08:20am    Planning a nice quiet day here at home in front of my screens – and I will also be catching up on emails & Skype calls.  Any trades I have through the day will be detailed in my Trading Diary.

Market Update:

U.S. markets had a fairly pessimistic session on Monday with the Trump rally slowing and the main Dow Jones 30 index closing 19.04 points down as traders realise that expected market stimuli from the new administration such as lower taxes and deregulation are going to take longer than the new President would like (and has promised).  This bearish sentiment also spilled over to last night’s Asian trading session where most bourses closed in the red, the main Chinese index (Shanghai Composite) was down by 0.11% and the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed at -0.35%.

This morning’s European markets are bucking this trend on the open with positive numbers in London, Paris and Frankfurt although there is not much economic news out this morning to give traders any direction. Oil markets started the week in a bearish mood and this morning’s trading is following in the same vein. U.S. WTI Crude touched a recent high at just over $54 yesterday and has since retreated all the way down to its current level of $53.11 this morning where traders are starting to buy as they see some value at the moment.

Gold is still trading around its 200-day moving average but may see some buying this week if equity markets become more bearish – it is currently at $1230.98 after a positive session yesterday that witnessed a rise of just under $15.

Trading Diary:

09:05am    Taken an early ‘short’ opportunity on my Brent Crude chart – these types of trades can be be more risky that normal as the European trading session is still getting underway but the stop loss is quite small and the strategy itself has a good win/loss ratio.  It is a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 17 pip stop loss and I entered the position a few minutes ago.

09:55am    I have just come out of my Brent Crude position with a +21 pip profit – the price has come down quite nicely in the past half hour but is now retreating back-up towards the MA’s as it touched a low of $55.28.

10:30am    No other opportunities coming up on my charts at the moment so time for a break from the screens, I am off for a cycle ride for an hour or so.

13:40pm   While I have been out for an early lunch there have been a few opportunities but I am back now and I have just entered a ‘long’ position on my German DAX-30 chart. It’s another Master-The-Trend Strategy-A set-up and my stop loss is 12 pips.

14:55pm   I am now out of the DAX-30 position with a +29 pip profit. The price hit the ‘big’ number of 11,600 before falling slightly so that seemed a good point to come out of the trade. My profit so far today is +50 pips which is more than satisfactory so I shall finish at that level and my total risk was 29 pips.