Why EURCHF is not a normal pair anymore

[Shadow Trader]

EURCHF is an odd product. After the peg was removed in 2015, the pair floated, but it kept the memory of a range. Traders still treat levels near 0.95 and 1.00 as special, and the Swiss National Bank is known to lean against excessive franc strength.

The result is a pair that spends long periods barely moving and then jumps. The spread is wider than on EURUSD, depth is thinner, and the cost per pip of movement is relatively high.

For scalpers, the tick-level character is key. Quotes can sit for several seconds, then print a 3 or 4 point move. On low-vol days, a typical one-minute candle might span 2 points, and the spread is 1.5.

It tends to trend slowly, then react to risk events. Risk-off waves strengthen the franc, and the pair drops.

Because it doesn't offer the movement scalpers prefer and doesn't offer the tight spreads either, it's typically a poor fit for quick trades, but it's often the first pair that people try because it appears to be calm.

Comparing the pair's average daily range with its average spread gives a ratio worth knowing. For EURCHF, the ratio is often far worse than for EURUSD, which explains why the pair feels calm and costs more than it looks.

Has EURCHF ever produced a decent scalping day, or is it always a pass?

[Amanhasnoname]

I tried it for about three weeks when I was starting out, for exactly the reason you give at the end. It looked calm on the chart and I thought calm meant safe. What I found was that I spent most of my spread on trades that went nowhere, and then one morning a risk headline pushed it down 30 pips in a few minutes while I was holding a long with a tight stop.

The range to spread ratio you mention is what finally convinced me. When I worked it out on my broker, EURCHF was paying around 1.5 pips of spread to trade a typical London hour range of maybe 8 or 9 pips. EURUSD at the same time was 0.2 spread on a range of 15 or more. There was just no comparison once the numbers were written down.

I still keep it on a watch list, but only as a risk gauge. When EURCHF starts dropping hard, I take it as a hint that franc and yen buying is coming, and I tighten up on my other pairs.