09:25am ~ We’re off to Goodwood again for a second (and last) day but before that I’m going to spend an hour here in the study replying to emails and also have a few Skype calls with budding traders. Not sure if I’ll be back in time to trade my “evening” system – plus there is the FOMC announcement* out at 7pm tonight which will upset the market one way or another, so it may be prudent to leave the S&P500 chart alone later on.
*This announcement by theFed is it’s primary ‘tool’ it uses to communicate with investors regarding monetary policy and also interest rate voting & other policy measures together with other economic conditions that influence their monthly rate decision. Importantly for traders, it gives clues as to how the committee feels about the general U.S. economy and also gives guarded clues on possible future interest rate movement. This is why there is usually a marked movement in the main U.S. indices, so it’s prudent that all traders are out of positions 15 minutes before the announcement. Obviously, the currency market is also affected, so it’s best for new traders to have the evening off from trading as a safety measure.
19:10pm ~ We’ve just got back and I have had a brief look at my S&P500 chart, and true to form, there’s been a sharp 40 pip movement upwards and it’s now come back down to 16910 although there is still a lot of volatility in the price movement. Best to stay away – so we’re going to have some supper and then up to Suffolk for a week at the cottage
10:05am ~ I am back from my holidays today after a very relaxing 2 weeks away but instead of a quiet day at home we are now straight off to the horse-racing at Goodwood for the afternoon as guests of a trader friend, hopefully we are being picked up in 10 minutes. I shall be back here later this evening so I will report later if I manage to get to my charts before the close of the U.S. trading session.
19:15pm ~ We’ve just got back home so it’s on with my MT4 trading platform now to see what trading opportunities there are in the next hour or so.
20:55pm ~ I managed just one trade this evening, I got into a ‘long’ postion on the S&P500 using my “evening” beginners system and I have just come out with a 38 pip profit.
After tonight’s trade, my “Trade With A Day Job” beginners system has given me +151 pips after just seven evening trading sessions this month - this small amount of trading for July is mainly due to me being away on holiday for the past few weeks. Overall my trading across all 3 of my trading systems has produced +534 pips in July.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+38 pips) I traded for an hour and half this evening
07:10am ~ It’s going to be my last day in front of the charts for a couple of weeks, so I’m down here in the study early to see if I can spot any trading opportunities while I’m replying to customer emails and doing some general admin prior to leaving for holiday on Monday.
09:15am ~ So far I have managed two positions, both ‘short, one on my Gold chart and the other on my EUR/USD chart. The price is declining nicely on both trades at the moment so I will keep you informed as to their progress later before I go out to lunch.
13:20pm ~ Off now for lunch at the Harbour Inn, so both of my ‘short’ positions are now closed. My Gold trade came out with +82 pips and the EUR/USD one gave me +44 pips.
17:35pm ~ After a nice afternoon out on the water, I’ve just got back here to the cottage to sit down and watch my S&P500 chart – looking for “Trade With A Day Job” opportunities.
20:05pm ~ I took a ‘long’ trade on the S&P500 around 2 hours ago and so far I am 5 pips in profit – the U.S. trading session is active for another hour so I will report back soon with details of how this trade panned out.
21:00pm ~ I came out of my only position of the evening a few minutes ago – I managed 44 pips in the end. A brisk walk to the Red Lion at the end of the road is now in order I feel.
My trading this week has given me +439 pips
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+170 pips) I traded the morning European session today plus just over three hours this evening.
08:45am ~ Just been for a bracing walk up the beach for the last hour, and I’ve now got some Skype calls and some admin work to do here in the study. I’m off in a few hours to do some shopping in London for my holiday at the end of this week and then hopefully back in time to do some evening trading.
18:15pm ~ I arrived back here ten minutes ago and I’ve just turned this laptop on to watch my S&P500 chart to see if there are any trading opportunities to take advantage of. I will report back later with any trading news.
19:50pm ~ Just come out of my only ‘position’ of the evening that I have managed to find on the S&P500 chart – it was a ‘long’ trade that kicked off at 18:45 going along with the upward trend that started about an hour into the U.S. trading session - I think there maybe more profit left in the move, but we’re due out in then minutes for supper with friends at the Lord Nelson. I came out of the market at +43 pips.
Daily Target Reached YES (+43 pips) I traded for a couple of hours this evening
09:05am ~ I am going to be in and out of the house all day today with various errands and meetings so will not be doing any trading today – and later we have the 10yr U.S. bond auction, FOMC Meeting Minutes plus a speech by the head of the Fed, Ben Bernanke so the market maybe quiet during the run-up to these occurrences, and a certain amount of volatility during the UK evening trading session.
I’m going up to the cottage this evening for a few days before leaving the UK on a two week holiday in North Africa.
08:20am ~ As it is such a sunny morning, myself and two friends have decided we’re taking our motorbikes down to Whitstable in Kent to buy some fresh scallops and oysters at the harbour for a barbeque here tonight.
The U.S. S&P500 index is still on the way up at the moment, so we may see new market highs later today, close to where we were in the middle of June.
18:15pm ~ Back home now and I’ve got a few friends round for a barbeque this evening but I am also going to watch my S&P500 chart on and off over the next few hours to see if there are any quick opportunities for an “evening” trade. I shall report back later if there’s any news.
19:20pm ~ I did end up having a quick ‘long’ position on the S&P500 – and I’ve just come out of the market with +20 pips. My chart now shows we’re now at the same level as the highs of the market in June so it may stall there for this session.
So now back to the cooking outside…..
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+20 pips) I traded for an hour this evening although not watching the chart all the time.
07:35am ~ After many days being laid-out with a stupid virus, I am glad to be back here in the study firing-up my laptop to watch a few favourite charts. I also have some Skype calls to do with potential students who want to learn to trade and a pile of emails to get through as well.
After the U.S. Bank Holiday and Non Farm Payrolls last week, the markets seem to be staging a revival this morning after a brief drop on Friday afternoon. I can see a possible ‘long’ trade on the S&P500 starting to develop so I will keep an eye on that chart – and it seems like the price rise on the Brent Oil chart is over temporarily, so that may give a ‘short’ opportunity soon. I will report back later this morning with any trade details or scores.
10:15am ~ I am still here in the study – and so far I’m in the market with a ‘long’ position on the S&P500, a ‘short’ on Brent Oil and I’ve just got into a EUR/USD trade. So far things are moving slowly but surely and overall I am just in profit overall.
16:25pm ~ Well, it’s been a busy day trading wise, since my last report I entered one more position (Gold) and have subsequently come out of them all now. My scores are as follows: S&P500 +105 pips, Brent Oil +25 pips, EUR/USD +16 pips and Gold +80 pips — giving me a combined score of +226 pips. I am off for a cycle ride down by the river and shall be back soon to watch my S&P500 chart for any trading opportunities with my “Trade With A Day Job” evening system. Coincidentally, if you are a U.S. resident and you want to trade the e-mini, you can do it with this trading system as well.
21:05pm ~ I had just one trade with my ‘evening’ system tonight, it was a short position just before 6pm and it came out at a 20 loss. So overall I managed just over 200 pips for the day’s trading.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+206 pips) I traded for most of the day today
18:55pm ~ Just a quick update to update you regarding trading over the past few days. As you probably know by now, we had the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Thursday plus Non Farm Payrolls yesterday so I was not intending to do much trading anyway – but I was also struck down with a mysterious virus on Wednesday evening which may have been caused by a Vietnamese curry, although not quite sure. I’ve been completely out of action now for three days but I should be back at my charts on Monday hopefully.
08:45am ~ A relatively early start for me this morning, it’s up to a friend’s farm in 15 minutes for a morning of Clay-Pigeon shooting, then back here mid-afternoon for some admin/Skype calls. I do not imagine there will be much happening with my “Trade With A Day Job” beginner’s system as it’s an early finish for the U.S. session due to their Independence Day Bank Holiday tomorrow, so no trading for me today.
09:15am ~ More sorting out builders & planning officers today up the road plus a bit of admin work and Skype calls for an hour or so this morning. I will sit down for a few hours this evening to do some trading although we’re off out to the cinema with friends so I will not be trading right upto the U.S. session close. Also a reminder that we have a short trading week as it’s a bank holiday in the USA tomorrow (4th July) and then they have the Non-Farm-Payrolls announcement on Friday – both these will affect the markets.
17:35pm ~ I’ve been watching my charts for the past half an hour and so far I’m not in a trade yet, although there looks like a possible ‘short’ opportunity on the Gold chart with one of the trendFX strategies.
19:45pm ~ I did end up having a ‘short’ trade on Gold earlier, but I’ve had to cut the position off prematurely as we’re off out now. The trade ended up with a small profit of +31 pips and so far there’s been no trades with my “Trade With A Day Job” system although there is still over an hour left of the evening session.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+31 pips) I traded for nearly three hours this evening.
