FX

Ever had the feeling you've missed a great trading opportunity? I bet every trader has: As I write the dollar is making a very impressive recovery. If you look at the small screenshot above of the AUD/USD currency pair on a weeky-hourly chart, the dollar made more than 100 pips in the past six of seven hours. Note the fat green candlestick - we all know what economic event triggered that - the US interest rates.

Trading the forex markets can be daunting for beginners and novices. Be prepared for an interesting ride of profits and losses: I haven't been participating in the market for about 6 months. Other circumstances pulled me away from the markets that I love. So my skills are a bit scratchy - you can call me a forex novice for the time being. I tried playing the fluctations in the recent movements in AUD/USD in the forex markets and I made 8 percent of $500 so thats $40 in one day.

The Australian dollar opened three quarters of a US cent weaker on Friday as a drop in commodity prices pulled the local unit lower. At 7am (AEDT), the local unit was trading at US74.73¢, below Thursday's close of US75.48¢. Overnight, it hit a high of US75.40¢ and a low of US74.60¢.

The United States Federal Reserve has delivered on market expectations by raising its benchmark interest rate by another quarter percentage point to 4.25 per cent and signalling more to come.

However, a change in wording in the statement - the removal of the description of policy being 'accommodative' in favour of 'some further measured policy firming is likely" - was taken as a signal that the end of the cycle is nigh. Bond yields fell slightly in response, the US dollar lost some modest ground and equity markets rallied.