Articles for: Australia

Welcome from me to all our Safety in the Market traders to this month’s dedicated newsletter. I’ve just got back from the Adelaide Interactive Trading Workshop yesterday that was conducted with my mate Tim Walker. It is the second one in a row for us and really gave us a chance to build upon the current market action we had been following for the past couple of weeks. It’s personally given my stock CFD trading a boost as we have come across so many great set-ups that were just too good to pass up. I want to share a potential beauty with you on Seven Network (SEV).

The market myths that many people seem to hold as truth often amaze me. One from an Australian perspective is that if the US Market has a down day (overnight in Australia) the Aussie market will finish lower the next day. No doubt a similar belief may be held in the States regarding Australian and Asian markets, though I am sure their movements are far less publicized.

When we last left Santos (STO:ASX) in Issue 309, it had suffered a significant sell-off in the aftermath of a 2-day trading halt due to a capital raising. The market was clearly oversold after falling 14.5% from the close of trading on 8 May to the close on 14 May. It then came back and made a first higher bottom on the 1-Day Swing Chart. I finished the analysis with the words, ‘this is yet again a time to watch this market carefully for a signal.’

This week we learnt that Australia has (so far) narrowly avoided a recession; a technical recession that is. However there is another technical definition that has so far largely escaped popular attention…

Many commodities and currencies have experienced steep increases in recent months. Oil is up almost 100%, copper over 80% and the Aussie 30%. So is it time to start shorting?

If the possibility of a market downturn has you worried, you might want to consider purchasing some insurance for your portfolio. Here I am referring to a process called ‘hedging’, which ensures that your downside risk is limited by purchasing a financial instrument that will offset any loss incurred in your portfolio.

What was the SEC thinking leading up to July 6th 2007? That is the day when the uptick rule - a rule in place since 1934 to help keep markets orderly - was removed. Famous Investor Lazlo Birinyi has been among those calling for its reinstatement for some time and is now joined by several members of US congress. It’s about time!

It should be an interesting week ahead. At time of writing (Wednesday May 27th) several currency pairs are trading close to major 50% milestones or “half points.”

Banking executives, fund managers, investors, retirees watched a little nervously early this week as the short selling ban on Australian local banks was lifted. Was an avalanche about to happen?

In recent articles I have been illustrating some of the difficulties that a market can present in trading, and Santos (STO:ASX) has been giving more than a few of them lately! In Issue 305 I showed a weekly chart which had the market sitting on the mid-point of the range from the June 2008 all-time high and the October 2008 low. At the time, I said that we needed to wait for a signal from the market, either that it was going to hold above the 50% level or that it was going to head lower. Chart 1 updates this earlier chart.