08:05am  ~ After a short lie-in (after getting back here late yesterday evening) I’m now in the study to do some emails and Skype calls with budding traders. I shall also watch a few charts, but I don’t expect much movement ahead of the Non Farm Payrolls announcement at lunchtime. For a break mid-morning I shall have a cycle ride up the coastal path past the pier.

The markets today are set to open ‘flat’ as traders sit on the sidelines waiting for the U.S. employment figures to be released at 13:30pm (UK time).  Although the UK’s FTSE100 finished yesterday at the same level as the high in September, over the water the Dow Jones index in New York had a lacklustre session ending broadly where it started, even though it did hit an intra-day high of over $15400 for October.  The WTI Crude price yesterday traded below the psychologically important level of $100 for the first time since July following a rise in expected Oil Inventories and once the numbers were confirmed, the price slumped further to close at $99.44 a barrel.  Gold had a boring day as traders and investors wait on the sidelines for today’s Non Farm Payroll numbers, disappointing figures should raise the price above the $1325 resistance level – keep an eye out if your in the market today.

08:35am  ~  Quite surprisingly, I’ve just found a trade to enter. It’s a short opportunity on my Gold chart, a UTB strategy set-up from the “Any-Time” collection of systems, which I got into a minute ago. Entry level was 1315.3 plus the spread (5pips)

09:55am  ~  The trade is going ok but I’m going to close it off soon as a friend is due round soon for our cycle ride.

12:10pm  ~  Just back from my cycle ride – and I did come out of my Gold position earlier at 1311.3 giving me a profit of +35 pips — I was out at 10:19am. Four Skype calls to do now then some lunch at The Swan.

No more trading for me today ahead of the Non Farm Payrolls announcement in just over an hours time.

Daily Target Reached ?   YES (+35 pips)        I traded for a couple of hours this morning.