AUD/USD Breakout

Posted on September 5, 2009 by Yohay
Filed Under Forex Opinions | 7 Comments

While most currency pairs were stuck in a range, AUD/USD managed to break above a month’s range. This happened in the late hours of Friday afternoon. Though it didn’t blast the roof, this breakout repeats the pattern of the previous breakout – exactly 5 weeks ago.

After yet another week of AUD/USD range trading, Friday finally brought some news. AUD/USD made a move on late Friday afternoon, breaking above the round number of 0.85. It peaked at 0.8535 before closing on 0.8503.

Non-Farm Payrolls Circus

Non-Farm Payrolls fell by 216K jobs, better than expected. On the other hand, last month’s excellent number was revised downwards. The really bad news came from the Unemployment Rate – it rose sharply and unexpectedly higher – from 9.4% to 9.7%.

This caused wild price action, as usual during this release. Most currencies lost ground to the dollar, and later corrected this fall. The Aussie didn’t just correct the initial drop, but rose higher and made a breakout.
AUD/USD Action

During the critical hour of the Non-Farm Payrolls release (around 12:30 GMT), AUD/USD traded wildly and eventually went down, in the low 0.84s. Around 14:00.

It made an initial move upwards at 14:00 GMT, playing with 0.8460. But the big break came only at 15:50 GMT: AUD/USD went sharply higher, above the resistance line. 25 minutes later, it already reached 0.8525.

When trading volume began declining near the long weekend, AUD/USD kept trading above 0.85, closing at 0.8503.

Second Friday Breakout for AUD/USD

AUD/USD didn’t make a huge breakout. Hundreds of pips weren’t left behind. But this move is significant since the exact pattern already happened in the near past.

On Friday, July 31st, AUD/USD was in a similar situation: it was blocked by a resistance line at 0.8230, which held strong for almost two months.

Also then, around 16:00 GMT, resistance was encountered, and AUD/USD broke above this level. It didn’t close much above it: 0.8348. Only 18 pips above the line. When trading resumed on Monday, August 3rd, the Aussie left this line behind.

Aussie Short Summary

I had a strong bullish sentiment for the Aussie. This week’s GDP reconfirmed the strength of the Australian economy once again. After breaking the technical barrier (while other currencies didn’t), it managed to close higher.

Learning from the past, this breakout is enough. AUD/USD should continue higher. The next target is around 0.88.

Further reading: Mohammed Isah with an insightful technical view of AUD/USD.

Did I mention that AUD/USD tops the list of most predictable currencies?

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Comments

7 Responses to “AUD/USD Breakout”

  1. Forex Links for the Weekend | Forex Crunch on September 5th, 2009 11:23 am

    [...] Mohammed Isah has an interesting analysis on AUD/USD. I also wrote about the Aussie breakout. [...]

  2. Forex Weekly Outlook - September 7-11 2009 | Forex Crunch on September 5th, 2009 12:25 pm

    [...] number of other important indicators, didn’t move most currencies out of their ranges. Only AUD/USD made a breakout. What will move the markets this week? Let’s see what’s [...]

  3. Winners Edge Trading on September 6th, 2009 2:24 am

    Eur/Usd: Technical and Fundamental Forex Trading This Week…

    The only currency that broke out of the range this week was the Aud/Usd did make a breakout this week with the Australian Dollar reaching new highs. So maybe the Eur/Usd will follow that same pattern this week. I read one trader comment that he did not…

  4. Forex Daily Outlook - September 7th 2009 | Forex Crunch on September 7th, 2009 12:01 am

    [...] Australian AIG Construction Index and ANZ Job Advertisements start the day. The latter indicator has been following for quite some time, with a 1.7% drop last time. The big question is: Will the breakout be confirmed? [...]

  5. Forex Daily Outlook - September 8th 2009 | Forex Crunch on September 8th, 2009 9:14 am

    [...] NAB Business Confidence continued the positive trend and rose from 10 to 18 points. The Aussie’s breakout was confirmed at the beginning of the new trading [...]

  6. No Green Shoots for the Greenback | Forex Crunch on September 8th, 2009 1:38 pm

    [...] Australian dollar began with a small breakout on Friday. It passed 0.85. AUD/USD is now at 0.8625. The breakout is certainly confirmed. The kiwi followed [...]

  7. New Zealand Rates Unchanged – Kiwi Makes A Roundtrip | Forex Crunch on September 10th, 2009 12:52 am

    [...] NZD/USD was the second currency pair to make a breakout, right after AUD/USD was the pioneer on Friday. [...]

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