What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game is an extremely valuable resource that, although dating back to its original publication in 1999, is still an excellent discussion of the key indicators and signals every investor in the foreign currency exchange market must understand and monitor. It simply cannot be overstated just how important these signals and indicators are to profitable trading in the foreign currency exchange market, and this book is one of the very best available to help investors, participants, and observers of this volatile marketplace make sense of what occurs. And it is only by fully understanding these issues and indicators that the investor, regardless of experience level or background, will be most likely to achieve effectiveness and success in the foreign currency exchange markets.
Why are these indicators and signals so vitally important to the foreign currency exchange market? Quite simply, they are the most basic and fundamental signs that give the most accurate and prompt view of economic stability, strength, and vulnerabilities. And this information is critical to understand if you hope to trade successfully in the foreign currency exchange market precisely because currencies and their value are so heavily dependent on their respective national economies to guide their valuation. What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game contains an extremely thorough and detailed discussion of all of these most vital indicators, presenting the information in a way that is exceptionally readable and easy to understand.
Why are these indicators so important?
There is no doubting the incredible importance of the economic signals and indicators discussed in What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game because these are exactly the items most eagerly followed by investment professionals, economists, analysts, and foreign currency exchange market traders. They are so important, in fact, that an incredible amount of attention is given to dissecting and examining them in extraordinary detail when they are released, rivaled only by the incredible amount of attention given to anticipating and trying to predict them in advance of their release.
The challenge is not only in identifying and understanding the most important signals and indicators, but just as much in interpreting and explaining what they mean and how they affect and influence each other. Every single month there are hordes of people whose sole focus is on predicting upcoming figures and levels of key indicators and then explaining their effects once the true figures and levels are made public. There is no single “best” approach to this process, of course, and there is no shortage of so called experts and professionals who claim to be the most successful and most able to make accurate predictions and explain results. The biggest advantage offered by What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game to the reader is a clear and well organized examination of all aspects of this process, allowing the reader to then make informed decisions about how to interpret and use the various analyses presented by various sources every month.
Another valuable aspect of What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game is that it includes a good examination of how the most important indicators are interrelated in both economic ways and psychological ways. So much of the financial marketplace is based in real, measurable things, but most experts would argue that even more of the financial marketplace is based in emotional and psychological reactions and interpretations of marketplace activity. It is this emotional and psychological aspect that is most often misunderstood and overlooked by investors in the foreign currency exchange market, but it is also one of the most important and vital aspects the successful investor must clearly understand and weight appropriately. Unlike many other books that attempt to address these questions and factors, What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game succeeds in doing so quite successfully. Information is presented in a way that is complete, easy to understand, comprehensive in scope, and very accessible to readers of all levels of experience and expertise in the foreign currency exchange markets.
An explosion of currency crises
One of the real advantages of turning to What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game for information and expertise is that the author, Brian Kettell, does an excellent job of explaining just how economic indicators interact with and relate to the fundamentals of trading on the foreign currency exchange markets. The critical importance of these relationships became widely apparent in the 1990’s, when there was a never before seen explosion of currency crises literally all across the global foreign currency exchange markets. These crises created a wide range of instability across the globe, leading to incredible volatility and even near chaos in situations and many countries.
The roots of these crises are traceable back to a number of seemingly unpredictable yet hugely influential actions and events. For instance, in 1992 the Exchange Rate Mechanism ceased to include sterling, while in 1997 a large number of Asian currency markets experienced rolling crashes and extreme problems. The upheavals and disruptions continued into 1998, with extensive economic problems occurring in Brazil and Russia that created ripples and effects throughout the global financial markets. Another big influence was the adoption and launch of the Euro, which came with substantial implications for the global financial and currency markets. Since its launch the Euro has added even more complications and a level of turbulence not previously seen or appreciated in the foreign currency exchange markets.
What What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game does so much better than many competing books on this same subject is to clearly and logically explain just how influential economic signals and indicators have become. Kettell makes the point that understanding these signals and indicators is, in fact, the most important task facing traders in the foreign currency exchange markets because they shape, affect, shake, and influence the currency markets in ways never before seen or fully appreciated.
Putting signals and indicators in their place
It would be far too easy and simplistic to put together a long list of signals and indicators that affect and influence the global currency exchange markets. What is needed instead is a discussion and explanation of these signals and indicators that puts them into context within the global financial system, allowing the reader to get a comprehensive perspective on the foreign currency exchange market. Only with this kind of complete and comprehensive understanding is it possible for investors to have a reasonable chance of successfully trading in foreign currencies.
What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game does an exceptionally good job of taking key signals and indicators and giving them this critically important context. The book begins by introducing the foreign currency exchange market as the centerpiece of the global financial structure, then layering on clear and concise discussions of volatility (what it is, where it comes from) and the key factors that influence and cause changes in the marketplace (such as short term issues, long term issues, economic issues, and the like). A great deal of discussion and examination is devoted to currencies themselves, focusing on what makes a currency strong, what makes a currency weak, and the arguments for and against being able to accurately predict whether or not a given currency faces crisis or collapse.
Particular attention is given to the Euro, including its background, development, introduction, and influence. Kettell makes the strong case that the Euro has the most widespread and important influence of any currency on the global market, emphasizing just how the Euro impacts the foreign currency exchange markets throughout the many different discussions and chapters of What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game. He even goes so far as to include a fascinating examination of various opinions and predictions on the long term effects of the Euro, including whether or not it will fail or succeed as a currency over the long term.
Critical reading that should be required
It would not be overstating the value of What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game to say that it is downright critical for participants in the foreign currency exchange markets, whether novice, expert, analyst, or dealer, to thoroughly read and understand the contents of this book. The global financial markets are ever changing, often presenting entirely new configurations and developments in an amazing short period of time. It is extremely difficult to stay abreast of the many, many developments that can appear so quickly, but this book is a great tool to use to establish a level of understanding and a pattern of information gathering that can make the difference between staying abreast of the latest and falling hopelessly behind.
Here are just a few examples of the critically important topics and discussions What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game presents to the reader so effectively:
- Identifying and understanding which signals and indicators truly influence currency markets and which ones are minor at best, allowing the reader to determine where their attention and concentration is best focused for maximum chances of profit and success
- Cutting through the huge array of ideas, figures, facts, and information available to investors, allowing the reader to know the true facts about what they need to know, what goes on in the foreign currency exchange dealer locations, and how to combine this information successfully
- Identifying and analyzing which of the many non-economic issues and factors should be watched closely and which ones should be for the most part ignored
- Understanding the European Monetary Union, the Federal Reserve, and how their actions and activities can profoundly influence the foreign currency exchange markets
- The key economic signals and indicators that every novice trader or investor should concentrate on understanding and following
- The key economic signals and indicators that every more experienced trader or investor should add to the basic list of what to understand and follow
Unlike many other books on this subject, What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game focuses on providing information about key signals and indicators by placing them into related groups and giving those groups appropriate priority and emphasis. For instance, Kettell examines consumer expenditures, investment spending, market sensitive indicators, and other groupings that are fundamental to accurately assessing the state of the foreign currency exchange markets.
Final thoughts
Of the many and assorted books available on currency markets and the key indicators to watch related to those markets, What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game is easily one of the very best you will find anywhere. The author, Brian Kettell, does an outstanding job of giving the reader clear and accurate information that is essential to trading and investing success. He offers numerous examples of scenarios in which particular trades may or may not be advantageous, as well as discussions on the potential profits to be made on long positions or short positions depending on various economic signals and indicators.
What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game allows the reader to learn the specific techniques and tactics necessary to rapidly evaluate the volatile foreign currency exchange markets, determine the correct moves to make, and then execute those moves effectively. The foundation of all of these techniques and tactics lies in understanding and closely monitoring the key economic signals and indicators as presented by the author. Kettell is an excellent writer and teacher, making it exceptionally easy to grasp the concepts presented and put them to effective use almost immediately. The bottom line is that What Drives Currency Markets: The Signals You Need to Stay Ahead of the Game is an excellent addition to your resource library and should be a high priority on your reading list.