Gentleman, Start Your Hedging...

Looks like the number of Initial Jobless Claims for the week was slightly higher than expected. Although this was not wonderful news for the U.S. economy, it was far from terrible. So, the economy seems to be doing less worse every day. It's only a matter of time before this recession is a thing of the past. When will that time come? I can only say it will not be today!

I started the first phase of my mid-term trading strategy today with a hedge. I shorted GBP/JPY this hour (8:41 am EST) with a stop set at the 160.50 area (chart above). The pair retraced back up exactly 61.8% from it's most recent decline to the 155.95 level (from the 8/7/09 high of 163.05), and then followed by a very convincing hourly down bar this past hour.

Risk: 150 pips

Reward: 100-250 pips

This is not my preferred direction. I'd much rather own anything against the Yen (buy EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, USD/JPY, etc). However, like I said above, this is only the first phase of my trading plan, and I am waiting very anxiously in the wings to go long EUR/JPY as soon as I see an appropriate entry point. I will try to post here as soon as I make my move.