Iron ore price, page-2370

Only for the charting OCD among us

OK, so I think I've finally figured it out. I've been puzzled how the 0% line is set each day for the Dalian. I couldn't find it on the  Dalian Commodity Exchange website as it's all in Chinese! And running a Google didn't bring up anything specific (probably for the same reason), and I've asked a few time on HC but no-one's answered. Trying to figure it out was complicated by the fact that a 'day' on DCE goes from 21:00H the previous night to 15:00H the next day (and they actually take 15 minutes for morning tea and a 2-hour lunch break - how civilised! - but then again, they do trade for 2+1/2 hours in the evening, from 21:00 to 23:30).

But, as it often happens, once you know the answer, it looks so obvious in hindsight. I'd been focusing on the chronological end of the day (23:30H) instead of the 'trading' end of the day (15:00H) and on the price movement of IO, instead of the moving average (the yellow line), which is the answer: wherever the moving average ends up at 15:00H is the 0% line for the next 'day'. See for example the two screen shots below. In the top one, the MA finishes on 456.5 yuan, which is where the 0% is set the following 'day'.

Doh! Like Where's Wally, it's so obvious now I've seen it.

Cheers, GW