Closing my Long USD positions

A quick background on my Dollar view:

– I started buying USD-EMFX in March based on (1) my trend models suggesting a major potential move, (2) short-term momentum quietly shifting in favor of the Dollar, and (3) crowded carry positioning and extremely low volatility likely to blow up simultaneously and force deleveraging.

– My main fundamental premise was that the economy was doing fine and the market was way too dovish on the Fed. At the time, consensus was looking completely the other way. The narrative was all about the “friendly Fed”. It all went out the window when Powell said low inflation is “transitory” on the May 1 FOMC – which in hindsight was also the day U.S. stocks topped and reversed.

What I’m seeing now that makes me want to rethink my Long USD view:

– The Dollar’s rally is getting extremely stretched from a quantitative trend perspective. I thought it would take several months to achieve this, but it took only two. This was one of the most explosive Dollar rallies in such a short period of time, particularly against EM currencies.

– The move looks unsustainable at this point – for instance here is the trend strength in USDKRW, which was my biggest Dollar-EMFX position until yesterday:

– Here is the same chart for USDCNY. Look what happened to prices historically after similar extremes. A whole lot of nothing. Maybe it’s time to sell some straddles.

– The Dollar’s strong momentum could have residual upside, particularly versus Asia on lingering trade war concerns, but I think it would be part of an “M-top” structure, where it chops sideways for a bigger Weekly momentum turn.

For instance, this is a USDKRW chart I tweeted yesterday:

In the chart above, note the M-top patterns in 2014, 2015, 2016 and even 2018 when the MACD got this elevated and rolled over. Incidentally the MACD finally crossed down this morning.

In summary, overall this Dollar move was much more extreme and sharp than I envisioned. Maybe this means it has more to run, particularly if the trade war escalates. Or maybe (I think) it’s close to pricing in a full-blown crisis. Asian FX & Stocks look particularly priced in, having experienced massive outflows in recent weeks. The adjustment looks mostly finished to me, and I prefer to take my hard-earned profits and move on to another opportunity…

I think the next big opportunity is to find the bottom for U.S./China stocks and get aggressive on the Long side. I’ve had this view for a couple of weeks, prices are getting close to my ideal levels and sentiment is almost in the basement. And if the Dollar’s momentum starts to slow, I think it could help underpin Stocks at the perfect time.

Thanks for reading!

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