Home—Online trading—Spread betting explained—Spread betting blog—The euro breaks though my tramline
Dec 03, 2012, 02:14
Posted byJohn C Burford
Comments (3)
The Dow and the euro are at major junctures. Today I will cover the euro, because it has well and truly broken above my tramline, which I showed you last time.
In my 19 November post, the market was backing off the 1.30 level but finding some support in the 1.27 area, and I had my tramlines set on the hourly chart below.
There was one push up to my upper tramline (green arrow) and the market was again testing that line as I signed off that post.
I wrote: “But the market is testing this upper line as I write. A punch up through would be interesting!”
(Click on the chart for a larger version)
And interesting it certainly was with a major break up – this is the situation this morning:
The market broke above the tramline and then came back for a farewell kiss before zooming up towards the 1.30 level again.
Remember I was not entirely satisfied with my upper tramline position, as it had only two decent touch points, but the precise kiss back to the line did confirm its position.
Trader tip: When you are uncertain over your tramline, and the market breaks through it, observe action shortly after the break for signs of a pull-back. Here, you could then set a buy order close to the kiss and set your protective stop just below the previous low at 1.2690. A move to this level would invalidate the tramline, and a resumption of the up-move would confirm it.
Claim your FREE report: The six-step game-plan for spread betting profits
OK, so how does the daily chart look now?
I have a very convincing trend line with touch points going back to last year.
Remember, the older the trend line, the more vulnerable it is to a breakdown.
But the market is obviously in the danger zone for the bears. A push above the line would make the 50% Fibonacci level at roughly 1.32 the next target. And the spring highs in the 1.32 – 1.34 zone look very tempting!
In terms of Elliott waves, I believe I can make a case for these targets, and this is how:
From the 24 July low at 1.20, I can see wave 1 up, wave 2 down, the long and strong wave 3 up then an A-B-C wave 4. And if the market can push above the wave 3 high, that would make wave 5 (in the 1.33 area?).
Ideally, I would like to see a negative momentum divergence at the wave 5 high on the daily chart. That would give me a strong indication that a big move down was on the cards.
If this pans out, I would expect a retrace back down to the wave 4 low.
But we are in a rally phase, so can I see any tramlines working?
I have a good upper line with a nice prior pivot point (PPP), but the lower one leaves a lot to be desired.
However, we are right at the junction between the long-term tramline and the upper one on this hourly chart. This is a moment of truth.
In fact, we are at a very similar juncture in the Dow, and I will cover this market later this week. And in view of the seasonal tendency for stocks to rally in this first week in December, I expect some tramline breaks in both the Dow and the euro.
• If you’re a new reader, or need a reminder about some of the methods I refer to in my trades, then do have a look at my introductory videos:
• The essentials of tramline trading • Advanced tramline trading • An introduction to Elliott wave theory • Advanced trading with Elliott waves • Trading with Fibonacci levels • Trading with 'momentum' • Putting it all together
• Don't miss my next trading insight. To receive all my spread betting blog posts by email, as soon as I've written them, just sign up here . If you have any queries regarding MoneyWeek Trader, please contact us here.
Published in Spread betting blog More articles by John C Burford
By John C Burford, May 24, 2013
By John C Burford, May 22, 2013
By John C Burford, May 20, 2013
By John C Burford, May 15, 2013
Leave a comment
(03 December 2012, 02:50PM) Complain about this comment
Is the moneyweek trader analysis, published 3 times a week, posted MUCH earlier on the website? I generally get it via email between 4pm-5pm.I am also very interested to buy the DVD set of the last course that John Burford did. Please let me know if there are plans to produce more copies.
(04 December 2012, 01:31AM) Complain about this comment
Looking at the dollar index, from 20 Nov it dropped down through a number of possible supports 20DMA, 50DMA, 144DMA and stopped at the bollinger band. It had a poor bounce and has now dropped through 80. With the Euro poised to go up, is a short on the USD Index valid too? (For comment, I know it varies on many fundamnetals right now, but TA looks to point lower too).
(06 December 2012, 03:55AM) Complain about this comment
As always, interesting. However, it would have been good if John could have explained how this 5 wave pattern fits into a long term down trend on the daily. This seems counterintuitive - unless the trend has changed.
Name This will be the name displayed with your comment.
Email This helps us verify comments are genuine. It will not be displayed anywhere on the site and is stored confidentially.
Comment Please keep your comment within 1,000 characters and relevant to the main topic. We encourage healthy debate, but we don't allow insults or bad language. Anything off topic or unpleasant, we'll remove. Enjoy the conversation! Thank you.
To prevent spam-related comments please enter the characters shown in the 'Captcha' box to the left.
Enter the text from the box above
Remember my details
By leaving a comment you accept our terms and conditions.
The trades on this blog are all 'closed', past trades. These aren't trades for you to copy, they are there to teach you some useful trading tactics for your own spread betting. And always remember: spread betting carries a high risk to your capital as you can lose more than your original stake.
Cut through the trading jargon with MoneyWeek's easy to understand guide to spread betting terms
In his easy-to-understand video tutorials, John C Burford outlines some of the essential concepts you need to know to become a successful spread better
24 May 13
22 May 13
20 May 13
Compare the leading providers' online trading accounts for spread betting, forex trading, share dealing and CFDs, and open an account online. Plus, get MoneyWeek's tips and advice on trading online.