This week we’ll begin with our monthly and weekly forecasts of the currency pairs worth watching. The first part of our forecast is based upon our research of the past 16 years of Forex prices, which show that the following methodologies have all produced profitable results:
Trading the two currencies that are trending the most strongly over the past 3 months.
Assuming that trends are usually ready to reverse after 12 months.
Trading against very strong counter-trend movements by currency pairs made during the previous week.
Buying currencies with high interest rates and selling currencies with low interest rates.
Let’s take a look at the relevant data of currency price changes and interest rates to date, which we compiled using a trade-weighted index of the major global currencies:
Monthly Forecasts April / March 2018
For the month of March, we forecasted that the best trades would be short USD/JPY and long EUR/USD. The final performance was positive, as follows:
Currency Pair | Forecast Direction | Interest Rate Differential | Final Performance |
EUR/USD | Long ↑ | -1.75% (0.00% - 1.75%) | 1.05% |
USD/JPY | Short ↓ | -1.85% (-0.10% - 1.75%) | 0.38% |
This month, we forecast that the best trades will be long EUR/USD and long GBP/USD.
Weekly Forecast 1st April 2018
Last week, we made no weekly forecast, as there were no strong counter-trend movements that week.
This week, we make no weekly forecast, as there were again no strong counter-trend movements.
This week has been dominated by relative strength in the U.S. Dollar, and relative weakness in the Japanese Yen.
Volatility was much lower it was last week, with only approximately 19% of the major or minor currency pairs changing in value by more than 1%. Volatility is likely to be higher next week.
You can trade our forecasts in a real or demo Forex brokerage account.
Key Support/Resistance Levels for Popular Pairs
We teach that trades should be entered and exited at or very close to key support and resistance levels. There are certain key support and resistance levels that should be watched on the more popular currency pairs this week, which might result in either reversals or breakouts:
Currency Pair | Key Support / Resistance Levels |
AUD/USD | Support: 0.7640, 0.7629, 0.7598, 0.7577 Resistance: 0.7702, 0.7718, 0.7775, 0.7804 |
EUR/USD | Support: 1.2296, 1.2005, 1.1885, 1.1863 Resistance: 1.2361, 1.2384, 1.2436, 1.2500 |
GBP/USD | Support: 1.3983, 1.3879, 1.3822, 1.3759 Resistance: 1.4097, 1.4193, 1.4330, 1.4435 |
USD/JPY | Support: 106.10, 105.90, 105.26, 103.34 Resistance: 106.34, 108.05, 109.76, 110.52 |
AUD/JPY | Support: 80.31, 79.84, 79.21, 79.14 Resistance: 82.70, 83.26, 83.60, 84.85 |
EUR/JPY | Support: 130.61, 130.23, 129.12, 128.40 Resistance: 131.06, 131.87, 134.16, 134.88 |
USD/CAD | Support: 1.2785, 1.2732, 1.2669, 1.2605 Resistance: 1.2946, 1.2971, 1.3053, 1.3200 |
USD/CHF | Support: 0.9521, 0.9509, 0.9462, 0.9423 Resistance: 0.9543, 0.9665, 0.9732, 0.9816 |
Let’s see how trading one of these key pairs last week off key support and resistance levels could have worked out:
USD/JPY
We had expected the level at 105.90 might act as resistance, as it has acted previously as both support and resistance. Note how these “flipping” levels can work well. The H1 chart below shows the how the price hit the resistance level at 105.90 and immediately formed a bearish pin candlestick on the hourly chart just as New York was opening, which is often an effective time to enter Forex trades in USD currency pairs such as this one. This possible entry is marked by the down arrow within the chart below. This trade achieved a maximum positive reward to risk ratio of 2 to 1.
You can trade our forecasts in a real or demo Forex brokerage account to test the strategies and strengthen your self-confidence before investing real funds.