Make 2026 your best trading year ever by joining the VTP Trader Accountability Group: https://bit.ly/VTPTAG
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, French Equity Index ($CAC40), JP Morgan Chase & Co ($JPM), Goldman Sachs Group ( $GS), ASML Holdings ($ASML), United Airlines Holdings ($UAL), Netflix Inc ($NFLX).
Most traders eventually realise that the biggest challenge in their trading isn’t the market.
It’s managing themselves.
If you’ve been trading for a while, you’ll probably recognise the feeling. You know what you should be doing, but you don’t always do it consistently. Improving your trading becomes less about finding another strategy and more about improving your own performance.
We’ll spend a full day together in London before continuing with four online group coaching sessions and four individual coaching sessions, all designed to help you better understand yourself as a trader and develop a structured framework for improving your performance.
The standard investment for the programme is £997.
However, the first four places are available at the Early Bird rate of £797.
If you’d like to find out more, visit the programme page HERE.
If you’re interested but would like to discuss whether Stage 4 is the right next step for you, you can also book a complimentary 15-minute Trader Performance Conversation with me.
Make 2026 your best trading year ever by joining the VTP Trader Accountability Group: https://bit.ly/VTPTAG
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, Gold vs USD ($XAUUSD), Bitcoin vs USD ($BTCUSD), Babcock International ($BAB), Delta Air Lines ($DAL), and Caterpillar, Inc ($CAT).
If you’d like to improve your Swing Trading or Intra-Day Trading skills during the second half of 2026, the VTP Stage 2 & 3 Bundle has been reduced from £794 to £179 until 30th June: https://bit.ly/VTP23QSALE
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, Irish Stock Exchange ($ISEQ), Emerging Markets ETF ($EEM), Strategy Inc ($MSTR), Nike Inc ($NKE), US Global Jets ETF ($JETS).
If you’d like to improve your Swing Trading or Intra-Day Trading skills during the second half of 2026, the VTP Stage 2 & 3 Bundle has been reduced from £794 to £179 until 30th June: https://bit.ly/VTP23QSALE
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, Microsoft ($MSFT), Micron Technology ($MU), Wise Group plc ($WISE), FedEx Corporation ($FDX), and Carnival Corporation ($CCL).
The first half of the year is almost behind us. This is a good time to review what’s working and what needs to improve.
We’re approaching the halfway point of the trading year, which makes this a good time to review where you are and where you want to be by December.
A lot of traders spend years trying to figure things out for themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can be a slow and expensive way to learn.
If you’ve been reviewing your trading recently and feel that you need to develop your skills further, I’m running an End of Q2 offer on the VTP Stage 2 and Stage 3 programmes until 30th June.
VTP Stage 2 focuses on Advanced Swing Trading across FX, Indices and Commodities.
VTP Stage 3 focuses on Intra-Day Trading across FX, Indices and Commodities.
If you’d like to learn both approaches, the Stage 2 & 3 Bundle has been reduced from £794 to £179 until 30th June.
The first half of the year has already given you plenty of feedback. The question is whether your current approach is likely to produce the results you want during the second half.
Markets response to the appalling events of 16th June 2016.
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the brutal and senseless murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox. It was a shameful and terrible act, and I hope that her friends and family have managed to find some sliver of peace and solace in the years since.
This piece isn’t aimed to be ghoulish or preying on her memory. It’s merely a personal recollection of an important time in recent British History and how it directly affected me and markets.
For those who can remember that far back 16th June 2016 was a Thursday, and a week before the Brexit Referendum vote on Thursday 23rd June. There are people who can cover the aspects of Jo Coxs murder better than myself. I’ll focus on markets, and what I can tell you from the market’s perspective was that markets had been starting to reflect the possibility of a Brexit vote, and had been selling-off GBP accordingly. My view had always been consistent – whilst I would vote for Brexit, I did not think that it would happen, nor more importantly would it ever be allowed to happen, due to the many elements of the establishment (politicians, civil servants, financiers et al) who were gleefully locked into a prosperous life suckling at Brussels teat.
A month before I had been at a Bloomberg event in the Gibson Hotel in Dublin which had been full of approx. 300 Irish financers there to discuss Brexit. The main speaker was the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) of the time, Enda Kenny, followed up by your gobshite from Ryan Air on a panel of “Business Leaders” who, along with the audience, laughed when the compere said they couldn’t get anyone to speak in favour of Brexit. There was much guffawing from the smug crowd. I was sat there thinking, “I’m the only English guy in this room who truly understands the sentiment of the normal man and woman in the UK. These guys bounce between Dublin, London, Frankfurt and Brussels, but live in cosseted bubbles and have no real understanding of what’s going on.”
(As an aside I have been fortunate to be in the room with all manner of VVIP/powerful people etc. Normally even if you don’t like the person, or their politics, there would be some deference and respect for the position they hold. That morning in the Gibson was the first time I’d ever seen a head of state be treated with little to no interest or respect. There was no applause or standing for his arrival, people were talking over him, busy scrolling their phones, and dis-interested during his speech. I’m sure Irish readers could tell me whether that was a reflection on the man, his politics, or just general Irish society?)
I had also been at a trading conference in London where I got into a ‘heated debate’ (of a sort) with a well-known, now deceased, Trader and analyst who told me that as I didn’t have a PPE from Oxford (like himself) that I couldn’t possibly know how to trade, and that as he was friends with David Cameron he assured me that the Brexit vote would never happen, and he was positioned accordingly. His Aussie mate/analyst just added to the vitriol about me not knowing what I was on about and they both actively ignored me. (I subsequently learnt that he lost £600,000 of his own trading capital being positioned wrongly for the Brexit vote, and god knows how much of his clients money as well. C’est la vie. )
Back to the 16th June. The announcement of Jo Coxs death came out about 6pm London time that evening. Why do I remember it so well? Because at that moment I was stood in front of a full conference room, at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, supporting the esteemed and well-respected Market Commentator Michael Hewson and his team from CMC Markets, about to start a pre-Brexit vote presentation on markets and its likely impact.
We were due to start at 6.30 and were looking at the relevant GBP/FTSE/Gilt charts before we began (along with enjoying the fine view over St. Stephens Green, and the generous hospitality). At the announcement of the death of the pro-remain Labour MP, by the hands of a supposedly far-right pro-Brexit fascist, what we saw was an almost instantaneous huge influx of capital into GBP. If you can look at the intra-day charts of that evening, you’ll see what I mean. GBP rallied hard against all major FX pair currencies. And did so for the next week until the announcement of the result.
My assessment (rightly or wrongly, and feel free to correct me if I had it wrong) was that market forces thought that her death would swing the voting populace towards voting remain to maintain the status quo, and traders were positioning themselves accordingly. I distinctly remember saying to Michael, “Well, that’s any chance of Brexit done and dusted with, it’s over.”
Here are two daily charts from the time. Firstly EURGBP:
In the run up to the 16th June (down red arrow) you can see that since mid-May the EURGBP had rallied as people started to get nervous about the people voting for Brexit. The 16th June ended as a bearish Pin-Bar as part of a double-top. Price then traded lower for the next week as people thought the Remain vote would now win. Price traded towards approx. 0.76oo before the result was announced. The sell off in GBP over the next few months took us from 0.7600 to 0.9200.
The second chart is the Daily chart of GBPUSD. Prior to 16th June (green up arrow hidden behind the fractal)we saw GBPUSD trade lower in the month before until 16th June where price printed a nice bullish reversal pin bar before trading higher for the next week. It traded higher from 1.42 up to 1.50 on the night of the vote (where it formed a nice 5-minute doble top before collapsing – but that’s a tale for a different day). 😉
GBPUSD over the next few months traded lower from 1.50 to 1.20.
I don’t mean to make light of the atrocious events of Jo Coxs death, nor am I trying to drag up old Brexit led animosity. It’s merely a recollection of an important week in my life, and British history. Its more like a digital legacy for myself as the years slide past. It was noticeable that at todays Prime Minister Questions there was a suitable mention of her….and renewed commentary on a return to the EU ( a different story for another day).
To finish on an upbeat note the Thursday night in the Shelborne Hotel with Michael, the CMC team, and Irish traders was a great professional and social success, and was the start of one of the best weekends of my life. But I’ll save that for a different blogpost. 😉
Make 2026 your best trading year ever by joining the VTP Trader Accountability Group: https://bit.ly/VTPTAG
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, Space Exploration Technologies ($SPCX), Rocket Lab ($RKLB), CMC Market plc ($CMCX), AutoZone ($AZO), and the Energy Sector ETF ($XLE).
“Somebody, somewhere, always knows something and its human nature to use that information for their own benefit.”
I was told that 20+ years ago when trading prediction markets v1. Its sage advice that has stood the test of time.
This morning would be another good example of that. Trading GBP on an intra-day basis using PACMAN has been prickly all week. Generally, relief rallies do not work well with mean-reversion tactics.
However today price PACMAN’d in the early part of the session and then from about 0900 GBP Sold off strongly against USD, JPY, CHF, and EUR (and to a lesser extent AUD, NZD & CAD).
Clearly somebody knew what was going on and reckoned the news about John Healey’s resignation and its effect on the future of Starmer’s government would be GBP-negative. (That’s my take – feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)
In the end there was 6 winning short trades for me on GBP. (For comparison I’d had 6 wins and 5 losses for the previous 3 days of the week.) That is a great day’s haul…………and I openly admit that generating returns off the back of this Governments continued incompetence makes it even sweeter.
Make 2026 your best trading year ever by joining the VTP Trader Accountability Group: https://bit.ly/VTPTAG
Hello Traders,
Thanks to those of you who joined us today. I should reiterate that the Monday Market Update is just that. A big picture overview of the markets, with a few ‘charts of interest’ thrown in. There are no trade recommendations, this is not a signal service – just what I am looking at and interested in.
Today we looked at; FX STAM, Alphabet Inc ($GOOG), Exxon Mobil ($XOM), Unusual Machines ($UMAC), Rocket Lab ($RKLB), Broadcom Inc ($AVGO), and CrowdStrike ($CRWD).
July 13, 2026
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