08:15am  ~  For most traders this is the last day in the markets before the Christmas break although there will be trading on Monday and a few hours on Tuesday for a lucky few with severely reduced volumes on the main indices and plus foreign exchange markets.  I am at home this morning so may watch my charts, but I’m out doors later, I’ve got a clay-pigeon shoot at lunchtime up the road.

The S&P500 & Dow Jones indices have recovered completely from last weeks falls and are once again sitting near yearly highs, giving pension funds a nice secure end to the year, and their traders a good bonus for just following the market. With the markets rising so well in 2013, will we see the S&P500 reach 2000 next year ? That’s going to be a popular wager.  Conversely, Gold is now sitting at right on this year’s low of $1185 having broken down through the previous support around $1200/$1210 – who needs safe-haven investments when equity markets are doing so well ?  As mentioned previously, crude oil prices on both sides of the Atlantic are still on the march upwards due to the improving economic outlook.

09:05am  ~  After scouring my few favourite charts over the past 30 minutes I have found just one opportunity, a UTB set-up on my EUR/USD chart. It’s currently running at break even and the stop loss is 10 pips.

11:20am  ~  The EUR/USD price has moved up ok over the last 2 hours but has now stalled so I’m out with a +20 pip profit as I am off out quite soon as well.  Compared with some of the other instruments I favour to trade, this forex pair does not have big daily moves usually so capturing 15-20 pips is ok for one position on shorter timeframes if the stop loss is small.

16:40pm  ~  I’ve been back home now for an hour after a nice afternoon out and I’m going to do a bit of chart watching at 5 o’clock with my “Trade With A Day Job” strategy before going out to a party later.

17:20pm ~  I am in a ‘long’ position on the S&P500 with an 11 pip stop loss and a 20 pip target.

19:25pm  ~  The price has stalled at 18234 so I have just come out of my position on the S&P500. I have managed +25 pips.

This has been my last trading day before we are off for a short Christmas holiday, I will be back just before the new year.

Daily Target Reached ?    YES  (+45 pips)    I traded this morning plus a few hours this evening