Up but Down, Read on...

Opening balance £246

Closing balance £287


Day's profit £41

Lots to report this evening.

There was very little price movement, just a small sideways pattern with a range of between 5645 and 5660 points for the whole of the morning. I managed to scalp £60 from this at £5 a point and was feeling pretty pleased.

Using the fibonacci tool I actually had a projected high today of 5682. We'd taken out last months high in yesterday's session and that gave further credence to my target.

So far so good.

From 8am until 2pm the Ftse fought valiantly to overcome a stubborn resistance point of 5662. After finally breaking though this and with my target a further juicy and almost touchable 20 points away what did I do?

I went short at 5666. Fucking unbelievable.

So I'm currently 27 points south of break even and £100 down on paper. Just how I managed to turn a winning trade into a potential losing one defies belief.

I was frightened of betting on the index going up for fear that the market had all of it's run and would retrace back down. The 5682 was the 61.8% fibonacci so having passed that it looks very likely the uptrend will continue.

I read it correctly today but allowed my bearish self to take control and sabatoge my trade. It's astonishing how I can trade with good intentions, show discipline for 6 hours and scalp £60 from a flat market then blow the whole lot (potentially) on a dumb decision.

Frustrating isn't the word. I have to admit though that reading this dispassionately it's highly amusing. Just what kind of a foll is this guy?

Today's lessons.

Have a little more confidence to follow through on my analysis and yet again, EXIT A LOSING POSITION AT 10 POINTS. A simple stop loss (or just closing the trade as I was in front of my screen) would have resulted in a £30 loss.

Finally I think I will only trade from the opening bell until Midday. any longer than that and I feel my already dubious decision making is compromised through having to concentrate.