08:45am CET (07:45am UK time)  ~  Quiet day here at home for me today after a busy weekend away so I’ll update this diary with any trades I have during the day.

The big news that traders are waking upto this morning is that the anti-austerity Syriza party has triumphed in the Greek elections yesterday althought hey were short of an overall majority and will today be talking to minority parties to form a coalition government. The Germans will now have to face the reality that their grip of EU fiscal policy maybe coming to an end as other southern European countries may also rebel against ECB-imposed austerity and for traders this means that last week’s optimism over the region’s money-printing programme could be short-lived. Another looming problem on the horizon is the prospect of emergency funds from the ECB maybe stopped if the newly elected government pushes ahead with increased spending and tax cuts – an important few weeks ahead for Greece and also the other members of the PIGS group, Portugal, Italy and Spain.

Over on the Oil market there was s brief respite to the falling value of crude towards the end of last week as speculation that the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia would reverse the countries stance on oil production, but the incoming ruler has assured fellow OPEC members that all is staying the same, and this resulted in further drops in the U.S. WTI Crude on Friday – it fell just over one Dollar to $45.46 and UK Brent Crude is following closely behind.

Gold seems to be holding above the $1290 support level on the back of rumours that Russian is in the market bolstering its reserves as a hedge against the falling Ruble and the Greek ‘situation’ also helps demand and it finished $8 up on Friday night at $1293.30 although it has fallen slightly during the overnight Asian session to $1289. A move below $1284 today may signal further falls so watch for this possible trade opportunity.

Market Close Friday 23rd January 2015:   Dow Jones 30  -141.38 @ 17,672.60  S&P 500  -11.33 @ 2,051.82  NASDAQ  +7.78 @ 4,278.14  FTSE 100  +36.20 @ 6,832.83  UK AIM  -0.29 @ 696.26  DAX 30  +213.96 @ 10,649.58  CAC 40  +87.89 @ 4,640.69  IBEX  +70.90 @ 10,581.50   Nikkei 225 (Today)  -43.23 @ 17,468.52  Hang Seng (currently)  +21.13 @ 24,871.58

All time below are CET (GMT + 1hr)

09:00am  ~  Just got into a ‘short’ on my Gold chart using the trendFX strategy 3 set-up — it was a late entry after the trade had triggered but I managed a good level with a stop loss of 36 pips.

10:10am  ~  The Gold price has come down nicely to last week’s support at $1280 and the selling pressure has subsided slightly so I’ve come out of my position with a +93 pip profit.  Itching to get out on my bike, so I’m off for a quick cycle ride now towards Formentor.

11:45am  ~  Back here in the study and I’ve just got into a ‘short’ position on my S&P500 chart with the UTB pattern – stop loss is 28 pips.

12:10pm  ~  I am now also in a ‘long’ UTB on my Brent Crude chart – with a 32 pip stop loss.

14:20pm  ~  Out of my Brent trade before the U.S. open in a minute – and I’m off for some lunch in town as well. The position ended up at +95 pips and my earlier UTB was stopped out at -28 pips, so my running total for the day is +160 pips.

16:35pm  ~  Back home now but no chart watching as I have some DIY jobs to do in one of the barns.

18:40pm  ~  In doors now so I’ll watch my S&P500 chart as I would like to do a chart screenshot of a “Trade With A Day Job” trade position for the new students that joined at the weekend, just to get them started.

19:15pm  ~  I am now in a ‘long’ TWADJ trade on the S&P with a 20 pip stop loss.

19:55pm  ~  Nice quick trade and out with a profit of +42 pips.