Session Overview

The Asian session carried a mixed risk tone, with equities and crypto assets grinding higher while gold also advanced, a combination that points to broad USD softness against safe havens rather than a clean risk-on move. Currency strength data confirms a persistent CHF-weakness theme against EUR, CAD and USD, while AUD continues to outperform across pairs. Volatility remained extreme across crypto and elevated in several indices.

Key Moves

  • UNIUSD: Up +5.16% to 6.7875. The standout crypto mover of the session amid extreme volatility readings across the complex.
  • AUS200: Up +1.13% to 8,722.1, extending gains even as the underlying daily trend assessment reads bearish.
  • XAUUSD: Up +0.79% to 4,297.28, advancing despite a bearish trend classification on the daily timeframe.
  • JP225: Down -0.57% to 64,072.0, the session's weakest major index ahead of tomorrow's Bank of Japan decision.
  • AVXUSD: Up +2.21% to 7.4865, continuing an extreme-volatility run.

Notable Signals

The CHF-weakness theme is reflected directly in active signals: BUY setups remain open on EURCHF, USDCHF, AUDCHF and CADCHF, with USDCHF the strongest performer at +0.41R. AUDNZD's BUY signal (confidence 0.80) continues to track the cleanest directional trend in the forex set at +0.27R. On the short side, NZDUSD (+0.59R, MFE 1.06) and GBPUSD (+1.4R, MFE 1.6) are both performing well, though no new GBPUSD entries are advised given the active BOE event window.

Risk Sentiment

Sentiment reads as mixed rather than decisively risk-on or risk-off. Equity indices and crypto posted gains, yet gold also rose and CHF strengthened broadly, a divergence suggesting selective hedging alongside pockets of risk appetite. USD strength against EUR and GBP contrasts with USD weakness against CHF, indicating currency-specific dynamics rather than a uniform dollar trend. AUD remains the standout strength currency of the session.

Outlook

Attention now shifts to the Bank of England's 11:00 UTC decision, where Official Bank Rate is forecast unchanged at 3.75%, alongside the Monetary Policy Summary and MPC vote split (forecast 3-0-6). New GBPUSD exposure should be avoided until this event passes. Separately, the Bank of Japan's policy rate decision on 2026-09-18 at 02:30 UTC warrants monitoring for JPY-related positions. With three critical-impact events on today's calendar, position sizing should account for elevated event risk into the London and New York sessions.