Newest Forex Volume Report Released
by Trader Rich
Open interest dropped across the board this week except in the Australian dollar.
Canadian Dollar 
Big swing from NET LONG to NET SHORT
Swiss Franc
Very Bearish. 50,327 Short positions vs. 3,462 Long positions
British Pound
18,418 Short positions, 13,183 Long positions
Japanese Yen
Decrease of 17,632 short positions. Still Bearish
USD Index 
Decrease of 7,196 long positions. Still bullish with 11,114 Long positions and 4,491 Short positions
Euro
EURO remains Bullish with another decrease this week in Short positions (-10,149)
New Zealand Dollar
Less Bullish than last week with decrease of 688 long positions and increase of 178 short positions
Australian Dollar
Bearish. Increase of 15,455 Short positions on increasing open interest.
Crude Oil 
Less open interest than last week with an almost equal balance of long (128,840) to short (135,177) positions.
Quotable:
[b] The Joys of Trading [/b]
The speculator who selects his commodity trade after examining what he believes is the relevant available information on supply and demand is known, in market langauge, as a fundamentalist. I find this a curiously inappropriate description–but one I’m stuck with–because it conjures up images of Bible-thumping puffed-up disciples of mindlessness and repressed intellect. The creative fundamentalist (in the market sense) has a heightened, not a deadened, imagination; he has a zest for knowledge of the world around him. Paradoxically, it is the technical trader who is closer, spiritually and behaviorally, to the evangelical drone, because he is the one to insulate himself from ideas. Be assured, no system can ever hope to compete with a work of the active, far-seeing intellect.
The commodities market allows the imaginative individual to transform his idle speculations into real speculations. It is a forum for a man to express his opinion in the fairest possible way. If his vision is correct he will be rewarded; otherwise, he will be censured where it matters most–in his pocket. And it doesn’t matter that the market is brutal, that it punishes many more than it rewards; that the market is dispassionate is enough. For the fundamental trader who appreciates the subtlety of the game he is playing, commodity trading can be an exhilaration, because, played well, it demands skills of the highest order.
A well-conceived and-executed transaction is a thing of delight, to be savored like figs and vintage madeira, for nuance and delicacy of texture; not a crude hodge-podge to be gobbled and guzzled. Win or lose. Getting out of a bad position skillfully can be a cleverness too. Winning, though,[u]is [/u] more fun.
Surely it is only fair for the thinking man to triumph over the automaton? Why should the technician complain? He collects a fair return, maybe, but he must pay for his complacency, and the price of complacency is mediocrity.
[b]The Philosophy of the Privateer [/b]
“An armed private ship commissioned to cruise against the commerce or warships of an enemy”, says the dictionary. A privateer has no allegiances, true, but he is not a racketeer. He respects society’s laws but marches to a different drummer.
A privateer is self-interested–yes. But even he may have his place in the grand design. A rock must be a rock, and a tree must be a tree. Bankers must bank and privateers must go a-privateering. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose.”
If one thing unites privateers, it is a common philosophy of reveling in such opportunistic delights as come their way; they are fate makers, not fate takers. The commodity market is the Spanish Main of the twentieth century, and the commodity privateer in search of twentieth-century treasure is eager to tackle a zig-zag course until he finds the favorable wind to carry him through, for there, as nowhere else, he will be rewarded for disrespecting institutions, for eschewing conventional truisms, for acting and being judged solely on the strength of his own convictions.
A privateer understands that, in winning at commodities, the prize is time as well as money, and that his winning ways are due in large part to that understanding. A privateer accepts that he, and he alone, will determine the outcome of the game, that victory cannot be bought. He knows these things intuitively. What he does not know intuitively, about commodities, is how to negotiate the minefield which lies between his curiosity and his acquiring a working knowledge. I have tried to bridge that gap. And in so doing, I have given away no secrets, for really there are no secrets to be given away.
The privateer learns to think big, to get the right perspective on space and time. While the screen watcher is thinking in terms of minutes, the privateer is thinking in terms of months or a year. The privateer gives free rein to his imagination. By seeing in his mind’s eye a great trade developing as he believes it should, he many subliminally evolve a plan to capitalize upon it. The privateer keeps his distance, and enjoys his other pursuits. Winners don’t worry about the market; they are secure in their own knowledge. Bob Dylan puts it well: “I just write a song and know it is going to be all right. I don’t even know what it’s going to say.”
It’s those who stray too close to the action who become haunted by uncertainty. It’s the addicts who disdain discipline who aovid taking necessary decisions. It’s the losers who exchange short-term peace of mind for chronic failure. Don’t join them. Accept that from time to time the market is going to make a fool of you; that is its nature. Smile through its contrariness. In the end, no one will laugh at you.
Nobody laughs at me. Good luck and good hunting.
From the book, Winner Takes All, a privateer’s guide to commodity trading.
[u]William R. Gallacher [/u], Midway Publications (1983)