07:35am  ~  As we rushed out last night for Chinese New Year celebrations I did not have time to complete yesterday’s Trading Diary.  My last trade of the day kicked off just before 6pm and ended quite abruptly at a quarter to seven as everyone else was ready to go out. The trade was a “Trade With A Day Job” set-up and I ended up with +102 pips. This contributed to a total pip count yesterday of +304 pips, a nice way to start the new month.

The markets yesterday had a bearish slant to them, with the Dow Jones 30 losing 340 points by the end of the day to close at 15379 and the S&P500 was similarly affected. Most of the reason was China’s Purchasing manager’s Index (PMI) for January dropped to a 6 month low of 50.5 fuelling concerns that the world’s second largest economy is undoubtedly slowing down.  At the same time emerging markets extended their drop in value adding to fears that we are at the start of a large stock market correction.

Gloomy economic data across the board was by and large the main culprit of a bearish trading day yesterday so as usual, traders turned to safe-haven instruments which meant gold prices extended their rally, gaining $14.7 to $1257.6.

I am off for an early cycle ride in a short while and then I shall be in the study for the rest of the morning doing emails, Skype calls and some chart watching.

10:15am  ~  While sitting here doing some emails I have got myself into two trades, one on my S&P500 chart and the other on my Gold chart – both shorts unusually as these two instruments often work in opposite directions.

12:10pm  ~  I am off to Prezzo for lunch so I have put in stop losses at break even for both trades and I’ll see what’s happened when I get back.

14:45pm  ~  Both trades hit their stop loss level so I am out of the market at the moment with zero pips. Going to have a lazy afternoon catching up on some Kindle books

17:10pm  ~  Going to watch my S&P500 chart to see what comes up with my “Trade With A Day Job” strategy.

18:25pm  ~  I am in a ‘long’ position on the S&P500 with a 21 pip stop-loss.

20:10pm  ~  Speedy update, my first trade was stopped out at minus 21 pips and I am now in a second trade, this time it’s a ‘short’ position on the same chart.

20:30pm  ~  That was a quick trade !  The S&P500 price has come down fairly quickly in the last 10 minutes and I have out with a profit of +57 pips, so my overall score tonight has come in at +36 pips.

Daily Target Reached ?  YES  (+36 pips)