Cut your losses

Rotten  Christmas present I've given myself

I got that wrong!  I saw the spike in volume on Friday and I assumed that it was a signal that the market was on the point of falling out of the slow upward movement that has been evident since August. I was encouraged in this belief by the fall that occurred on Monday. How wrong I was. Yesterday saw one of those sharp spikes in price that make this market so hard to trade. It would now appear that the volume spike was indeed a harbinger but its message was that the Santa Claus rally had arrived.

By the time the market opened
 most of the move had happened

I had been prepared for a fall and I was up to my ears in short ETFs. Wall Street shot up when the market opened. I failed to stop my losses straight away in case this was a bear trap. It wasn't and I left it till the market closed to pull out. Very painful. More pain to come today because I left some of my positions in place in case I was still wrong. Still "He who fights and runs away..." and I have to live to fight another day. So I lick my wounds and set about working out what I have to do next.

Is this really a Santa rally? I suppose it is. All those bankers want to push up their their paper profits to up their annual bonuses. Silly of me to think it would have been otherwise. Do I have the guts to believe and to buy shares? Market opens shortly and I will know.