07:40am   Planning a quiet day here in the study watching charts and catching up on emails and Skype calls – any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

U.S. markets took a breather yesterday after the post-election rise came to an end, the Dow Jones 30 index closed down 55 points at 18,868 (-0.29%) and the wider S&P-500 also down slightly (-0.16%) and there does seem to be a reluctance for this index to move above the 2185 level at the moment.  This sentiment also affected the overnight Asian market where the main equity indices ended flat with oil prices also weighing on enthusiasm and European equities are also opening lower if futures prices are a gauge. The German DAX-30 is still coming up against a small resistance at 10,800 – it has reversed back from this level this week and has spent quite a few months attempting to rise above it to no avail.

As mentioned, oil prices are under pressure once again after higher than expected U.S. Crude Inventories that were announced yesterday, WTI Crude fell around 73 cents to close last night at $45:02 although some buying during the Asian session has lifted that price to $45:40. Gold has been stuck in a small channel this week between $1211 and $1233 after sharp falls last week as equity markets rose – the weekly chart shows a fairly solid support area around $1210 so we could see further moves up soon.

Trading Diary:

09:05am    Not much occurring on my selection of favourite charts so I am going to take this opportunity to get some exercise in the form of a cycle ride for an hour or so.

10:35am   Back now and I’ve just entered a ‘long’ position on my WTI Crude 30 minute chart – it’s a trendFX  strategy-3 set-up and my stop loss is just 15 pips and I managed to get in lower that the actual trigger level.

12:05pm    Happy with the progress of my WTI position so I am now out of the trade at +41 pips. There is not much else to report on my favourite charts at the moment.

13:10pm    Off to lunch now, no opportunities at present.

14:40pm   Back home now and just got into a ‘long’ position on my German Dax-30 chart. It’s on the 1-hr timeframe and it is a UTB price reversal pattern with a reasonable 23 pip stop loss.

16:50pm    The Dax price has hit the significant 10700 level a couple of times in the past 10 minutes so I am now out of my position,  it has managed +52 pips so giving me +93 pips for the day.  Back in front of my charts in the morning for a few hours.