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Chris Cammack
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Author
Chris Cammack
Edited by
Chris Cammack
Partner Manager and Financial Writer

Chris Cammack is the Partner Manager and a financial writer at FxScouts. Chris builds and maintains our relationships with our partners to provide our users with the best Forex trading experience.

Learn more about Chris Cammack
Author
Author
Alison Heyerdahl
Head of Content

Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts and a financial writer with extensive experience in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast to help traders make informed, safe decisions.

Learn more about Alison Heyerdahl

What is Sentiment Analysis?

Reading time: 2 min | Intermediate | Trading Strategy

Sentiment analysis is key to understanding why price moves the way it does, as the market price is determined by how traders position themselves in the market.  This market sentiment explains the irrational behaviour of the market, and how investor's psychology impacts how currency exchange rates fluctuate.

What is Market Sentiment?

Whenever you open a trade, you are making a financial commitment.  And in doing so, you are expressing a view on what you feel the market will do. Overall market sentiment is derived from the combined perspective of all opinions, trades, and ideas of every market participant.  The combined market position is what we can define as market sentiment. Traders can tap into this comprehensive view of the market as a way of doing an analysis. There are technical indicators that offer retail traders a picture of all the orders and positions currently open with the broker.

Tools for Sentiment Analysis

There are technical tools that can help you gauge the market sentiment. The typical sentiment indicator will show the percentage of traders for long versus short. Below, you can see the current sentiments of traders who are bullish or bearish on a particular currency.

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Contrarian Trading Using Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis can help you spot contrarian trading opportunities. A contrarian trading strategy trades against the current market trend and centres around looking for points where a trend is likely to reverse. Contrarian trading is far from risk-free.  When you’re trading against a particularly strong trend, the market can sometimes continue to trade in the same direction longer than you can stay solvent. This is why it’s important only to trade those particular instances when you have excellent information to support your conclusion on future market movements. It’s recommended to only trade those instances when the market sentiment reaches extreme levels of more than 70%. In this case, you may consider fading the market or trading against the trend. euro dollar sentiment example

Example

From the first OANDA sentiment analysis chart above, the EUR/AUD satisfies this condition of almost 75% of retail traders being short on this market. The next step is to look for significant support and resistance levels to time the market. The sentiment analysis tool only gives you the state of the current market, which is why you need to use this sentiment analysis in combination with other supportive technical analysis tools. Successful contrarian traders try to minimise their losses and maximise their profits. Two key steps can help you achieve this:

  • First, use a protective stop loss to ensure any losses are well contained
  • Secondly, identify a strategy that allows your profits to run to benefit from the superior trading opportunities that the sentiment analysis method can provide you.

Incorporating sentiment analysis into your trading can add a competitive edge to your strategy.  It can help you quickly identify new trading opportunities that few others are aware of.

Conclusion

Smart traders wait for sentiment to reach extremes, and wait for significant and reliable data before engaging the market. Once all the trade setup conditions are made, be patient and wait for the market to confirm your analysis before entering. The main idea behind sentiment analysis is that you don't have to know the exact probability of a trade. All you need to know is if sentiment will be better or worse in the future, and base your trades on that assumption.

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Meet the Experts Behind Our Unbiased Reviews

Alison Heyerdahl

Head of Content

Alison Heyerdahl
Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts and an experienced financial writer with extensive hands-on experience in the Forex trading industry. She specialises in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research, with a focus on helping traders navigate the complex world of online trading safely and confidently. Alison has tested and reviewed more than 100 Forex brokers, assessing everything from regulatory status and trading conditions to platform features and customer support. Her goal is to provide honest, detailed, and practical insights that traders can rely on when choosing a broker. She’s also produced more than 100 educational videos for the FxScouts YouTube channel, where she explains trading concepts in a clear, accessible way. As the co-host of the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast, Alison shares expert commentary on broker reliability, trading strategies, and market developments—always with a focus on transparency and trader protection.

Chris Cammack

Partner Manager and Financial Writer

Chris Cammack
Chris Cammack is partner manager and senior financial writer at FxScouts, specialising in broker relations and forex market analysis. As the former Head of Content (2019–2024), he set editorial standards for all content published at FxScouts, including broker reviews, broker comparison pages and education. With over a decade of experience in editorial management and partner relations, Chris builds and maintains our relationships with our partners to provide the best Forex trading experience for our users. He also co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast with Alison Heyerdahl, where he explores trading strategies, industry news, and macroeconomic trends to help traders navigate the markets with confidence.

Ida Hermansen

Financial Writer

Ida Hermansen
Ida is a financial writer with a passion for cryptocurrencies, blockchain networks, and Forex trading. A dedicated crypto trader, she developed a deep interest in Forex technical analysis and price action, continually expanding her expertise in market trends and trading strategies. With a background in digital marketing, SEO, and content strategy, Ida combines her analytical skills with clear, engaging writing to help traders navigate the ever-evolving financial markets. She stays up to date with the latest Forex and crypto developments, researching the best trading environments for new and experienced traders alike.

Stefan de Clerk

Financial Writer

Stefan de Clerk
Stefan is a financial writer and Forex trading enthusiast with over a decade of experience creating in-depth content on finance and technology. His deep interest in geopolitical events, big data, and market sentiment fuels his passion for analyzing how global factors shape financial markets. With a background in marketing and financial research, Stefan believes that Forex trading offers the best insight into the pulse of the world economy. Committed to delivering well-researched, unbiased, and objective information, he helps traders navigate the markets with clarity and confidence.
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