FAP Turbo

Make Over 90% Winning Trades Now!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Plan Your Currency and Commodity Trading Strategy, Tips for Commodity Traders

By William Davies

An analysis of currency and commodity trading refers the keen trader to the currencies of countries whose economic output and subsequent exports are chiefly commodities, such as raw materials like aluminium, oil and gold and agricultural products like sugar, soybean or livestock.

Clearly the currencies of a number of countries around the world could be called commodity currencies on this very broad definition. For the purposes of currency and commodity trading, the term relates to three major country currencies where a significant contribution to exports comes from commodities.

Movements in global commodity prices affect the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollar currencies, with the Australian dollar reflecting gold price movements strongly, while the crude oil price seems to have a close relationship with movements in the Canadian dollar (CAD). Though it is not linked to any particular commodity like the other two currencies, the New Zealand dollar (NZD) or "Kiwi" shows a general correlation with price changes in the Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Index.

So what happens when the gold price strengthens? We will see a similar rise in the Australian dollar in the AUD/USD pair (the Aussie), as all currencies trade in pairs. This means the Australian dollar is rising against the dollar, conversely the US dollar is weakening in that pair. When investors see economic uncertainties such as rising inflation or a recession, they may move into gold for its perceived safe haven status. Currency and commodity traders also look to the yellow metals link to the Aussie, possibly trading this pair as a proxy for gold.

Commodities contribute a significant proportion of Australias GDP and over 50% of its exports, with gold and other precious metals making a significant contribution. Trading charts show the very positive correlation of gold with the Aussie, which means a trader can either go for trading gold in the futures market or as an ETF, or follow the AUD/USD pair in the spot forex market.

Followers of currency and commodity trading will know that Canada is a major commodities producing nation and specifically one of the worlds largest crude oil producers. Accordingly, there is a fairly strong negative correlation between movements in the USD/CAD (the Loonie) pair and the price of crude oil.

Canada is a major oil supplier to its neighbour the USA, which in turn consumes more oil than any other economy. A low crude oil price would be bad news for the Canadian dollar, though positive for both the US economy and US dollar. Any trader bearish about the outlook for crude oil prices could as a proxy go short the Canadian dollar in the forex market, instead of going short Nymex crude or buying inverse ETF's in oil.

When you consider these three currency pairs it's clear why currency and commodity trading followers sense a real opportunity in spot forex trading to capture commodity market movements, whether in gold, crude oil or across the broader commodities universe. With currency trading always providing a bull market, it just comes down to deciding which currency in the pair you are long or short. - 23229

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home