I’m sure you are sick and tired of hearing about the ‘good old days’ but we’ve got to try and find some hope from somewhere 🙂 .
When I started in the market it was the monthly US trade data which everyone waited on, just like its the NFP today. The volatility around those numbers had to be seen to be believed. I was trading interbank cable in Frankfurt at the time, and the market would deal on 50 pip spreads directly after the data was released. It was not uncommon for cable to have a 200 pip range in the European morning pre-data and then go on and have another 500 pips in the hour or so after the event. It was also not unusual for cable to finish the day exactly where it started. In fact cable traded around 1.60 for much of the late 1980’s, just where it is now!
Which proves my point that it’s about trading the market, not picking the direction.
And just as I finish writing this piece, EUR/USD starts to move. About time!