08:30am   Things are slowly getting back to normal after my house move and I shall be mainly here in my new home office today catching up on emails and Skype calls plus doing some chart watching.  There is also an updated Trend-Line Trade-Alert Sheet for subscribers this morning.

Market Update:

Last Friday’s U.S. Jobs Report showed a larger rise than expected, there were 227,000 positions created against an estimation of around 170,000 although the actual unemployment rate did edge up from 4.7% to 4.8%. This was generally good news for equities and the Dow Jones 30 index had it’s best one day rise this year (up +186 points) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at another record high (5,666.70).

This bullish sentiment has spilled over the early morning Asian trading session and most indices closed positively despite a lower than expected Chinese PMI number a few hours ago but the Australian ASX-200 did buck the trend and closed lower on disappointing retail sales over the Christmas/New Year period. Crude oil values are showing slight gains as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate – Donald Trump has imposed limited sanctions against selected individuals following ballistic missile tests and there is now a perception that wider sanctions will be imposed in the coming weeks which will limit oil exports from the country so lowering global stocks.

U.S. WTI Crude is up at $53.97 this morning after closing at $53.66 on Friday night. Gold is still edging up towards its 200-day moving average on uncertainty over Trump’s policies but there does seem to be a small ceiling formed last week around the $1225 level, watch this closely this week for trading opportunities.

Trading Diary:

09:35am   It’s quiet on my ‘favourite’ charts so I am off for an exploratory cycle ride along the lanes of my new (Mid-Suffolk) neighbourhood.  Back in an hour or so.

11:10am   Been back home for 10 minutes and spotted a ‘long’ trade setting up on my Gold 1-hr chart which has now just triggered  -  it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern and I am in the position with a 21 pip stop loss.

12:15pm    The Gold price has gone up quite quickly in the past 30 minutes or so and as I am happy with the +34 pip profit it has achieved I am now out of the position.

Off out for some lunch now but back in front of my screens this afternoon.

15:30pm  There has nor been much on my charts in the past hour since I’ve been back home which is not a big surprise as the charts need some time to calm down after the U.S. session open but I have just found a ‘short’  Master-The-Trend set-up on my Brent Crude Oil chart. It’s a Strategy-B pattern this time with a 35 pip stop loss and I have been in the trade for a few minutes.

16:45pm   Now out of my Brent Crude position at +35 pips so total for my first trading day of February is +69 pips after a total risk of 56 pips.

09:25am   Back to ‘work’ today after my fairly complicated house move although I will not be trading as the U.S. Non Farm Payrolls are out later so the markets will be drifting sideways for the next 5-hours and then be quite volatile following the announcement. Back in front of my charts on Monday but catching on emails and Skype calls for the rest of the day.

Market Update:

U.S. markets closed last night mainly flat ahead of today’s monthly job’s report as traders adjust their positions ahead of the uncertainty that always follows the Non Farm Payrolls announcement. The expectation is for a rise of 170,000, ahead of last month’s figure of +156,000 but watch a sharp reaction at 14:30pm European time.

The overnight Asian trading session was dominated by the People’s Bank of China’s surprise decision to rise short term interest rates by 0.10% to 2.35% and together with the earlier Caixin Manufacturing PMI survey for Chinese purchasing managers showing a decline from 51.9 to 51.0 meant that their equity markets suffered and both the main Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices closed down earlier this morning.

European markets started today’s session with an unusual amount of bullish sentiment and whilst the London FTSE-100 has carried on in this vein so far, French and German stocks have retreated backwards after a good start. Crude oil markets have been trading up this week although the last few sessions have seen prices heading sideways and the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude has now been in the $52.50 > $54.00 range for the past 10 days as it waits further news from the Trump administration regarding his energy policies.  The wider agreement on production restrictions between OPEC and other major producers (notably Russia) still seems to be holding and oil traders I have spoken to this morning seem to think we may have found the bottom of the market at around the $50 level.

07:50am   The plan was to be doing some trading this week but my house move is now turning out to be more complicated than initially thought so I am having the whole week away from my charts unfortunately although I will still be sending out my early morning Trading Guidance emails and Trade-Alerts to subscribers.

Market Update: 

There seems to be some reaction to Trump’s various policies in equity markets with U.S. stocks ending slightly down on Friday although they did post an overall 1% rise on the week and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still comfortably above the significant 20,000 level. This slightly bearish sentiment has also affected this morning’s Asian session where stocks closed largely down as investors and traders show concern over the new President’s immigration policy which is also affecting the value of the Dollar.  This morning’s European session is just getting underway and there does not seem to be much optimism yet, most bourses are also in negative territory.

Oil is starting to look fairly negative with WTI Crude down by 58 cents on Friday over concerns that growing U.S. production is going affect long term values even though there a proposed cut in production by OPEC members.  My daily chart is however showing a small possibility that the price could go back upto the $54 level before retreating back down again.

Gold has fallen for four sessions in a row now and has come down from a high last week at the $1220 resistance area to its current level of $1189.52 this morning but should rise slightly as concerns over Trump’s various policies take hold. my Daily chart is looking very oversold at the moment so could rise in the next few days using $1180 as support.

08:30am    My plan was to be at home doing some trading today but I am moving house next week and I have a heap of legal stuff that needs to be finished by tomorrow afternoon so I am taking two days off from the charts and will be back next Monday.

Market Update:

The main market news this morning comes from the U.S. where equities have rallied and reached new highs on growing optimism for the American economy under the leadership of Donald Trump.  Traders and investors are seeing that the new president is following up on his election promises and is now signing a whole raft of executive orders that are seen as benefiting the economy as a whole.  The S&P-500 closed up 0.8% at 2298 and after the overnight Asian session the futures are sitting at 2300.08 and the Dow Jones is equally as bullish this morning after surpassing the 20,000 level last night.

The Asian session earlier this morning was equally as optimistic on the back of the U.S. stock performance with Hong Kong and Japanese equities up over 1% in bullish trading with the main Chinese Shanghai Composite coming in at +0.31%.  European markets have started today’s session on a fairly bullish note despite ongoing concerns over Brexit and the Euro with healthcare and banking shares leading the upward move.

Crude oil prices are trying to rise and are partly succeeding as the U.S. Dollar weakens but there does seem to be a ceiling for WTI Crude values around the $53.50 level. Worries over growing stocks and the validity of OPEC’s production curbs are stopping traders from buying into small rise, watch your charts for more retreats from this small resistance level.

06:30am    Early start for me as I have meetings with builders at 8am  but I will be chart watching through the morning as well so any trades I have will be detailed below.

I am away tomorrow on a boat trip so after today I will be back trading on Thursday.

Market Update:

The main market news in the past 24-hours is the growing weakness of the U.S. Dollar due to concerns over Donald Trump’s protectionism policies and his withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Proposed stricter border controls and the unwinding of trade deals with other countries is seen by the markets as being negative for the U.S. Currency and the Dollar Index has fallen to the 100 level but has risen slightly in the past few hours to 100.05.

Yesterday’s U.S. trading session ended slightly down after a mixed performance by equities, the main S&P-500 index closed at 2265.20 after being as high as 2271.90 but there does not seem much enthusiasm for buying as traders watch developments from Trump’s office. The overnight Asian session was equally as ‘mixed’ with the Japanese Nikkei 225 index extending Monday’s losses, closing down 0.55% eventually although most other indices managed to finish slightly in the black.

Oil is also in focus in the U.S. as Trump has issued a warning that he does not want to rely on imported crude oil for much longer and this hints at high production for domestic fields. This assumption pushed U.S. WTI Crude down by 52 cents to close at $52.79 after reaching a session high of $53.44 but it is trading higher this morning but with a small resistance on the daily chart at $53.50.

Trading Diary:

09:00am    Just had quick look at my collection of favourite charts and there’s nothing much to get excited about yet so I am off for a cycle ride for an hour or so.

10:20am    Back now and noticed that a ‘short’ trade triggered a short while ago on my Gold 30-min chart so I have just entered a position at an advantageous level as the price has retraced slightly – it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up and my stop loss has come out at  19 pips.  There was a ‘long’ trade that triggered on my S&P-500 15-min chart a few minutes ago as well but I have let that go as the chart is still slightly volatile and unpredictable – not too bothered about about taking trades on the S&P today.

14:05pm   I’ve just got back from a pleasant lunch and seen that my Gold position has been stopped out at -19 pips.

15:10pm    The collection of favourite charts that I tend to watch each day are behaving with a fair amount of volatility at the moment so I switching my charts off and finishing for the day.  A nice break for me tomorrow out on a boat means I will not be back in front of my screens until Thursday morning.

07:55am     I have been invited to a trader friend’s house in Le Touquet for the weekend so we will probably leave mid-afternoon but I will be around here in the study this morning catching up on emails and Skype calls so I will also cast my eyes over my favourite charts from time to time. Any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

U.S. markets had a volatile session on Thursday as traders look forward with a certain trepidation to Donald Trump’s inauguration later today. The main three indices ended down slightly although the S&P-500 seems to have found some support at the 20-day moving average despite fairly wild swings through the session. The overnight Asian market closed mixed after economic news from China showed that their economy grew 6.8% in the last quarter of 2016 up slightly year-on-year and retail sales grew by nearly 11% – this sent the main Shanghai Index up by +0.69% although the small Hang Seng Index fell 0.58% by the close.

European markets are opening slightly down this morning as traders adjust their positions ahead of Trump’s speech later this evening (European time) and U.S. index futures are showing some bullishness (or resilience) and are looking to open higher than last night’s close. The uncertain sentiment is assisting the Gold price as you would imagine and although this commodity took a breather from its recent bullish move on Tuesday and Wednesday, the daily chart is quite oversold and is hinting at further up moves today.  Despite an unexpected  rise in U.S. Crude Oil inventories yesterday, the price stayed remarkably resilient – WTI Crude rose in price by the close last night and closed at $52.14 and this sentiment is carrying on this morning it is trading at $52.39. If you are trading this commodity today watch out for a possible resistance area around $53.00.

Trading Diary:

09:50am    Just entered a ‘short’ position on my Gold 15-min chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern and my stop loss is 22 pips.

10:45am    Out of my Gold trade a few minutes ago, I am off for a quick cycle ride. Score was +24 pips.

11:50am    Now in a ‘long’ position on the same chart – this time it’s a UTB price-reversal pattern with a 14 pip stop loss.

12:40pm    Off out for lunch now and as my 2nd Gold trade has reached +21 pips I have closed it off as I am more than happy with my score for the last day of the trading week.  I will send out chart screenshots for both trades to subscribers when I get back in a couple of hours.

That’s me finished with trading for the week, I will be back here in front of my charts on Tuesday morning and I wish you all a nice,relaxing weekend break.

07:50am   I have a flurry of meetings here at home today but between those I shall be doing some chart watching – any positions I do have will be reported below.

Market Update:

Main market news from yesterday was Federal Reserve  Boss Janet Yellen’s speech where she advocated a gradual rise in interest rates through 2017, she is confident with progress of the U.S. economy where employment is almost at full capacity and inflation is well on the way to the Fed’s target of 2%. Her target is to reach and minimum lending rate of 3% by 2019 and keep it there for the foreseeable future. This optimistic stance from Yellen translated to a bullish end for the S&P-500 index (+0.18%) but the Dow Jones index of top 30 companies closed slightly down at -0.11%.

The overnight Asian market ended mixed with traders focusing on domestic shares rather than the possible fall-out as Trump gets ready to move into the White House and European markets this morning have started mainly positively although London’s FTSE-100 index has had a bumpy first hour and looks to be retreating to a minor support area around 7220.

Crude oil had a bearish session yesterday and U.S. WTI Crude fell back down to its 50-day moving average ($50.89) although it has gapped up this morning and is currently sitting at $52.44 on hopes that the  U.S. stock situation will show a slower than normal rise later today when weekly figures are released.

Trading Diary:

09:40am   The UK FTSE-100 has been falling for most of this morning’s session and the price has just fallen below 7211.50 and triggered a ‘short’ Master-The-Trade position, I am in the trade with a very reasonable 10 pip stop loss.

09:55am   Unsurprisingly, the U.S. S&P-500 is also falling this morning and I am now in a ‘short’ position with the same trading set-up/pattern on the 15-min chart – this time my stop loss is 21 pips.

11:05am   Just come out of my FTSE position with +13 pips, the markets are quite volatile this morning so happy with a small profit.

11:20am   Cycle ride now and then out for lunch with some fellow traders – leaving my S&P-500 position with a stop loss at 21 pips and an open target.

14:45pm   Back from lunch and seen my S&P-500 has been stopped out at -21 pips. The charts are fairly ‘jumpy’ as you’d expect at the moment so I think I’ll call it a day with my trading, score for the day is -8 pips.  I have had a few offers of things to do tomorrow so not sure whether I shall be trading on the last day of the working week so watch this diary early in the morning.

08:20am   Freezing conditions outside gives me more reason to be here in my home-office this morning catching up on emails and doing some chart watching. Any trades I have will be reported below.

Market Update:

U.S. equities had a fairly negative Tuesday as concern grows regarding President-elect Trump’s policies once he gets into the White House, the main S&P-500 index fell by 6.75 points by the close last night and is now struggling to get back up to the previous 2282 level it reached during the first week of January – currently sitting at 2269.09 this morning. Not all this negativity spilled over to the overnight Asian trading session, it ended mixed with Chinese markets mainly up but Japanese and Australian indices in negative figures. Trump’s comment that the U.S. Dollar was “too strong” sent it’s value falling against the Yuan which is good for Chinese exporters, hence the rise in equities as many companies in the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng Index sell their goods abroad.

Here in Europe, UK Prime Minister May’s remarks yesterday concerning a tough exit from the EU means equity markets are struggling to make any headway. German, British and French indices are all down this morning although from a technical point of view they are mostly oversold so we could see a small bounce today.  The weaker Dollar also has an effect on Crude Oil prices as a weaker U.S. currency results in dollar-denominated oil products less expensive for users of other currencies so potentially increasing demand.

As expected with all the uncertainty surrounding the first few weeks of Trump’s Presidency, Gold is still enjoying a good run-up from the lows of December at $1122.50, it closed at $1216.80 last night although there has been some profit taking in the past few hours and is currently at $1212.75.

Trading Diary:

10:10am  Nothing to report so far this morning on my collection of favourite charts, I’m going on a cycle ride for some much needed exercise.

12:20pm   The markets/charts that I generally trade have been fairly low on volume today as traders sit on their hands and wait for Fed Chairman Janet Yellen’s speech later tonight and as a consequence there has been no trading set-ups or patterns for me to take advantage of this morning. This situation may well continue this afternoon so I will monitor the situation and report back here in a few hours.

13:50pm   I was just about to close my charts and agree to an offer of a game of golf but a few minutes ago a ‘short’ opportunity started to develop on my WTI Crude Oil chart and the price has just fallen sufficiently to trigger a valid trade. It is a Master-The-Trend Strategy-A pattern with a 21 pip stop loss – about average risk for a 15-min timeframe.

14:05pm   The oil price is quite volatile, matching U.S. equities at the moment so I have taken a quick +33 pip profit. I will send out a chart screenshot with full details of the trade to all subscribers in a moment.

16:20pm    I was not really looking for any further trading opportunities but while I was answering a question from a new student regarding Brent Crude I noticed a UTB price-reversal pattern triggering on the 30 minute timeframe. I am now in that  (long) position with a 31 pip stop loss.

17:10pm    The Brent Crude price has come up quite nicely and it’s also time to finish work for the day so I am now out of the trade with a +60 pips, giving me a total of +93 pips today.  Back here tomorrow morning as usual.

07:45am    Early start this morning and I am planning a day here at home catching up on emails and Skype calls with new traders plus some chart watching as well. Any trades I have will be detailed below.

Market Update:

The main focus for traders today is the much anticipated speech by UK Prime Minister Theresa May where she is expected to lay out her Brexit strategy and the prospect of a ‘hard’ exit from the European Union seems to be worrying the markets. The overnight Asian market had no cues from U.S. trading yesterday due to the Martin Luther King bank holiday and at the close Chinese indices were mostly positive with others ending down slightly, the Australian ASX-200 suffered the most and was down around 0.8%.

European markets had a mainly negative start to the week yesterday as traders adjusted their positions ahead of Theresa May’s announcement today and the sentiment this morning is not really changed much. There is more uncertainty (which the markets dislike) in a few day’s time when Trump becomes the 44th U.S. President, nobody is quite sure how his leadership is going to affect global markets this month so expect some volatility in the coming weeks.

Gold is benefiting from a flight to safety amidst all this uncertainty and has moved up from a low of $1122.50 in December to a 2-month high of $1214 this morning, the next resistance level seems to be around $1235 (200-day moving average). Crude oil seems to have stemmed it’s rise, U.S. WTI Crude got to $55 at the beginning of the month but since then has slowly drifted downwards and closed last night at $52.65 and does not look that bullish this morning.

Trading Diary:

08:10am    Just entered a ‘short’ position on my S&P-500 15-min. chart, it’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up with a 16 pip stop loss.  Unusually, I shall watch my chart carefully over the next hour  as it can be quite risky taking a position as the European market opens.

08:45am   The S&P-500 price has been unsurprisingly quite volatile in the past 10 minutes so I have come out of my ‘short’ position with a +17 pip profit as it looks as though price may rise further. I will send a chart screenshot with all the details to subscribers in a minute.

09:25am    I am now in a ‘long’ position on my 15-min. Brent Crude Oil chart – it is another Master-The-Trend Strategy-B pattern and my stop loss this time is 27 pips. There is also the same opportunity on the WTI Crude chart.

10:45am   I have just been invited out for a quick cycle ride so I have closed off my Brent Crude position as I am more than happy with the +54 pip score so far.

14:10pm    Just returned from lunch and there’s nothing very exciting to see on my group of favourite charts. I will keep an eye on them a few more times today and report back later.

15:15pm    No other set-ups have come up, so I am finishing for the day with a score of +71 pips.

08:25am    Quiet day at home for me, braced for the adverse weather we will be having this morning so I will be chart watching on and off until around 3pm when we are off for a 3-day break. Back trading on Tuesday morning.

Market Update:

Yesterday’s U.S. trading session was fairly volatile but there does seem to be some hints that the overblown ‘Trump Rally’ maybe slowing slightly after the President-Elect’s first official news conference yielded no concrete policy decisions but plenty of banter with the press. Traders were hoping for some sort of forward guidance but as there was nothing forthcoming we may see markets drift sideways or fall slightly for the rest of January and last night U.S. equity indices all closed lower with the tech-heavy Nasdaq ending down for the first time this year.

This sentiment was carried over to the overnight Asian session where Chinese full-year export data showed a decline of 6.1% but imports rose by just over 3% but in contrast the European markets this morning are showing small signs of buying in London, Paris and Frankfurt.  The oil market is recovery from falls at the beginning of the month and there does seem to be strong support at the $50 level for WTI Crude and this is strengthened by news that Saudi Arabia is cutting production to a greater extent than was first promised together with news of record Chinese imports in December . U.S. WTI Crude had another positive session yesterday and closed up 66 cents at $53:00 and is around that same level at the moment.

Trading Diary:

09:45am    Nothing very exciting to see on my collection of favourite charts so I am off for a bracing cycle ride.

10:40am   Just got back and seen that  ’long’ trade triggered a short while ago on the S&P-500 1-hour chart but I have just managed to get a fill at a good level as the price has retraced slightly.  It’s a Master-The-Trend Strategy-B set-up and my stop loss is 23 pips.

11:50am   I am now also in a ‘long’ position on the FTSE-100 30-min chart, it is another Master-The-Trend set-up, this time a Strategy-A pattern. My stop loss is just 9 pips.

13:35pm    Just noticed that my S&P-500 trade has been stopped out during the opening few minutes of the U.S. trading session at -23 pips.  I have adjusted the stop loss on the FTSE position to break even so that we do not have two losing trades this afternoon.

15:20pm    The price on the FTSE-100 has just shot up fairly quickly and then started to retreat back so I have closed my position off at +18 pips leaving me with a small loss on the day – I am closing my charts soon and finishing my week’s trading.