USD and AUD/USD. Surprisingly the NZD/USD pair stood its ground.

Collecting Sumatec

I added more Sumatec shares in my portfolio by buying at the dip.This counter can appreciate at least 15-20% more.

The volume on Wednesday rose and resulting in a net buying position for this counter. This is a good sign as it shows the interest in this stock is increasing and that the gains will be sustainable.

Shorting EUR/USD based on support and resistance

These are my support and resistance levels for EUR/USD. I entered a short at 1.32 last night as this pair hit resistance but there were no external forces to drive the Euro up. Consumer confidence in the US came out good but this pair did not move much in the first hour and I expected a drop to take place on a longer time frame.

I closed this trade with a 40+ pip gain.

My long term view for this pair remains, which is still short.

Bullish m for GBP/JPY

A bullish m was formed for the GBP/JPY pair, the pattern completed at around  7 pm and presented a good entry opportunity for a long trade. There were no high importance data for either currency today so a trade purely based on harmonics would be appropriate.

Unusual Market Activity (UMA) for Sumatec

After falling 17 cents on Wednesday, Sumatec was issued an Unusual Market Activity (UMA) query by Bursa Malaysia yesterday:

Unsurprisingly Sumatec went up by 8 cents yesterday, representing an 18% gain. 

A little bit of fundamentals and technical

Janet Yellen is set to speak tonight, historically her speech echoes the sentiments from the FOMC minutes. This will cause the USD to be bullish especially pre-speech and post speech direction would depend on the content.

I went in long on USD/JPY at 103.70

In addition to the fundamentals, this pair was near support level when I entered. A bounce given the strength of the dollar is very probable.

As for GBP/JPY,this pair was also at support and given the recent outcome of the MPC votes, long term.GBP/JPY should be up.

MPC bank rate votes- Two voted to hike rates

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee announced their voting results. Two voted of the board members voted for a rate hike while the other nine were agreeable that rates should remain as they are.

It is a sad moment for me as my GBP/JPY would have given me at least another 40-50 pips had I not closed my position earlier.

FOMC minutes- rate hike may be earlier than expected

FOMC is always a mover for USD pairs and equity markets. This time, the report highlighted the strength in the US economy, causing the USD to extend its bull run and equities made gains.

The key point was that the creation of new jobs may spur a rate hike earlier than expected. Interest rate parity shall dictate that whenever there is a rate hike, the currency will extend gains.

The full FOMC minutes.

GBP/JPY long and closed

I went in long on this pair yet again at 170.80, the same as my previous trade and closed it with a 60+ pip gain.

I did not want to risk my unrealised profit prior to MPC asset purchase and bank rate votes were out.