AUDUSD in Asia with the Australian jobs data, plan and what I'm skipping

[Fairman]

AUDUSD in Asia with the Australian jobs data, plan and what I'm skipping

Asia session thread, AUDUSD. There's Australian employment data coming at the start of the session which can really move the Aussie, so I'll keep it simple.

I'm not trading the release. The first move is usually messy and the spread on AUD pairs can stretch a lot in Asia where liquidity is lighter anyway. After the number I give it half an hour and then look at how price is behaving around the pre release level. If it's holding above or below it on M5 closes, I'll look for a pullback entry in the direction of the break. If it keeps whipping through, I'm out.

This session tends to give me fewer, slower trades than London. That suits the plan. A couple of attempts, smaller risk, and no trades after the first couple of hours when it goes flat. Will post updates as it goes.

[Fairman]

Something worth adding for anyone new to trading AUD in Asia. The employment data includes both the headline jobs number and the unemployment rate, and they do not always agree. A big jobs number with a higher unemployment rate can make price jump one way and then reverse within minutes. That is another reason I wait. By the time thirty minutes have passed, the market has usually decided which part of the release it cares about, and the M5 closes around the pre release level tell me which way that went.

[Fairman]

On the spread point, I check what the AUDUSD spread normally looks like on my broker in the early Asian session before the data day, so I have a baseline. If after the release it is still noticeably wider than that baseline when my thirty minutes are up, I give it longer or just skip. There is no prize for being early in a thin market. The pair often keeps trending through the Asian session after a big number anyway, so there is usually time to get in properly.