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Category Archives: Trades

These is where we share with you the trades that we have executed. We also track our trades for overall profit/loss reconciliation.

May 11th @ 1 Month GBPUSD Put Option and 1 Month USDJPY Call Option

As it turned out, the GBPUSD went to the moon after I bought the put option whereas my decision on the USDJPY call option turned out to be a BIG reward.

On May 9th, the USDJPY hit a high of 114.23 and I felt that there could be more momentum and I decided not to close the position. A few days later, our dear Trump started shooting his mouth off, the USDJPY came off slightly.

Another opportunity to take profit presented itself on May 11th when it recovered and was up to 114.32, I decided to take profit and sold the option at 114.29 for a nice trading profit of 4 BIG yen!

The GBPUSD put option on the other hand never saw daylight but the comforting fact is that I was prepared to lose the premium of 129bps to begin with.

So net net, we did well.

18 May @ UK Retail Sales

After slumping for three months, market is expecting the retail sales to recover.

So at near 4:30pm, I put in my Stop if Bid trade with the following details: –

Spot: 1.2980

Stop if Bid: 1.3000

Squared at 1.3033

Trading profit: 33bps

Not bad lah!

GBPUSD

The straddle that was executed was triggered on the offered side and it almost got triggered on the bid side as well, thankfully.

However, the CPI, RPI and PPI data was mixed including the trade balance and the GBPUSD reflected it with a lack of momentum on the downside.

I decided to take profit at 1.2875 for a trading profit of 33bps.

UK CPI, PPI and RPI

UK usually is sensitive to this data as it is largely a services and consumption economy.

I decided to place a straddle with the following details: –

Spot: 1.2938

Stop if Bid: 1.2968

Stop if Offered: 1.2908

Let’s see.

12 May @ 1 mth AUDUSD Call Option expiring June 12th

Looked at the 1H and 4H AUDUSD charts and felt that the AUDUSD has bottomed and potentially has a chance to move up in the near future.

So decided to buy a 1 month call option with the following details: –

Spot: 0.7340

Premium: 68bps

BE: 0.7408

Expiry: 12 June 2017

Let’s see what happens.

ECB Rate Decision……..TONIGHT!

I believe Draghi is going to starting reining in QE as he kind of hinted in his last press conference.

However, because of the Brexit, French elections, Greece and Italy, I can’t help thinking that he might end up also being alittle dovish.

So in truth, I believe he can go either way, but the volatility on the upside seem to be higher than the down side.

I decided to execute a double down call and put option spread with the following details: –

Spot; 1.0905

Call option; BE; 1.0948 with 43bps premium

Put Option; BE; 1.0879 with 26 bps premium

Total premiums; 69bps.

Let’s see what happens. I believe whatever happens tonight will translate into market action over the next few days.

It doesn’t help that it’s a long weekend upcoming up.

 

7 April; GBPUSD @ Manufacturing Production, Industrial Production, Construction Output, Trade Balance

Given UK’s preoccupation with the Brexit and firms pulling out, I felt that the manufacturing numbers were probably going to be weak.

So decided to put in my GBPUSD straddle with the following details: –

Stop If Offered at 1.2440, Spoat at 1.2460, Stop if Bid at 1.2480

All the data came out weak, and it triggered by Stop if Offered leg, but for some reason the GBP seemed resilient, so I decided to square the position at 1.2400 for a trading profit of 40bps.

5 April; GBPUSD @ Services PMI

UK Services PMI will always be a much looked at data given the services economy that is the UK.

I decided to put in my GBPUSD straddle with the following detail: –

Stop if Offered at 1.2444, Spot at 1.2474, Stop if Bid at 1.2474

Though the PMI came out strong at 55 versus forecast of 53.5, the GBP just didn’t make much of a move, it did trigger my stop if bid leg.

I squared the position at 1.2492 for a small trading profit of 18bps.

 

18 April; Theresa May……….FRONT AND CENTRE

One of the more significant speeches to be made by Theresa May after triggering Article 50.

So I decided to place a straddle just before the speech with the following details: –

Stop If Offered at 1.2538, Spot at 1.2568, Stop if Bid at 1.2590

After Theresa May announced a possible snap election in June, the GBPUSD started getting bidded.

I followed the spot trade till about 9:25pm and decided to square the position at 1.2725 (high was 1.2745) for a trading profit of 135bps.

Thank you Theresa!!!

 

17 April; two straddles

Yesterday, thought the NY Empire State Manufacturing PMI would be a volatile event.

So, placed two straddles; one EURUSD and the other USDJPY.

Unfortunately, despite the weak data, EUR and JPY hardly moved. I believed the world is on edge about the tension between North Korea and the USA.

So I withdrew both the straddle trades.