Upcoming webinars from InterTrader.com

InterTrader are happy to announce the dates of their upcoming webinars which cover all facets of online trading from the basics of financial markets to in depth technical analysis.

Dates for the webinars are:

Thursday 12^th May -        Introduction to Financial spread betting

Tuesday 17^th May -          Introduction to Technical analysis

Thursday 19^th May -        Trading the news

Tuesday 24^th May -          Channel trading

Thursday 26^th May -        Introduction to the energy markets – special focus on oil

More dates will be released in due course and places must be booked on https://intertrader.omnovia.com/webcasts

The webinars will be hosted by Steve Ruffley who is a career trader with over 7 years experience within the trading arena. He began his career with PWC on their IFA graduate scheme. He then went on to become a professional Intra-day trader with Marex and then a self backed trader at Schneider’s, he  also has experience with risk managing a large floor of traders at Refco.

Introduction to Financial spread betting

12/05/2011 8pm BST

This session will cover the following topics

- Why Spread betting

- Spread betting Vs traditional trading

- Type of bets

-  Spread betting example

- Introduction to financial markets to include:

  Equities, Indices, Forex and Commodities

- Q&A, giving you an opportunity to ask Steve about any of the points he has covered.

Introduction  to Technical analysis

17/05/2011 8pm BST

Part I

- What is Technical analysis

- Charts

- Trends

- Support & resistance

Part II

Trading central provide techncial analysis and signals for a large varitaty of instruments. In this session we will teach you how to operate the terminal and customize it to your own needs. Trading central is a great decision support system if used correctly. This session is for advanced traders who are experiened in technical analysis and are looking to complement and benchmark their own analysis.

Trading the news

19/05/2011 8pm BST

Using the news and economic events to make trading decisions is just as important

as trading from charts.  In this session you will learn:

- Introduction to economic calendar events

- Understanding the different events and their potential impact on the market

- Planning your trade

- Review different the 3 different techniques

- Summary

- Q&A

Channel trading

24/05/2011 8pm BST

In this session we will learn how to identify and trade price channels. The seminar will cover:

- Type of channels

- How to plot a channel

- building your own channel strategy

- Capital management

- Advanced stops and limit orders

- Summary

- Q&A

Introduction to the energy markets - special focus on Oil

26/05/2011 8pm BST

In the seminar you will learn about:

- Oil production and consumption

- Types of oil, where and how it's traded

- How the real world affects oil prices

We will also be reviewing the following trading strategies :

   - Economic calendar trading

   - WTI-BRENT arb

   - Brent crack

Medium to Long Term Technical Analysis of Gold

Gold has technically been in a bull run ever since it broke free of the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo (see fig 5.11) in mid-February. There was a relatively large correction at the beginning of March – enough to send the price below the blue Kijun Sen medium term average. The price subsequently recovered and ended at a new high of 1562.05 on the 29^th of April.

On the 2^nd of May it briefly touched a high of 1574.95 before starting to decline. It dropped as low as 1462.25 on the 5^th of May before recovering somewhat. At the time of writing, the price is hovering around 1498.

If we look at Fig. 5.11, gold is still technically in a bull market. The green Chinkou Span line is still well above the price 26 periods ago and the price is also still trading above the cloud.

The fact that the price has dropped below the blue Kijun-Sen medium term average, however, shows us that a price correction is on the way. A return above the red Tenkan-Sen line could indicate that the bull market is intact and that we can expect new highs.

Should the price increase above the recent high of 1574.95 again, traders will have even more confidence that the bull market is intact.

Except for day traders, who trade in shorter term movements, it’s too early to look at short trades right now. The price must first at least enter the Ichimoku Cloud, or preferably break out downwards.

The forces driving the gold price are still in place: uncertain economic times, a decline in the dollar, political unrest in the MENA region and uncertainty over the credit worthiness of some emerging economies. Everything else remaining the same, it is unlikely that we will soon witness a major downturn in the gold price.

Fig 5.11

The contents of this report are for information purposes only. It is not intended as a recommendation to trade.  InterTrader  do not accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above or for the correctness or accuracy of the information provided.

InterTrader.com launch the first ever Spread Betting app for iPad

InterTrader.com has launched the first ever financial spread betting app for the iPad, along with an app for the iPhone, both of which enable traders to keep on top of market movements, news and events on the move. The unique feature rich app for the iPad can be downloaded directly from the App Store - http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/intertrader/id416981265

InterTrader’s purpose-built app for the iPad exploits the larger screen offered by the iPad. It enables users to switch easily between both landscape and portrait views and supports high resolution graphics, fast and easy to use navigation and one-click trading functionality.

Shai Heffetz, Head of Financial Spread Betting and CFD at InterTrader, commented:
“We work from the premise that ‘time is money’ and our app® for the iPad makes it easier and quicker for InterTrader customers to react to breaking news and events when on the move. This is from InterTrader following the recent launch of TradeBack™, a cash back loyalty programme for spread betting. With low margin rates, tight spreads and Tradeback™ our customers can now use the apps for both the iPad and iPhones to make the most of their capital in the global markets.”  

Using InterTrader’s iPad / iPhone app:
Traders can access the InterTrader Markets menu from the main navigation panel at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up quick links to the markets offered, grouped into each specific type of market: indices, shares, foreign exchange, commodities and bonds/interest rates.

There is also a quick link to the list of the most popular markets. Users can browse through any of these groups of markets by scrolling through the list.
The Search facility will help find markets that are not listed in these groups. To open the search screen users tap the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, then enter the name of the market they’re looking for.

Trading Patterns webinar with Tom Hougaard, 5th May 2011

In this 90min webinar professional trader Tom Hougaard from WhichWayToday.com and TraderTom.com will explain in great details the trading patterns he wrote about in the 16 articles published on CityAm newspaper. He will go through each of the patterns he described in his popular articles and show chart examples and describe the setups in great detail.
Tom Hougaard spent 8 years in the City, where he became an extremely familiar and popular guest on Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN and BBC. Since 2009 he has traded solely for himself and is running a live trading room where people interested in learning to trade in a live environment can hear where Tom is buying and shorting in real-time.
Join Tom on the live webinar on Thursday 5th May at 19.00 London time.  Webinar lasts 90 minutes.
Register here https://intertrader.omnovia.com/webcasts

All’s well that ends well – Europe Interest rates and the US Job numbers

Dean Peters-Wright

Senior Analyst

fxKnight.com

The European central bank is expected to raise interest rates this week in an effort to fight the rising inflation causing panic within governments. It is expected to be raised by 25 basis points, the first time the ECB has changed the rates since May 2009. In an attempt to curb the rocketing prices which has caused global inflation, the effects will be felt in different ways across different countries. Pressure on Portugal, Spain, Greece and Ireland as they struggle with liquidity issues may result in further complications in the regions financial systems. Spanish banks are exposed to Portugal’s banking system and liquidity problems in Portugal could inadvertently cause a credit run on the Spanish markets. This in itself would not cause the case for Portugal to accept a bailout, but it will make it harder not to.

An interest rate hike will most likely cause further strengthening of the euro against most other currencies. Whilst this is good for production that use overseas materials and suppliers, this will also will put pressure on exporters and those economies that gain a substantial percentage of their GDP through tourism from visitors outside the single currency zone. If however the perceived danger to the smaller weaker economies outweighs the benefits of fighting inflation, there could be a sell off the euro as confidence decreases in the regions stability.

The US had a surge in the dollar when the non farm payroll figures were disclosed and the unemployment rate fell to 8.8%. Whilst the most powerful economy in the world celebrated along with all of its trading partners that have generally relied on the US being the engine driving world economic growth, it did highlight just how far the recovery has to go as prior to 2008 the US unemployment rate was under 5%.

The EUR/ USD has once again reached a key resistant point at 1.4234 where the euro sold off heavily before. If however the buying pressure breaks through this key level then we could be seeing new highs gained against the dollar with an ultimate target of 1.4790. Further long targets to watch for are 1.4427 and 1.4680 where key buying and selling levels have taken place through 2009.

IF the EUR/ USD retreats then 1.4037, 1.3887 and 1.3725 are significant support levels from before. 

The contents of this report are for information purposes only. It is not intended as a recommendation to trade.  InterTrader  do not accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above or for the correctness or accuracy of the information provided.

Technical Analysis of the FTSE100

For readers who are not familiar with the term FTSE100 – it is simply an index of the 100 largest companies on the London Stock Exchange.  The index is maintained and owned jointly by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange.

The index came into being on the 1^st of January 1984 with a base value of 1,000.  It reached a record level of 6950.6 on the 30^th of December 1999.  The financial crisis of 2007 – 2010 saw it drop dramatically to 3,500.  Since then it has recovered to a large extent, reaching a high of 6,091.33 on the 8th February 2011.

Analysis

If one looks at the price of the FTSE100 in relation to the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo cloud in Fig. 3.29, it clearly shows that the market is currently in a declining phase.  The price is well below the cloud, which indicates that a long position at the present moment cannot be recommended.

The green Chinkou Span line is also well below the price, which supports the signal given by the Ichimoku cloud.

The Index started trading below the cloud after the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan and closed at a low of 5552.50 on the 16^th of March.  Since then it has recovered significantly, but during the last few days it has started drifting sideways with no clear direction being evident.

If the market should recover and break through the upper level Senkou Span A line of the cloud, this could indicate that the previous bull market has been restored and that we can expect further price increases.

A drop below the blue Kijun Sen line will, however, be a signal that the downward movement has gained momentum and in that case traders should look at a short position to cash in on a potentially significant price drop.

The contents of this report are for information purposes only. It is not intended as a recommendation to trade.  InterTrader  do not accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above or for the correctness or accuracy of the information provided.

How to Trade Oil Profitably in the Current World Situation

At the moment, the oil market appears to be in something of a state of turmoil.  There are certain forces at play that will push prices up for the foreseeable future; yet recent events have created a situation that could have a dampening effect on prices, at least in the short to medium term.

Market Analysis

On the demand side, large economies, such as India and China, are still growing strongly.  If this trend continues, it will ensure constant growth in the demand for oil in the short to medium term.  On the other hand, economic activity in many important Western economies is still lacklustre.  Despite several predictions of an imminent upturn, the US and UK economies have not lived up to expectations, which will, to a large extent, keep demand for oil in check.  The upcoming summer months in the northern hemisphere will also act to keep demand for oil within reasonable limits during that period.

A number of countries have suffered crippling natural disasters in the past few months.  The earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan was no doubt the worst of these and has now raised fears of a recession in one of the world’s biggest economies.  Once the focus shifts from immediate need to rebuilding, the construction industry in Japan will no doubt receive a huge boost.  This will, in turn, lead to stronger demand for various imported commodities and stimulate economic activity, and the demand for oil will increase.

The latest unrest in various oil producing countries of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region has created fear of disruption to the oil supplies.  This situation has been exacerbated by recent developments in Libya, where a civil war could potentially break out after military intervention by Western powers.  This will lead to further upward pressure on the price of oil.

Something else that has to be taken into account is that the threat of a nuclear disaster in Japan has made many nuclear powers rethink their approach towards this form of energy.  Germany, for example, has already decided to close several of its older nuclear power stations.

Since nuclear energy is an alternative to oil, any development that curtails the supply of this alternative energy source will, in the long run, act to stimulate the demand for oil and push the price up even further.

What we will probably see in the short to medium term therefore, is a temporary lull in the demand for oil.  In the medium to long term, everything points to higher oil prices and it would not be surprising to see new record prices within the next two years.

Technical Analysis

Technical analysis of the situation seems to confirm the foregoing conclusions.  The market was in a strong bull run before the earthquake in Japan on 11^th March 2011, but since then there has been a significant price correction, because many traders feared an imminent recession in Japan.  The market reached a low on the 15^th of March, with Brent Oil closing at 108.28 – see fig. 3.21.

At its lowest level, the price moved marginally below the Kijun Sen (the blue line) on the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo, but rebounded sharply from there and right now it is trading above both the blue line (Kijun Sen) and the shorter-term average, the Tenkan Sen (the red line).

Trading the Current Oil Market

The Ichimoku Kinko Hyo currently indicates a clear bull market.  The Chinkou Span (the green line) is above the price of 21 days ago; the price is well above the cloud and also above both the blue and red lines of the Kijun Sen and Tenkan Sen.

A possible trading strategy is therefore to buy Brent with a stop loss placed at the red Tenkan Sen line.  Along with the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo, this line always acts as your first level of support.  Once the price breaks through the blue Kijun Sen, a long position is no longer advised.

The first resistance level is at 118.47, which was reached on 7^th March.  Once the price breaks through that level, watch out for 119.40, a previous high that was reached on 24^th February.  If the price breaks through this level, new highs are very possible.

As long as the price is above the cloud of the Ichimoku Hyo, medium term short trades cannot be advised.  This does not mean, however, that an astute day trader cannot make money from short-term corrections in the price.  In this instance, figure 3.21 should be redrawn using an hourly or even shorter-term chart.  The same rule applies when the price is trading above the cloud; take in a long-term position.  When it is in the cloud, stay out of the market and when it trades below the cloud, it is time to go short. 

The contents of this report are for information purposes only. It is not intended as a recommendation to trade.  InterTrader  do not accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the above or for the correctness or accuracy of the information provided.