08:55am  ~  A nice lazy start for me this morning after a very late night at a neighbour’s house. I have a couple of hours here in the study doing some general admin and emails before we are off for a 5-day break at a friend’s cottage in Rock (Cornwall) – some fellow traders will also be attending I believe.  I also have a Skype call in a minute with a 91-year-old guy who wants to finally learn to trade the markets !

The main news on the markets yesterday was that Gold had its biggest one day move in the last year and all my full-time trading friends (including myself) had good profits out of ‘long’ Gold positions – it finished up over $42 at $1320, getting close to the next resistance at $1330.  Although Wednesday’s FOMC statement regarding low interest rates did mean that many investors moved over to the yellow metal as it’s generally perceived that the Fed’s monetary policy will hurt the Dollar, this could not have caused this very large move so it was more likely to have been traders moving into safe-haven products due to the conflict in Iraq and the announcement that the U.S. are not putting any ‘boots on the ground’ any time soon.

Over to equities – the S&P500 had a slow start but really got going during the mid afternoon (U.S. time) and came in with another record high at 1959.48 with the Dow Jones following slightly behind. Here in Europe the German Dax 30 is again near its highs and the Spanish Ibex 35 shot up to a new record level, a totally different story to a year ago.  The FTSE100 in London formed a reversal candle on yesterday’s chart so keep an eye on ‘short’ opportunities if you trade this index, there will not be too many bulls around today as the there’s uncertainty going into the weekend regarding any fresh news in Iraq which could move the markets on Monday’s open.  There’s no real chance of lower oil prices at the moment, reports that Islamist militants in Iraq  attacked the country’s biggest oil refinery in the north, giving rise to concerns of serious disruption of supply. This sent the WTI Crude prices up 34 cents to finish at $106 a barrel and we also had news of the US oil inventories dropping last week which also provided support to the price. Brent Oil is now at a new yearly high, getting close to the record level of $117 reached last August – when will equity traders notice this ?

11:45am  ~  Just finishing off some emails then we’re off to Cornwall – the charts have been predictably quiet this morning after yesterday’s large moves so no trade opportunities for me.  I have news that a 91-year-old chap from Dublin is starting to learn to trade in the last hour, it’s never too late for anyone to acquire a new skill.

06:50am  ~   An early start for me today as I have a builders meeting up the road at 7am – then I shall be here at home for the rest of the morning, with a tennis match this afternoon.

After a few days of reversal candles on the daily charts both the Dow Jones 30 and S&P500 have finally changed direction and pushed upwards helped mainly by last night’s  bullish economic outlook in the Federal Open Market Committee statement. The Fed chairman Janet Yellen has calmed investors by reiterating the tapering of their stimulus and confirmed that rates are still going to stay low for a “considerable time” The wider S&P index has once again surged onwards to another all time high and in Europe the Dax 30 and FTSE100 have also ended on a bullish note confirming the overall sentiment sweeping aside the troubles in Iraq for the time being anyway. Indices in Asia have also benefited from the high U.S. close so that should spill over into Europe this morning and the German Dax 30 looks as though it should gap up at the open to its previous record level of 10,000.

The WTI crude oil price ended down at $105.73 a barrel (38 cents down) as Fed’s bullish outlook  moved investors back into equities, although reports of shrinking US oil supplies together with the escalating sectarian violence in Iraq has pushed the market price back up slightly in overnight trading. There are reports that oil companies have  started to remove employees from Iraq indicating the possibility of a U.S.  military intervention, although Obama has said they will not go in unless the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki stands down.  Demand for Gold as an alternative asset was revived by the FOMC’s statement yesterday after they said that interest rates will remain on hold for the foreseeable future and this pushed gold prices $5.7 up to $1277.6 where there’s been resistance in the past.

08:55am  ~  Back home now, so I’m going to get on with some emails and chart watching.

10:05am  ~  Not much happening on my charts so I am going off on a cycle ride – up the coastal path for a while.

11:25am  ~  Just sat down again here in the kitchen to finish off emailing while watching my favourite charts for a few hours before lunch.

11:40pm  ~  There is a Brent Oil opportunity that triggered a short while ago but I am going to see if I can get into the market at a slightly better price as the stop loss is quite high at the moment.  It is a trendFX pattern.

12:05pm  ~  Just got into a ‘long’ Brent position with a 44 pip stop loss

12:30pm  ~  I am now also in a ‘long’ position on my Gold chart, it’s a trendFX set-up with a 12 pip stop loss.

14:40pm  ~  I have been sitting here watching my charts and completely forgot to go to lunch – but now it’s time to shoot off to my tennis match so I’ve closed off my Gold trade (+121 pips) and set-up stop loss and target for my Brent Oil trade as it is still hovering around +15 pips  -   I’ve brought the stop upto minus 10 pips and I’m going for +25 pip profit

17:05pm  ~  Just arrived back from a quick thrashing on the court  –   I am going to sit and watch my S&P500 chart for a while to see if any ”Trade With A Day Job” set-ups appear.  My earlier Brent Oil trade finished up at +25 pips.

17:25pm  ~  No sooner than I have turned on the MT4 charts and I’m in a trade  –  a ‘short’ position with a heady 9 pip stop loss !  This trade is actually two separate strategies from my evening system manual – so, as I’ve mentioned before, it gives new traders and students who have just begun to learn to trade added confidence to enter the market.

18:25pm  ~  I have had a good day’s trading so happy to have a quick profit out of the S&P tonight, so the ‘short’ trade is now closed off —  I have managed a +31 pip profit.  I’m not a great football fan but one of my neighbours is having a party tonight while the England game is on – good excuse for a few beers and a barbeque…….

07:30am  ~  Up early to do some emails and admin before we are off to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot later this morning.

There is plenty of economic news out today to get the markets moving, kicking off with the Bank Of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s last meeting vote and ending with the Fed’s FOMC Statment and the usual Janet Yellen speech where she’ll give subtle hints on future policy.  Although the main Dow Jones 30 index gained 28 points to 16,804 at the close of yesterday’s session there were large swings up and down as traders on the one hand remained in a confident mood regarding the US economic growth but turned bearish regarding weaker than expected housing data on both building permits and housing starts — inflation also came out higher than estimates fuelling speculation that an interest rate increase may occur sooner than previously thought. The S&P500 gained just over 4 points to 1941.99 after a similarly roller-coaster session and here in the UK the FTSE100 index was 12 points higher at 6767.

With violence and unrest engulfing northern Iraq, the southern terminals are set to increase oil production suggesting that part of the country which supplies crude is now under government control at last. This news helped WTI Crude ease down slightly, finishing yesterday’s session at $105.93, 18 cents down.

10:35am  ~  I was not really planning on doing any trading this morning as we are travelling down to Ascot just before Midday but I have been watching a few charts over the last hour and a UTB pattern has just occurred on my Gold chart, so I am now in a ‘long’ trade. The stop loss is 25 pips.

11:40am  ~  As we are off in a minute and my Gold trade has not yet hit its target, I have set-up an order to close the trade off at +25 pips and brought the stop-loss upto break even as we’re now at +10 pips in profit. You can see for yourself if the trade works out, the price has to get to $1271.80 – there is near-term resistance at $1272.00  so there’s a fair chance it’ll get up there.

01:05am Thursday morning  ~  Just got in and had a quick look at my MT4 platform and I can see that my Gold trade hit its target of +25 pips.

11:05am  ~  I am a bit late reporting in this morning, I was up at 5am to go off for a Clay-Pigeon shoot at the farm up the road and I’ve just returned back home.  After 4 hours sleep last night it will be a very lazy day at home, so I will report back later if I do any trading.

In the markets yesterday, the Dow Jones 30, S&P500 and also the UK FTSE100 indices all formed reversal candles on the daily charts and both the U.S. indices are at significant support/resistance levels so watch out for possible bullish moves as they seem to be ignoring the problems in Iraq and Ukraine and celebrating lower oil prices instead. Additionally, yesterday’s IMF forecast led investors to believe the US Fed is likely to suggest keeping interest rates lower for longer which will ultimately hurt the Dollar but keep equity traders in an optimistic mood.

Oil traders seemed to have shrugged off the bad news from Iraq and concentrated instead on weak data from China prompting fears of lower global demand – Brent is currently still trading down on last Friday’s close.  The potential for higher oil prices from the renewed crisis in the Middle East has been investor’s biggest fear of late so oil prices continuing to fall has enabled equity markets to push higher earlier this morning.  Gold formed a reversal candle on the daily chart yesterday after a week of bullish movement so look out for bearish opportunities below the $1270 level, which I can now see has already been broken. I can actually see a trendFX opportunity setting up so I could be in the market soon.

11:40am  ~  I am now in a ‘short’ Gold position with a 14 pip stop-loss.

13:15pm  ~  The trade’s going ok (just in profit) so I’m going to configure an automatic stop to be on the safe side as the U.S. pre-market is just about to open.  As there’s been little movement in the past hour or so, I feel that it may take off in one direction or another soon.

13:35pm  ~  There was a certain reluctance as the Gold price hit $1260 on its way down a few minutes ago so I’ve come out of my position with a +53 pip profit.  I noticed on my chart there was also some support at the previous ‘big-number’ of $1270 so it maybe valid – we’ll see. Lunch at home today, sitting out on the balcony overlooking the sea.

14:45pm  ~  Just looked at my Brent Oil chart and seen a trendFX set-up starting to develop.  I am not too bothered about having another trade but there seems like a bit of space on the chart for the price to go upto a level it reached last Friday.

15:10pm  ~  I am in a ‘long’ position with Brent Oil, my stop loss is 29 pips.

16:15pm  ~   The Brent Oil price has just hit Friday’s price target so I am out with a +35 pip profit.  Off for a cycle ride in a minute, I have been in front of the laptops too much today.

18:00pm  ~  Although I’ve had a few trades today I’m going to watch my S&P500 chart for a while before we’re out for the evening – the index seems to be in a bullish mood since around 4pm so there maybe some opportunities in that direction.

18:35pm  ~  I am in a ‘long’ position with an 11 pip stop loss. It is actually two different “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups which often gives new traders added confidence to get into the market.

19:05pm  ~  I’ve hit the 20 pip target and the Blonde is signalling furiously that were going out a few minutes ago — so I’m now out of the only trade of the evening for me and happy with +108 pips for today.

08:15am  ~  A delayed start for me this morning after a very late night out. I have meetings with builders in a minute and I should be back before lunch to do some emails.

Traders focus this week will be on escalating troubles in Iraq and Ukraine with ISIS advancing and the threat that growing violence in the region could spill over into neighbouring countries. Iraq is a major oil supplier and oil prices affect the general business community so investors are rightly watching carefully for any clues that will affect equities. Last week we saw the U.S. Dow Jones 30 end down after reaching an all time high on Monday but it has also bounced off a strong support level at 16700 as traders look at mergers and acquisition activity to keep the index as an excuse to keep a bullish outlook.  The wider S&P500 index, Dax 30 and London’s FTSE100 also finished the week down.

As expected, oil prices have been affected by Middle Eastern unrest and as Islamist fighters were making gains in Iraq, US crude prices posted sharp rises during last week on fears of disruptions in oil supplies. Friday’s session was a ‘take profits‘ day which meant prices were held in check to a certain extent, meaning WTI Crude finished flat at $106.80 but already gapped up on the opening last night, trading currently around $107.30.  Growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine brought buyers back into the Gold market on fresh demand for safe haven assets. In addition, the problems in Iraq have focused traders away from equities and this pushed gold prices $3.5 higher on Friday as it did since last night showing that the international community believes that the situation could get even more serious.

09:10am  ~  I am still sitting here in the study waiting for the builders to arrive so I have been watching some charts on my MT4 platform, and it looks as though there a trade setting up on the Gold chart, I’ll report back here with any developments. I am not a great lover of trades early in the Monday morning session as it does take time for the markets to settle down after the weekend break but it is a UTB pattern which is one of my most reliable.

09:30am  ~  The Gold price has dropped sufficiently to trigger a ‘short’ trade, so I am in the market with a 20 pip stop loss.  There is also the possibility of another UTB trade on the S&P500.

10:25am  ~   My Gold trade is coming along ok and I’m also now in that S&P500 trade I mentioned earlier.  It has a stop loss of 18 pips. Shooting out for a couple of hours to see the builders at my site up the road but I’ve set stops in case the market reverses suddenly.

13:10pm  ~  Off to lunch now, the stops are still in place for the two positions.

14:20pm  ~  Back home now and I can see my S&P500 trade has been stopped out (minus 18 pips)   – this will often occur if you trade around the U.S. open, especially at the start of the week.  My Gold trade is doing ok though, I shall keep a close eye on for a short while before I am off out with a friend for a cycle ride.

16:15pm  ~  I’ve just got home after a short cycle ride along the River Blyth and the Gold trade is still doing ok, it’s at +58 pips at the moment and looks as though it’s got a bit further to fall.

17:15pm  ~  My Gold trade has been closed off now, the earlier bearish movement has subsided temporarily and I’m happy with the result.  I have managed a profit of +79 pips.  Off to the Lord Nelson for a swift pint……

22:05pm  ~  I did get back here just before 8pm and watched my S&P500 chart for an hour but no “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups appeared.

08:15am  ~  Back to Chelmsford at lunchtime as I have a meeting with builders this afternoon but this morning I shall be here in the kitchen with my laptop doing emails and some chart watching. I will report back later if I have any trades.

After reaching an all time high early on in the week, the S&P500 index continued its fall yesterday and is now looking for some sort of support so as to halt the decline. A weaker than expected rise in the US retail sales together with a bigger than estimated increase in the weekly jobless benefits kept the bears in charge and the Dow Jones 30 also fell, it ended at 16,752 down 107 points.  Interestingly, this index is now sitting around a previous resistance level at 16,725 so we’ll see if that turns into support as is often the way.  A real threat of the break-up of Iraq and all the problems that will follow from that are also weighing heavily on various markets, and although equities are involved, the Crude Oil market is a direct casualty and WTI crude prices rallied sharply yesterday, ending at $106.87 a rise of $2.39 with UK Brent Crude following with a similiar rise.

As you would expect, with investors deserting equity markets there was a rush into safe-haven commodities yesterday and Gold enjoyed a bullish session that ended with a rise of $12.3 to $1273.2. The daily chart is throwing up some interesting patterns – there was an established support level around $1277 throughout April but was comprehensively broken at the end of May. Well we are now banging up against that same level from below, so there maybe some profit taking during the next few sessions.

10:40am  ~  As is often the way on a Friday, there’s not much happening on my charts which means there’s time for a quick cycle ride before lunchtime, then I’m busy with builders all afternoon.

07:20am  ~  Another session here in the study for me this morning, getting through more ‘Name-A-Trading-System’ competition entries plus some chart watching before some clay pigeon shooting in Walberswick around midday which will probably go on for the rest of the afternoon.

As I hinted yesterday morning, U.S. equities had a sharp reversal with the Dow Jones 30 down 87 points by the end of the session at 16,864. The main driver for yesterday’s sell off in US equities was a report released by the World Bank which cut its forecast for global growth, in contrast with latest economic data. In addition, some surprise results in the US elections fuelled concerns of further gridlock in Washington which always causes uncertainty in the markets.  The wider S&P500 also had a negative day, although not as bad as the DJ30 but there was no real sign of bargain hunters on the way down so there may well be further selling going into the weekend.

Contrary to usual occurrences when there is a sell-off in equities, Gold did not end much higher by the close last night.  There was a brief buying at the start of the London session, but once the U.S. session got underway prices drifted lower and settled at $1260.5 and any move down past $1255 will probably see the price going for the $1240 support level. The US Department of Energy released its weekly Crude Oil stockpiles report, showing a bigger that expected draw on inventories, exactly double the initial estimates of 1.3m barrels. That pushed the WTI Crude prices up 18 cents to $104.49 a barrel whilst the OPEC agreed to maintain its production target at 30 million barrels a day.

09:10am  ~  Not much happening on my charts so I’m off for a quick cycle ride – to Halesworth then back via Brampton, around 20 miles round-trip I should think.

11:30am  ~  Back home now, but out again in 30 minutes until late afternoon. Just had a quick look at my favourite charts and I’ve not missed much.

17:00pm  ~  I’m now home and getting ready to do a barbeque for friends, but while I am sorting that out I shall also watch the S&P500 chart for any “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups.

17:35pm  ~  Well, that didn’t take long — I’m in a ‘short’ position on the S&P with a 13 pip stop-loss.

19:05pm  ~  People will be here soon so I’ve closed my S&P trade off – it has managed +93 pips.

07:25am  ~  I have a full day at home today, a whole heap of Skype calls + emailing and some chart watching of course.  I am still working my way through the hundreds of entries for my ‘name-a-trading-system’ competition as well.

The markets seem to be at a crossroads at the moment, the Dow Jones 30 finished up yesterday at another all time high (16959 up 23 points) although there are technical hints on the daily chart for a reversal – over at the S&P500 there is a similiar story as traders yesterday seem to be buying into the good U.S. jobs news from last week. Over in London, the FTSE100 is not quite at the record 6900 level, but yesterday’s trading session end seems to suggest another bullish day although a move down below 6800 should get the bears excited for a short while.  Spread betting companies are reporting a large number of their clients are taking a bearish stance in equity trading, so maybe there will be some profit taking in the next few days.

The WTI Crude Oil prices lost 17 cents yesterday, down to $104.29 after some profit taking due to the previous day’s sharp bullish move.  There is speculation that oil inventories in the US fell for a second week which acted as good support, ignoring some renewed strength in the dollar. Meanwhile OPEC is due to meet later today and it is expected that quotas will remain unchanged at 30 million barrels a day. Gold traders and investors went out bargain hunting yesterday after the steep fall in prices, the recent resistance around $1258 was broken as the U.S. trading session opened and the value ended up $7.3 higher at just below $1260. Reports hint at China being the biggest buyer in the past 24 hours and if there is a drop in equity markets today we may see further safe haven buying.

08:40am  ~  While watching my charts here in the study I can see a few possible opportunities developing although one stands out – a ‘long’ trendFX trade on my Gold chart if the current candle forms a reversal pattern and we get a move to the upside. More news soon…

09:25am  ~  The Gold trade has triggered and I am now also in a ‘long’ position on my Brent Oil chart as well – another trendFX set-up.  Additionally there is a ‘short’ setting up on my S&P500 chart as well.

10:00am  ~  In the last few minutes the S&P500 price has dropped sufficiently to allow an entry at the 19476 level – it is yet another trendFX pattern. All these trades have low stop losses – around 15/20 pips.

12:15pm  ~  All is going quite well with two of my positions – the Brent Oil is still struggling around break-even – and as I’ve invited out to lunch soon I’m going to start closing off the trades.

12:40pm  ~  Right, I’m out of all three positions now and I am off for some lunch –  here are the scores:   S&P500 ‘short’ trade +53 pips     Gold ‘long’ trade +15 pips    Brent Oil ‘long’ trade +2 pips.  I have taken some chart screenshots so will send them out to students this afternoon.

16:30pm  ~  Back home after a tennis match, I shall switch on an S&P500 chart soon to watch for any ‘evening’ system trades.

23:05pm  ~  I did watch the S&P chart for a few hours before we went out at 8pm but there were no opportunities. Very happy with my +70 pips from earlier though.

07:35am  ~  I am back in the UK now, we arrived yesterday evening and today I will be catching up on emails and doing some chart watching as well. I’ll report back later with any trades I find.

The U.S. indices are again at record levels after last night’s close although both the Dow Jones 30 and the S&P500 have formed reversal candles on the daily charts. Over here in Europe, the German Dax30 index has closed above the significant 10,000 level for the first time ever and investors will now watch carefully to see if it now forms a support for a higher movement.  With many traders holding paper profits at the moment, the smallest hint of a correction will have a lot of market participants reaching for their ‘sell’ buttons to lock in the large gains from May.  The DJ30 ended at 16940 after getting close to the 17000 level during intraday trading and any move down from 1946 on the S&P500 will signal a bearish trading opportunity.

With China’s exports rising more than anticipated, and the fact that the US economic outlook keeps improving you can see why investors are optimistic about global growth and yesterday the energy market reacted well to this sentiment. The WTI crude oil prices had a sharp rally, up $1.78 to $104.55 a barrel. This rise was also supported by reports that political tensions in Libya could well disrupt oil supplies.  The good news about the US economy countered by German investor’s optimism that fell to 8.5 against a prediction of 13.3 boosted demand for Gold initially, meaning the large sell-off was temporarily halted during yesterday’s session. It ended flat at $1252 after a bullish European session and a weak performance later in the day when U.S. traders drove the price down again – once again there’s a reversal candle on the daily chart sitting right on a moving average resistance point, so watch for a move down past $1250 signalling another sell-off down towards the support at $1240.

09:45am  ~  Not much occurring on my charts at the moment, so I’m going off for a cycle ride for a couple of hours – up towards Lowestoft on the coastal path, around 25 miles there and back.  I have a Skype call with a new trader at midday so I shall be back before then plus meetings with builders up the road at 2pm.

16:05pm  ~  Just got back from the builders meeting so I shall be watching my S&P500 chart soon for any “Trade With A Day Job” set-ups after 5 o’clock.

18:20pm  ~  There could be a trade setting up, should see it in the next 5 minutes.

18:35pm  ~  In the market with a ‘long’ position.  Stop loss is a heady 13 pips !

20:05pm  ~  Doing ok, I’m at +15 pips so far.

20:25pm  ~  Friends have arrived for a poker evening so I am now out of the trade at +25 pips

08:10am (CET)  ~  Not much trading for me today, I’ve some jobs around the house to do this morning then flying back to the UK after lunch.

Expectations are high that the bullish slant to the equity markets are going to continue in a week of thin economic news.  Friday’s U.S. employment numbers came in broadly as expected, with 217,000 jobs added – this was the fourth consecutive month that there’s been numbers above 20K and employment levels are now at pre-recession levels. The Dow Jones 30 index had another record week, breaking the 16730 resistance from a few weeks ago and now the significant 17,000 level can only be a few sessions away bearing in mind the optimism that’s around at the moment.  The wider S&P500 is also at record levels and we have already seen it rise to 1950 in pre-market trading during the Asian session early this morning.   “Sell In May And Go Away” ?  Not this year !  “Sell In June And Go Away Soon”   Maybe.

With investors still focused on equity markets, Gold was largely ignored again during Friday’s trading session and it finished lower at $1252.8 but slightly higher on the week as a whole. With rising equities taking all the spotlight, it does seem as though there is still some downside movement left for the yellow metal, and Friday’s session formed a reversal candle on the daily chart, so watch for another move down towards $1240.

09:25am  ~  I’ve just glanced at my charts quickly while sitting here doing some emails and there’s a ‘long’ trade starting to develop on my Brent Oil chart, so I’ll update you soon.

09:40am  ~  The Brent Oil price has risen sufficiently to trigger a ‘long’ trade, using one of my trendFX strategies. The stop-loss is 18 pips.

10:20am  ~  Going ok so far, I am currently at +9 pips.

12:45pm  ~  The Brent price has stalled slightly but has formed a small support level at 109.05 so I’m going to hang on to see if it will rise.

14:05pm  ~  We are off to Palma Airport in a few minutes so I have come out of my aforementioned Brent Oil position, the price has advanced nicely and I came out at 109.36 – giving me a +49 pip profit.