08:35am ~ I was going to have a day in the study doing some trading plus emails and Skype calls, but there’s been a family medical emergency so I am off now to sort things out, I will report later. No time to do an market update either today – sorry !
15:25pm ~ Back here at the cottage now, the drama has subsided for a while and I can get down to some emails and even a bit of trading if the opportunity presents itself. Re-booked the Skype calls for early evening/tomorrow morning.
16:55 ~ Well this has turned out to be very busy afternoon trading session. I got into two “short” trades in the last 30 minutes, one on my S&P500 chart and the other on Brent Oil. They’re both coming down nicely at the moment. I can also see a potential “Trade With A Day Job” starting to set-up.
19:30pm ~ I did end up having a third trade with my “beginners” trading strategy that I mentioned earlier and as I’ve now got to go out & sort things from this morning’s episode, I’ve had to close all my positions off slightly prematurely. My first trade (S&P500) came in at +30 pips, my second (Brent Oil) gave me +58 pips and my “Trade With A Day Job” position was curtailed at 17237 which meant a gain of +33 pips.No quiet drink in the local tonight for me…..
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+121pips) I traded for 4 hours today, late afternoon through to early evening
09:20am ~ After some moves up in the main U.S. stock market we are now in a holding pattern waiting for the FOMC economic projections and statement kicking off this evening at 7pm (UK time) You could see traders going into limp mode last night, the S&P500 began trading in a narrow range soon after I came out of my long trade yesterday afternoon. The big news everyone is waiting for is whether the Fed is going to carry on with its asset purchasing or scale back, and if it does reign in its spending, what’s the amount going to be and how is going to affect the largest economy in the world. As the U.S. is the biggest economy in the world any hint of a cut in government spending will have repercussions around the globe, so you’ll probably see the markets go quiet this afternoon and then once the news is digested by traders around the globe, most markets will shoot off in one direction or another.
Onto commodities and Gold added to its recent loss in value again yesterday, going below the crucial $1300 support level although it has picked up in Asian trading early this morning. The price of WTI * is still tumbling downwards as the Libyan Government looks like resolving the strike threat by oil workers which would have a small effect on supplies plus the Syrian problem looks less likely every day to erupt inot a full-blown conflict between Russian and the U.S.
* I was asked twice yesterday what WTI stands for – it’s West Texas Intermediate also known as Texas light sweet, and is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. This grade is described as light because of its relatively low density, and sweet because of its low sulfur content. It is the underlying commodity of Chicago Mercantile Exchange‘s oil futures contracts. The price of WTI is often referenced in news reports on oil prices, alongside the price of Brent crude from the North Sea. Other important oil markers include the Dubai Crude, Oman Crude, and the OPEC Reference Basket. WTI is lighter and sweeter than Brent, and considerably lighter and sweeter than Dubai or Oman.
On a personal note, I’ve some emails to reply to this morning plus four Skype calls with budding traders, but I also have a cycle ride to fit in and also I’m going up to the cottage in Suffolk for a few days ahead of trip to Spain for a week. While I’m here in the study this morning I shall keep half an eye out for any trade opportunities, but I’m not hopeful as the markets are waiting for the FOMC statement later this evening.
20:10pm ~ Just turned on my computer here at the cottage and seen the result of tonight’s Fed statement by Bernanke at 7pm (UK time) As I predicted earlier, the market hovered around and then shot off as the Fed chairman began speaking. It was broadly good news so we had a large spike in the U.S. stock market. I will explain more in the morning, but now it’s down to the Lord Nelson for a swift pint.
13:10pm ~ I arrived home from my weekend trip an hour ago and I’ve just had a quick look at my charts to catch-up on what the markets have been doing since Friday.
Looks like the U.S. markets have just drifted around today, probably waiting for the FOMC statement tomorrow, and yesterday the markets were initially euphoric when news of Larry Summers had ended his campaign to be the next Fed chairman when Ben Bernanke retires in 2014, but this excitement soon cooled and both the Dow Jones 30 and the S&P500 ended the day roughly where they started.
With the crisis in Syria becoming less of a world threat by the day, Oil prices are starting to get down levels we saw at the beginning of the month after reaching 2011 highs. Gold is also seeing buyers disappear for the moment, there is not such a rush into ‘safe-haven’ commodities, a phenomena that often occurs when global tensions rise. We are around a short term support level at 13065 so we will either see a move upwards or a dive lower to the 13000 level – use my “Any-Time” system to flush out any trades that come up due to this situation.
As it’s very close to the U.S. market open at the moment I’m not going to look for any trades, as usually it’s quite volatile at this time of the day although I would expect an initial move upwards in the next hour or so if the S&P500 breaks the 1700 mark.
14:15pm ~ I couldn’t resist it…. I was just looking at my S&P500 chart while answering a customer’s question and I could see a potential trade coming up with one of the trendFX strategies, and the result is I am now in a ‘long’ trade on the S&P at 17022 ! Obviously report back later with the outcome.
16:10pm ~ Just exited my S&P500 ‘long’ position at 17062, although there maybe more upside to this afternoon’s move on the index, I’ve got 40 pips out of the market so that’s more than enough for me. I’ve got a few more emails to do plus a Skype call with a budding trader and them I’m off to do some food shopping.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+40 pips) I traded for two hours this afternoon
11:30am ~ There’s no market update or trading news this morning as I am still away on a long weekend break in Le Touquet, but I did receive this email on Saturday which I’ve just read – I thought you may be interested in seeing it.
It’s from a new student who started learning my evening trading strategy a couple of weeks ago. (click on image to enlarge)
09:35am ~ After a week of gains on the world’s stock markets we had a pause for breath and some profit-taking yesterday after a day of small trading volume. There was not much news to move the markets and going into today we’ll probably have a quiet morning ahead of the U.S. PPI and retails sales figures that are announced at 13:30pm (UK time). Gold continued its downward price movement yesterday after treading water on Wednesday and has shot through a previous support level at 13550 – next stop 13000 ? I have to add at this point that I took advantage of this drop in Gold price and I entered a ‘short’ position a while ago using one of my trendFX strategies, I am currently 40 pips in profit, so closing off any time soon will be ok as I am way above my daily 20 pip target.
Brent Oil had another day of price rises yesterday, most likely on the back of U.S. Oil Inventories and the Syrian situation, although this morning looks like there’s some profit-taking going on. There was a very nice ‘short’ trade set-up using a trendFX strategy earlier this morning but unfortunately I was not around at 7:30am to join in.
I will report back later regarding the outcome of my Gold trade.
10:30am ~ I have just got out of my Gold position, here’s the chart screenshot I have just taken. (Click on image to enlarge)
As you can see, I have managed a profit of +80 pips with strategy one from my trendFX Collection of systems. I’m still going through a mountain of emails – and after lunch it’s packing for a long weekend away at Le Touquet, my favourite French town.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+80 pips) I traded for an hour this morning
09:20am ~ The main stock markets were in quite a bullish mood again yesterday, apart from the FTSE100 here in the UK strangely ? Fears are receding regarding an American strike in Syria, so the market rise that began at the beginning of this month keeps up its momentum for time being. Yesterday’s U.S. Oil inventories report showed that stockpiles at Cushing in Oklahoma had dropped to their lowest levels for 18 months and this helped move the WTI crude price up slightly. Conversely, Brent Oil had a mixed day, ending broadly at the same price after two days of steep declines. Gold also had a day of trading in a fairly narrow range without much scope for any decent positions for commodity traders, although it has broken through a previous support level at $1358 this morning.
I have a bit of admin to do this morning together with a heap of emails as well, so I shall watch MT4 charts on and off while I am sitting here in the study. Will be nice to do a bit of cycling later on this morning as well, I can feel slightly agitated if I don’t get a chance to do any exercise during the day, although after 20 years of trading at home it has become a daily habit thankfully.
14:30pm ~ This morning has been a bit frustrating as I’ve had some severe computer problems, meaning there’s not much work been done so far. I’m off on a cycle ride now and I’ll be back at 5pm to do some trading with my “Trade With A Day Job” beginner’s strategy.
17:10pm ~ I’m going to sit down now for a while and watch my S&P500 chart for any trade set-ups with my beginner’s system, and then we’re off out to London at 7pm.
18:35pm ~ I have just closed off the only trade of the my evening session, it was a ‘long’ position and gave me a 26 pip profit.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+26 pips) I just traded for 90 minutes this evening
While going through some folders on a laptop this morning I found this interesting email from a customer regarding his procrastination over learning to trade. I hope you enjoy reading it (click on the image to enlarge it)
07:30am ~ I am up fairly early this morning as I have a guy in Australia who wants to talk to me via Skype about learning to trade – it’s early evening over there. I’m also going to switch on my MT4 charts now for a few hours (before going off to Southwold) to see if there are any potential trading opportunities to take advantage of.
With regard to the markets yesterday, we had good news all round and this helped a continued rise in the main U.S. indexes. President Obama addressed the nation last night to provide some clarity on the Syrian issue, and he has requested that congress should delay voting on whether they should use military force against the Assad regime, as he is in favour of the Russian suggestion that the UN should find the chemical weapons and have a controlled disposal of them under the watchful eye of the rest of the world. This move has buoyed investor sentiment and gave more impetus to the recent bullish move in the S&P index of the top 500 U.S. companies. As I have suggested a few times over the past week, investor confidence is often higher when oil prices come down (which they did yesterday due to the easing of Middle Eastern tensions) and in turn, the Gold price falls as stock markets rise because investors feel they no longer need a safe haven to put their money into. There’s always something interesting happening in the markets hey ?
As I am writing this, I can see a possible Brent Oil trade setting up with one of the strategies from my trendFX collection.
10:20am ~ Time for me to pack-up and get going up to Southwold shortly, so I have just closed off my only trade of the morning. Just after 8 o’clock I got into a ‘long’ position on my Brent Oil chart and it’s ended up giving me a profit of +75 pips. I have attached a chart screenshot showing the trade at the bottom of this post.
14:30pm ~ I’m up in Suffolk now and back from a lovely lunch at the Swan. I am going off for a walk across the river to Walberswick and see some friends – I shall be back here at 5pm to do some trading with my “Trade With A Day Job” strategy.
18:10pm ~ I have been sitting here in front of my chart for 30 minutes or so (with an ice-cold beer), and I am pleased to report I’m in a ‘long’ trade on the S&P500. I’ll report back later as to the outcome.
21:05pm ~ Well that’s the end of my trading today, I have just switched off my MT4 charts and we’re off in 5 minutes for some supper at the Crown. My only trade of the evening was stopped out at minus 16 pips, so my total for the day has come out at +59 pips.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+59 pips) I traded for just under three hours this morning plus the evening session.
Here’s the Brent Oil Chart Screenshot from this morning (click on image to enlarge)
08:15am ~ After the holiday month of August gives us low volumes in the world’s financial markets I always look forward to the 2nd week of September as it seems as though finally traders are back at their desks and normal trading volumes can resume at last. Is this the reason we had large gains on most indexes yesterday ? Or was it the fact that there looks like a non-military solution to the Syrian Crisis, meaning tensions in the Middle East are dissipating slightly ? We also had news of the Chinese trade balance surplus due to strong exports and this had a knock-on effect on raw material demand, so I suppose these factors put together all contributed to a good day on the markets for the bulls. We also had lower oil prices yesterday for reasons I’ve highlighted in previous days, and whenever there are lower energy prices, the stock market will rise as large companies will have lower costs.
From the markets in general to my own trading now, and I did manage to sit down just before 8am this morning to watch for any trade set-ups on my favourite charts. Volume seems to be up again today and a few minutes ago I got into a “short” position on my Brent Oil chart – I am currently at break-even.
09:20am ~ Well that was a quick trade ! I’ve just got out of my Brent trade with a small profit of +31 pips. With that one under my belt, I’m off for a cycle ride for an hour or so then back here to do some emails plus three Skype calls I have booked in before lunch. There is a rumour of a clay-pigeon shoot this afternoon but I am just waiting for confirmation from a friend at the farm up the road.
19:05pm ~ I did end up at the shoot this afternoon and then a swift pint afterwards – and this has meant I have only just arrived home to do a bit of ‘evening’ trading. I will report back later with any interesting trade details.
20:35pm ~ After 90 minutes in front of my S&P500 chart, I am now out of my only trade of the evening session. A potential set-up showed itself around 7:30pm and a few minutes later the price rose sufficiently to trigger a ‘long’ trade. A few minutes ago the price hit its 20 pip target and at the same time also came up against a long-term resistance level, so I came out of the market and have switched off my MT4 platform for another day. Up to the cottage in Suffolk tomorrow morning for a few days by the sea.
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+51 pips) I traded for just over an hour this morning and briefly this evening
10:35am ~ We had a few friends stay over for the weekend so it’s been a slow start to the week as the last of them only left a short while ago.
I’ve not yet looked at my charts for the morning so I’m not sure what they’re up to at the moment, but overnight news regarding better than expected Chinese exports will certainly have an effect on the UK and U.S. markets for a short while at least. Earlier news regarding President Obama’s push to convince the senate that a limited strike on Syria is going to be a good idea for everyone will surely have some effect on the markets, but probably not today, so we may have a quiet day on the main world indices. Back to Friday and the Non Farm Payroll numbers, although good, came out worse than the markets expected so initially there was a large decline on the Dow Jones and S&P indexes, but once traders had digested the numbers and realised that there were some bargain stocks available, there was a corresponding rise in prices and Friday’s U.S. trading session ended broadly unchanged. One point to note is the S&P500 shot down to what I regard as a key level at 16500 seconds after the employment numbers were released, before rebounding upwards so this level may prove to be significant in the near future, so watch out if you trade the emini futures.
Brent Oil price rose on Friday amid, I suspect, the rising tension between the U.S. and Russia regarding the Syrian situation – with Putin’s spokespeople suggesting that they would step in and assist Assad’s army in the event of a U.S. attack. Gold was also up for probably the same reason and on Friday evening the price was sitting at a what looks like a key support/resistance level (email me if you’d like a chart showing what I’ve seen – it’ll help with day trading)
Just off now to take two of my cars for services, and I shall be back after lunch to do some emailing and Skype calls.
15:45pm ~ I am back home now so will get going with some admin work in the study and also start watching my charts shortly. My “Trade With A Day Job” beginner’s system starts at 5pm but before then I’ll look for opportunities with my other two systems.
16:35pm ~ While I’ve been doing some Skype calls I have also got into a ’long’ position on the S&P500 using one of the trendFX strategies. It’s currently a few points in profit but I’ll report back later regarding its final performance.
19:25pm ~ Well, that’s the end of my early evening trading session – I ended up having two positions, the one I mentioned earlier plus a “Trade With A Day Job” trade which I got into at 6pm. This trade gave me +48 pips when I came out a few minutes ago and the earlier trendFX trade managed +80 pips. Off out to Cafe Rouge now for some supper with the girlfriend…
Daily Target Reached ? YES (+128 pips) I traded for 4 hrs this afternoon/evening
Here’s a chart screenshot I’ve just done of my S&P500 trade this evening using one of the trendFX strategies (click on image to enlarge)
