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Assessing The USD/UAH Exotic Forex Currency Pair

USD/UAH is the abbreviation for the currency pair US dollar against the Ukrainian Hryvnia. It is classified as an emerging currency pair. The volatility, liquidity, and volume in this pair, is significantly low. In this pair, the US dollar is the base currency, and UAH is the quote currency.

Understanding USD/UAH

The value of the pair as a whole represents the value of UAH that is equivalent to one US dollar. It is quoted as 1 USD per X UAH. For instance, if the value of USDUAH is 24.19, then about 24 Hryvnias are required to purchase one US dollar.

Spread

The difference between the bid price and the ask price is referred to as the spread. Spread usually varies from broker to broker, and also on the execution model used by the brokers.

ECN: 20 pips | STP: 23 pips

Fees

As the name pretty much suggests, the fee is the charge paid to the broker on each trade. Below is the fee on ECN and STP accounts.

ECN – 5-10 pips | STP – 0 pips

Slippage

Due to the changes in the volatility and the broker’s execution speed on the trade, a trader does not get the exact price he needed. And the difference between the two prices is called slippage.

Trading Range in USD/UAH

Risk management is a vital factor in trading. The trading range is a tabular representation of the pip movement in a currency pair in different timeframes. And these values help in determining the gain or loss on a trade.

Note: The product of the pip movement value and the pip value (per standard lot) yields the profit/loss in a trade for a particular timeframe.

Procedure to assess Pip Ranges

  1. Add the ATR indicator to your chart
  2. Set the period to 1
  3. Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
  4. Shrink the chart so you can determine a large time period
  5. Select your desired timeframe
  6. Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
  7. Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
  8. Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.

USD/UAH Cost as a Percent of the Trading Range

The total cost of a trade is determined by the sum of the spread, slippage, and the trading fee. And this varies from time to time, based on the volatility of the market. Below are the tables that represent the costs for different volatilities and timeframes.

ECN Model Account

Spread = 20 | Slippage = 3 |Trading fee = 5

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 20 + 3 + 5 = 28

STP Model Account

Spread = 23 | Slippage = 3 |Trading fee = 5

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 23 + 3 + 5 = 31

The Ideal way to trade the USD/UAH

Firstly, the percentage values depict the cost variation on the trade. The magnitude of the percentage is directly proportional to the cost of the trade.

We can see that the minimum pip movement in 1H, 2H, and 4H timeframe is 0 pips. So, it is pointless to trade in the lower timeframes. However, one may trade this pair on the higher timeframes, like the 1D, 1W, and 1M. To reduce costs even further and to have decent volatility, one may preferably trade when the volatility of the market is above the average values.

Furthermore, limit orders is another way through which a trader can bring down their costs considerably. This is because limit orders, unlike the market orders, do not have any slippage on it. For instance, the total cost on an ECN account for limit orders would be,

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 20 + 0 + 5 = 25

Corollary

We can see that on average volatilities, it almost takes a week range to cover the costs if the trade goes in the direction of the trade.  That means this pair is unsuitable to trade short-term. The use of limit orders to catch the price entry at the absolute minimum of the week, combined with ultra-reliable timing, is the only way to succeed. There are lots of better pairs to choose from.