This week’s financial spread betting update is now available and can be read by clicking here.

As we had written in last week’s post, the past week was an interesting week as expected. The US Federal Reserve meeting sent the stock markets higher and the dollar lower by underlining the Fed’s commitment to easing and supporting the economy. This also led to Gold hitting our $1300 target. So far today the markets are relatively quiet.

In the week ahead we will get a clearer idea as to whether stock indexes are going to continue higher as they approach further resistance levels and will also see if Gold can close above $1300 and continue to advance.

This week’s financial spread betting update begins with:

The past week has seen the US dollar continue to move lower against the majors, commodities continue to push higher and continued short term strength in the stock indexes, pushing stock indexes to 4 month highs. The long term trend is currently mixed for stocks but up for commodities and down for the US dollar…….continue reading by clicking here

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of our proprietary financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee and covers each of the stock, commodity and forex markets discussed above.

Today we are bringing you an update on spread betting strategies for the S&P 500. This market has continued to be of great interest to many traders as it is the primary stock market from which the other stock markets take their direction. The only stock index not following the S&P 500 at present is the German Dax, which continues to be in a long term uptrend. That said, a major move down on the S&P 500 will very likely drag the Dax down with it.

In our most recent post on the S&P 500 2 days ago we wrote that the market had held within a range from 1127.5 to 1102 and a break out from that range could give some decent movement in the direction of the breakout. We also mentioned that we had a rising wedge pattern that added weight to an eventual breakout and that we were therefore still favouring short spread betting strategies for a breakout to the downside, especially if the market moved back below the 200 day moving average and the 1100 support area.

We have since got that breakout to the downside with the S&P 500 moving back though the 200 day moving average and through the 1100 support area, making a new low for this move at 1070.50 during yesterday’s trading. This was the lowest level for the S&P 500 in 3 weeks and we still have our next target to the downside at 1050.

What is of great interest in this market is that the major resistance level that we had been writing about for several weeks at 1129 held firm in spite of numerous attempts to break though, all of which failed. This means that 1129 may be a significant high for this market and that we remain in bearish mode as long as the market stays below this level. Because 1129 failed then the market is still making lower highs and this is also bearish.

If the market does fall to 1050 and support there fails then we will be looking for the lows formed on the 6^th July on the September contract at 1003. For now we will continue to trade the S&P 500 with the trend and that continues to be to the downside.

Until next time, good trading

Phil Seaton

P.S. You can find out more about our financial spread betting systems and spread betting strategies by clicking here. Our system comes with a full 30 day money back guarantee.

P.P.S For those that are interested in spread betting forex markets we now have a dedicated forex system. You can take advantage currently of a 30 day free trial to our forex system here

Our last post of spread betting strategies focused on Gold and the S&P 500 and we’re going to continue with those two markets today.

Beginning with Gold, we last said that we had a bull harami pattern, which was indicating that the bears were running out of steam. We also said that there was support around the $1150 area and that the markets was still above the 200 day moving average.

The bull harami pattern has so far proven to be the short term bottom and we have now had 5 successive up days in the December Gold contract. Yesterday the market pierced the $1200 level intra day, reaching a high of $1205.5 but was unable to close above that psychological number and pulled back to $1195.9 on a close. We need to see a close above $1200 in this market soon otherwise we may see a pullback to the bottom of the bull harami pattern.

The long term trend is still up for gold but a break above $1220 resistance will be required before entering longs. For now only spread betting strategies from the long side should be considered as the long term trend is up. I would not consider shorting this market yet for that reason and would need further downside confirmation to change that point of view.

On to the S&P 500 September contract. The S&P 500 has so far not pierced the resistance levels seen on the 21^st June, although it is very close to doing so. The Dow and FTSE have both already cleared that resistance level. At the time of writing this morning the September contract is at 1125 so it is very likely that we will get a test of resistance today. Since the resistance at 1129 is major (it has held since 18^th May) a breakthrough may provide the impetus for a move higher towards 1170.

Even if the S&P 500 does clear this level the long term trend is down, so I won’t be taking this breakout if it does come as it is counter to the long term trend.

Until next time, good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can find out more about our financial spread betting systems and spread betting strategies by clicking here.

This week’s financial spread betting update is now available and can be read by clicking here. The aim of this update is to help you decide on your spread betting strategies for the week ahead.

During the past week we saw further weakness for the US dollar and indecision in the stock markets which having tested recent highs ended the week pretty much where they began. In early trading on Monday stocks have begun the week higher and we may get a test of 1118 on the S&P 500, which is resistance 1 soon. If that level is cleared then a test of resistance level 2 may follow, which is major resistance at 1129. The trend remains down as long as resistance level 2 holds.

Elsewhere the commodity markets had a good week with some decent up-moves seen in numerous markets, especially in the grains sector. One of the few commodity markets that did not fare so well was gold but this market seems to have found support.

The strongest and best trending sector at the moment continues to be the interest rate futures and both the 5 & 10 year T notes made new contract highs during the past week. We continue to be long this sector and have been since early May.

This week’s financial spread betting update begins with:

The past week saw the stock markets continue in the mixed fashion that we have seen of late and the markets remain undecided on future direction. We have also seen commodities begin to pick up, with some markets making decent moves to the upside and have seen continued weakness for the US Dollar.….continue reading by clicking here

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of our proprietary financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee and covers each of the stock, commodity and forex markets discussed above.

Today we are continuing our focus on gold and the S&P 500 and looking at spread betting strategies that can be applied to these markets.

In our last post 2 days ago on gold we wrote that the market was continuing to reject the lows and that if the market was going to move lower in the short term that the breach of support at $1185 should have had more follow through to the downside than it did. We noted that the lower shadows on the candle patterns seen on Monday and Tuesday were indicative of the lows being rejected due to buyers coming in and that the piercing pattern on Tuesday was pointing to higher prices.

Since then we had a doji pattern on Wednesday, which reflects indecision and yesterday we had a bullish engulfing pattern and a brief test of $1200, which was also rejected. Therefore we are in a short term range between $1175 and $1200. A break of either may give rise to movement but there is considerable support to the downside as mentioned in our previous post and upside resistance is firm around $1200. Long term the trend is still up, so spread betting strategies from the long side should be favoured and I’ll continue to hold off from shorts for now.

The S&P 500 continues to be volatile and large swings on an almost daily basis are being seen in this market. Yesterday was a very bullish day, which ended with being a bullish engulfing pattern. However, this would be a very poor long trade candidate for 3 reasons at present:

1. The long term trend is down
2. There is good resistance at the psychological 1100
3. There is also resistance from the 200 day moving average at 1102

If 1100 and the 200 day moving average can be cleared to the upside then we may see some further upside movement towards major resistance at 1129. As long as 1129 is not cleared to the upside then the series of lower highs and lower lows will remain intact and we are still in bear market territory.

As with gold, only spread betting strategies in the direction of the long term trend should be considered, which in the case of the S&P 500 is still down.

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. Find out more about LS Trader financial spread betting system and our spread betting strategies by clicking here.

We wrote in our weekly update to LS Trader subscribers last Sunday that although the S&P 500 had broken out of the lateral trading range to the upside that the subsequent price action since then had not been convincing and that we therefore did not have a buy signal yet. We also wrote that although the price has closed above the prior resistance, the last 3 sessions have been of a doji pattern, which indicates that the market is tired and this is coming at a resistance level around the 1120 area.

On Monday the S&P 500 moved higher, briefly clearing the 1120 resistance level posting a high for the day of 1129.2 (September contract) but was unable to hold there and closed back down at 1110.6. This in a way confirmed the tiredness and resistance that we had seen in this market from the prior 3 sessions. Although the long term trend remained up and still is, this does not bode well for the short term.

The S&P 500 continued with short term weakness for the next 3 days, closing last night at 1070.5, which is already down 3.58% for the week. There is some support around this 1070 area so this level will bear watching closely today. A move below 1070, especially on a close tonight would be very bearish and would bring the lows at 1034.8 right back in to play.

We have mentioned previously the importance of the 1034.8 level as it represents a few key things:

• A break at this level would change the long term trend to down according to our proprietary indicators that we use at LS Trader.
• This level is same level of the lows of the previous sell off on February 5^th.
• There is a hammer pattern from which the rally began from the lows on the 5^th and this hammer pattern is a bullish reversal pattern and provides support to the market until we get a close below the low of the hammer.
• A move below this level would also be new contract lows and new lows for this year.

In addition, there is also the possibility of a very large head and shoulders top pattern forming on the S&P 500, with the neckline at, yes, you guessed it, 1034.8! This would be a very large head and shoulders pattern and if the neckline was broken then the distance from the head to the neckline would be subtracted from the neckline to give us a downside target of around 860! It must be said that this would be a highly bearish target and that also these patterns have a tendency not to work out, especially when they are so obvious and so many people will see them.

However, this does fall in line with our longer term view at LS Trader on the stock markets and we are bearish overall and expect lower prices in the stock markets later this year and for prices to be significantly lower at some point during the next 12 months. It should be noted that on a seasonal basis we are moving in to the weakest time of the year, with September on average the weakest month of the year.

From a spread betting perspective a move of this magnitude would be very profitable. One of the great advantages of spread betting is the ability to be able to spread bet markets such as the S&P 500 without needing anywhere near as much trading capital as would be required if one was going to trade the actual futures contract, which is way beyond most people.

Most spread betting platforms will offer prices on the S&P 500 from around £10 per index point. In our example above then, even at minimum size of £10 per point, the potential profit from this move would be £10 x 175 = £1750. If one was to use around a 50 point stop which is reasonable on the S&P 500 in the current volatile trading conditions this would represent a risk reward of 3.5. This would also be tax free for UK Residents and financial spread betting is currently tax free in the UK.

Until next time, good luck with your spread betting

Phil Seaton

PS. To find out more about the LS Trader financial spread betting system and our proprietary trading methods please click here.

The question that users of financial spread betting are asking at the moment is where next for Gold?

Last week, August Gold managed a small gain for the week of 0.22% but there were signs that the market was getting tired and was possibly forming a lower high at the resistance area around $1220. As we had written in this week’s weekly update the long term trend remains up and will continue to be so as long as support around $1170 holds.

However, the possible lower high and the failure to clear resistance had been asserting a downward pressure on Gold until yesterday. Gold gapped higher at the open (a bullish sign), reaching an intra day high of $1246.7 before falling back slightly to close at $1240.8. The high of the day was just shy of the all time highs posted in this contract on the 14^th May at $1251.4. We have had some reversal patterns near the all time highs, especially on the weekly chart, which appeared to be confirming resistance, which would be expected at all time highs.

Moving forward, if we can get a close above $1251.4 that will negate the reversal patterns and possibly lead to the next wave of buying pressure, which could push the market higher once again. Failure though to close above this level may lead to another sell off, back towards the first support area around $1200.

The fact that Gold has continued to rise in spite of US dollar strength is a bullish sign for Gold as normally these 2 markets have a negative correlation. Aside from technical aspects there are bullish and bearish factors that are likely to affect Gold in the medium term so the best approach is not to try to guess future market direction but to follow the trend and let the market tell you where it wants to go.

At LS Trader we remain long on Gold as both the short and long term trends remain up. We have been long Gold since we entered the market in the June contract on the 26^th April at $1153, so this is already a nice profitable trade for us. One of the best and easiest ways to trade gold is through financial spread betting as spread bets on gold can be placed from as little as £1 per point, and all profits are tax free.

To find out more about financial spread betting and how we spread bet the markets for profit, including Gold, please visit the LS Trader website by clicking here.

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of the LS Trader financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee.

This month’s financial spread betting newsletter will be available soon. To receive it for free please click here to sign up for it.

The monthly newsletter is free and it covers the markets that we spread bet at LS Trader. We look at the markets as a whole and also look at each different market sector. We also have a market of the month and some comments on it including the chart for that market and look at what may happen next.

We also analyze some of the markets that are moving and look at the key levels to look out for from a perspective of possible targets as well as support and resistance levels. In addition we take a look at the major trends for each market sector and discuss the long term trend for the 3 main market sectors, which are stocks, forex and commodities.

In addition to the monthly newsletter, you will also receive our free weekly update which also covers the major sectors that we trade as well as the levels to keep an eye on in the week ahead. As an added bonus you will also receive 2 of our ebooks, free of charge. The first is “The 7 Rules of Successful Financial Spread betting” and the second is “The 7 Deadly Financial Spread Betting Mistakes”. Both of these ebooks will be yours for free as soon as you enter your name and email address at the bottom of the page.

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. To sign up for the LS Trader Financial Spread Betting Newsletter please click here