Oh wow I see now Sig, at least I think. Since I've never traded currencies, I always forget that they are futures based. In my mind I'm always thinking, for example, if the U.S. is printing money like a drunken sailor, and the Swiss are being monetarily very responsible, low monetary growth rate, low inflation, etc., but still having good growth, then go long versus the U.S. dollar. But I think essentially what you are saying is that (and other things like the difference in interest rates) will already be priced into the futures markets, so you can't look at it that simplistically, you have to find some UNEXPECTED things, or in the alternative as you put it, inefficiencies, to really make a buck.
So, but putting currency trading aside, if I think the Swiss Frank is going to appreciate versus the dollar, could I not just go through my broker and buy Swiss equities on one or more Swiss exchanges? Isn't that converting my dollars into Swiss Franks, which if the Swiss Frank does appreciate versus the dollar will mean I have more $$$ (in addition/subtraction to any appreciation/depreciation in my Swiss equities) when I sell those Swiss equities and pull my money back into U.S. dollars?
On a broader scale, what if you go look at all the global currency futures markets. Find the currencies, based on the futures prices, that are expected to appreciate versus the dollar. Buy equities on those exchanges. If the market is right, and I highly suspect it is a majority of the time, you will on average get that uptick in the appreciation of those other currencies versus the base dollar currency, plus probably a decent expected average returns on the equities given that the economies of those countries will probably be pretty good/not too bad if their currencies are expected to appreciate versus the dollar.
Thoughts?
Thanks Sig!!!