Holding 'available Funds' in multiple currencies

[maxr 10]

I have a question on something they don't teach you in trader school, which I'd appreciate some help on from more advanced traders. Due to closing out a USD based futures account into it, the IB account I have for FX trading now contains similar values of GBP and USD. IB Universal accounts don't automatically convert non base currencies back to base, you can hold a mixture of currencies indefinitely.

 

My interest is mostly in trading GBPUSD, I pay bills in both GBP and USD, and have bank accounts in both. It appears to me that more or less by accident, I may have effectively (from a global standpoint) hedged my 'available' (ie non traded) funds against variations in the main currency pair I trade. As I currently like to be flat end of day and am only in the market for limited periods, that appears to cover the whole account for 16-24 hours per day. I guess I could attempt to profit further by switching account base regularly to whichever currency appeared more likely to rise (and effectively taking a position trade on the whole account), but that's a step too far for me.

 

So tell me, folks, have I missed something fundamental, or does all this make sense? Do any of you (who have suitable accounts) deliberately diversify the available currencies in your account, and if so how do you calculate the proportions?

 

Max

[henryduncan12 10]

I have account in only USD so I did not think about multiple currencies. Even I am guessing you have covered almost all things in fundamental analysis.

[Obsidian 10]

Maybe you can try having sub-accounts with different currencies and transfer your funds from one to another anytime you want