A great tramline trade in the Aussie dollar

Traders are falling over themselves in the rush to short the Australian dollar, says John C Burford. But does the Aussie have a nasty surprise in store?

On Friday, I wrote of my chagrin at having missed the August gold rally. But this has been tempered by a super tramline trade in the Aussie dollar.

The Aussie is heavily influenced by movements in commodity markets, since Australia is a major world producer of raw materials. And with growth in China its biggest customer visibly slowing, the feeling in the currency markets has been bearish the Aussie. The common belief is that demand for many commodities will continue to slow, and the pressure on the currency will intensify.

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John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.