Dec 14-19 2008 AUD/USD

• This was a Fed week with lots of movement. Originally my bias was short, but that trade was stopped and even the long reverse trade was nearly stopped out by a whip.
• After the Fed meeting, this pair and most majors moved considerably against the USD. 
• Took profits on the Long reverse trade, but looked to get out on any weakness in momentum.

• This grey chart is how the week ended.
• We see here the move down was just as abrupt as the move upwards after Fed Day. 
• Our momentum analysis, was disciplined and more importantly, profitable.

Our current position is  short EUR/USD.  Direction will not totally be clear until markets are back from holiday, and thin trading conditions are over.  Our bias remains bearish until momentum signs change.  

Conditions were not as difficult as the previous week, however reversing the losing position was important to contain a large drawdown because of market volitility.   A B+ for trade management this week. 

Dec 1 2008 Week Filtering

2 Positions we started off Monday. As with most Mondays, the direction for the week was not clear. There was a good amount of consolidation, prior to any trend developement. With the Aussie, the trend never revealed itself, even after a significant rate cute by the RBA. After a few spikes in both direction, and clearly a loss of momentum, I closed this out with a +24 gain.

• Time saved
• Pips gained
• Great filtration and we move on

Our Cad(loonie) position had a much more positive picture. There was certainly some drawdown in the beginning, but remained bullish on the indicators. This is just a volitile time, and a volitile currency pair. Still when the signs grew more bullish, I added to the small position, and will manage this until I see a clear loss of Momentum.

Outcome: After 400+ pip gain from the start of the week, we trailed this stop by about 85. The pair reversed sharply in the afternoon, and by using the trailing stop we saved at least $200. The key 1.3000 handle just could not hold and like 2 previous tries, really got rejected to the downside. We've taken about +600 pips this week, and from the 2 previous weeks, trading conditions have not been easy to analyze or manage. Pleased to say that we had a good week in a tough market.