Is the market quiet or what?

Just wondering if it is my imagination or does the action on the market seem quieter than usual? Of course around news events everything is nutty for a little bit, but then settles down to a steady flow with little volatitility. Last spring I seem to remember the prices moving around with much more "bounce" even in the not so newsy hours....

Any thoughts or opinions?

GirlFlyer

I think the FOMC news is keeping a lid on things along with the N. Koreans wanting to play spin the plutonium bottle. This channeling stuff is what hurts some EA's becuase of the MA's that they employ. The markets need to move for things to work. This is nothing new to you Marci I'm sure but I think these are just some of those good ol' patterns that some people say keep repeating themselves in the markets. They are as common as head and shoulder patterns, triangles, pennants....we just have to learn how to trade them. The best way to trade channels or 'quiet times' in the markets may be not to trade them at all. I'm running your Flyer and Hendrick's P4 right now and I'm thinking that it may have been a bad week to start them because of the 'red flags' on the FF calendar. Then again, if you have ever sold options these are the times you want so the option premium decays. I did that many times in the futures markets and made some good money but the FX is where I'm spending my time now. I think we just need to let the charts tell us when it's 'okay to go'....Don't get too disheartened, we just need the normal ebb and flow to return, and it will. It always does.

I absolutely agree, the volatility of late has been very low. I expected things to pick up at the end of the northern summer period but it has continued in the traditionally slow holiday mode. I trade an automated intra day portfolio and over the last four years has averaged over 50 trades a week - since July I have been averaging about 15 a week ! I always feel volatility is a bit like annual rainfall - you roughly get the same amount every year it's just the distribution that can be variable. The eurusd has been trapped in the 1.26-1.28 range for weeks - I'm hoping that yesterday's break lower will be the trigger for things to warm up. For the moment though I agree the mkts are one big yawn !

Don't feel bad. It's been very slow. Ya just gotta either switch to lower timeframes, and start scalping, or just wait it out.