The bullish start to the day really set the tone with the FTSE 100 breaking through the 6200 and finishing up just shy of 6250 at the close. Looks like the much anticipated Santa rally has already begun!

This morning I placed a counter-trend trade at the 6167 level looking for price to retrace, and shortly after closed it out for a 5 point loss due to the market spiking up rapidly. I managed to place a second trade, this time with the trend as price ran into support from another existing intraday level as well as the 20EMA. That netted me 8 points. The final trade was after the US markets had opened, based on a classic pullback to the moving average, which was closed out for 15 points.

It ended up being an inactive trading day for me as I was called away for a pre-Christmas lunch with a few friends, after which we headed off to Covent Garden to watch “The Force Awakens” in 3D at the Odean iMax cinema. Awesome movie BTW, highly recommended!

As for the markets, the FTSE managed to recover strongly after a slight dip this morning and was back to the top of it’s daily range by the close; it proceeded  to break through the 6100 level after market hours and is currently trading at 6125.

Following this morning’s bullish jump up, the FTSE 100 traded within a tight range for several hours until it eventually gave up the day’s gains as fast as it could, dropping rapidly back down at 3:30pm onwards. I only managed to get in one other trade shorting at 6010 off an intra-day resistance level and closing out for a handful as the market pulled back up from the 6100 level and looked to be heading back up to the top of the range.

There were several scenarios playing out in my head today and all the more confusing as it was triple witching day – I guess the big question came down to if we were we going to hold onto our gains from yesterday or sell off? As it turned out the market did both, it consolidated for much of the day and then sold off as the US markets opened.

I had already managed to close out this mornings trade for over 10 points. There were two more trades to report for the day, the first being an interchanging support and resistance play at 6080 which was closed out for a couple of points. In hindsight I should have held the trade longer as per my original plan, and ideally closed it at the 6066 level.

The second trade was a long taken at the 6066 level which was stopped out for 20 points. The FTSE had just bounced off a double bottom formation and the MACD histogram had crossed the zero line. I placed the trade as price came back to the 20EMA expecting the market to push back up to the 6090 level, instead it headed back down the other way rather quickly.