Spike at 2:00am Pacific Sept 23

Anyone know what is related to the big spike that retraced itself quickly at the time on the title? The spike occured on the USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, EUR/USD. Seemed to occur on most pairs that involved the USD.

China widens yuan/non-dollar trading band to 3 pct from 1.5 pct



BEIJING (AFX) - China's central bank said it has widened the yuan’s trading
band against non-US dollar currencies, but is leaving the yuan-dollar trading
band unchanged.
The People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website that it has
widened the trading band against non-US dollar currencies to three pct on either
side of a central parity rate from 1.5 pct with immediate effect.
It also said that the yuan-dollar trading band for retail transactions has
been widened to one pct around the central parity rate also with immediate
effect. The previous trading band was 0.2 pct on either side of parity.
The central bank also said the retail yuan-dollar trading band for cash
transactions has been widened to four pct from one pct.
But the yuan-dollar trading in the interbank market remains unchanged at 0.3
pct on either side of the central parity.
The yuan closed at 8.0910 to the dollar today on the Shanghai foreign
exchange trading center.
The central bank suggested that the move was aimed at heading off
speculators who are seeking to profit from any yuan appreciation.
“An appropriate widening of the band may increase transaction costs for
speculators and will help to maintain a stable yuan exchange rate,” it said.
The central bank also reiterated its commitment to maintaining a stable yuan
at a “reasonable and balanced level” but pledged to move towards a more flexible
exchange rate.
The announcement comes just hours before Finance Minister Jin Renqing and
central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan attend the G7 and IMF/World Bank meetings
in Washington.
The central bank also said that it is allowing banks to decide retail
non-dollar exchange rates.

jc/wk

Well, I was watching at that time and happened to see the spike myself. I really don't think that the Yuan is the real thing that made everything rocket like this against the US Dollar, and then come back like this. Actually I smell some manipulation, either from market makers or from a market mover.

Thanks,

Nader

Ya, I thought it mighta been some manipulation as well. I was watching Cable, and cable had dropped dramatically in the last day or so. Seemed that huge spike up, coulda taken a lotta people out of short positions.

Either way, I managed to get 22 pips from that spike and end my day early

Glad to know that you managed to to get out some money from this spike

You know while I was watching, I was 90% sure that something fishy is going in there, the spike just went up to the 49 EMA on the EUR/USD chart and above the trading range established during the last Asian session that it looked like a breakout to the upside. A very nice picture to trap as many longs as possible before heading the market down.

The cable didn't go that far, it just went back to the trading range once again, then dropped down, seem that it was a little bit hard to move the cable too much while the European session was starting.

On the AUD/USD chart, it looked like a normal pullback against the short downtrend, that's why I was even more sure that the EUR/USD breakout was false.

Do we really need to beat the Dinasours of the market to make money ???

Thanks,

Nader