Great Britain Releases Retail Sales Reports


#1

By Darrell Martin

Another overnight trading opportunity presents itself Thursday evening since Great Britain will be releasing its Retail Sales reports Friday morning at 4:30 AM EST. Retail Sales is a major indicator of consumer spending and therefore accounts for the majority of overall economic activity.

Many traders in the United States prefer to trade when the US markets are open. This is an opportunity to place a trade as early as 11:00 PM EST the night before and then sleep through the news release. Upon awakening, simply check to see how things turned out.

Retail sales news usually generates movement in the market, but the direction is unknown. A strategy to take advantage of that movement is the Iron Condor, which uses two Nadex spread contracts.

The Strategy
Utilizing Nadex GBP/USD spreads and an Iron Condor strategy, you can trade this news release. As stated previously, enter as early as 11:00 PM EST with an expiration of 7:00 AM EST looking for a minimum profit of $35.

With this strategy, you are buying below and selling above the market with the expectation of the market either staying in a range between those points or making a move and pulling back. The concept of a spread is designating a range of a market to trade, which gives you a spread option. It has a floor or bottom of the range and a ceiling or top of the range.

Spreads can be bought or sold. The advantage of the floor/ceiling concept is capped, defined risk up front. There is no losing past the floor if going short or past the ceiling if going long. This also applies to profiting. Profits stop at the floor and the ceiling.

The Set Up
Setting up the strategy requires just the right spreads. Buy a spread below the market but with the ceiling where the market is trading at the time. Concurrently, sell a spread above the market but with the floor where the market is trading at the time. The ceiling of the bought spread should meet the floor of the sold spread. The key for this trade is the profit potential of $35 or more combined between the spreads, therefore at least $17 per spread.

None of that is complicated. In fact, it is easy using the spread scanner available free to all traders at www.apexinvesting.com. Once logged into your Nadex demo or live account, open the spread scanner and choose the desired market. Now, at a glance, you can see all the required information in one window and find just the right spreads quickly. See the image below for an example of the spread scanner.