Carry Trades and Forex Robots: A Potent Combination?

you've heard of the carry trade as it has been gettingSo now that we know the basics of interest rates,
a lot media attention in the wake of 2008 financialhow do we apply them to a carry trade? The neat
crisis. This a forex trading strategy that has beenthing about a carry trade is that we don't the pair
around for over two decades and is typically used bywe're trading to move a lot to make money on the
the pros, but even novice and intermediate traderstrade, so we can program our forex robots to use
would do well to learn about the carry trade.some conservative stop-loss orders and still make a
Unfortunately, many traders just hear the term carryprofitable trade. Why is this the case? Given that a
trade and they become intimidated, thinking this iscarry trade exploits discrepancies in the interest rates
something best left to the pros at the big banks andof two currencies, the trade acts as a high-yielding
hedge funds. Well we're hear to tell you different andsavings account, allowing us to collect interest on a
show you that it is possible to even program yourdaily basis even if the pair doesn't move much. Sounds
forex robot to automatically place carry trades forlike a pretty good deal, huh?
you.Programming Your Forex Robot To Take Carry
What Is A Carry Trade?Trades
Even if you only been trading forex for a short amountTo program your forex robot to take carry trades
of time, you're probably keenly aware of theautomatically, you need to know what pairs are best
importance of interest rates in the market. When weto carry trade with. Traditionally, the yen is part of
say interest rates, we're talking about the rates set bymost carry trades because Japan has had artificially
the central banks of countries all over the globe, butlow interest rates for decades. Knowing this, traders
only the interest rates of the world's major economieswill use yen to buy higher yielding currencies like the
are worth following for the purposes of forex trading.Australian and New Zealand dollars, so if you want to
Most countries have two interest rates. One is the ratecarry trade, the two main pairs to do so with are JPY
that banks pay to borrow money from the homeAUD and JPY/NZD.
central bank. The other rate is the rate banks chargeOther pairs that are used for carry trades include GBP
to lend money to each other and other borrowers.JPY and GBP/CHF. It is possible to program your
Conventional wisdom holds that when a country'sforex robot to take carry trades for, just make sure
interest rates are high, its currency appreciates in valueyou're having your forex robot use one currency with
and when a central bank lowers interest rates, morea low interest rate to buy another currency with a high
often than not, the currency will decline in value.interest rate.