Cash up

Dow blue, FTSE brown, DAX green

Today is one of those big days. Not for the market but for me. Seeing the weakness of Tuesday's break out and looking as the long term chart of the Dow which I posted yesterday I lost heart and sold almost everything I had.

I've lived through these moments of truth several times during my trading life. Mostly, I am happy to say, just before a major market crash. I have no way of telling whether a crash is coming but it is possible. A great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. The market with its massive daily movements is so hard to read at present. The fact that gold moves in the same direction as stocks as I described on December 8th. removes gold's value as a safe haven. So what I have done is given myself a breathing space.

• I can explore alternative strategies that may be helpful in these hard times. 
• I am ready for a crash if one comes
• I can watch gold and silver perform their peculiar antics without worry
• I have cash ready to jump on board any train that I see leaving the station

I made a small overall loss on my purchases of Tuesday. I made money on the US stocks, but I was too slow selling the UK ones. I would have made a lot had I sold them on Wednesday but the gains were quickly reversed. The Hong Kong shares never really went anywhere.

So now I wait to see whether any winning strategies come to mind. Whether I was right to worry. And whether gold and silver will be worth buying again.

Today's chart simply shows the relative movements of the DOW, the FTSE and DAX over the past year. It is surprising that the DAX has been hardest hit given that the German economy is doing so well. I guess it must be that investors are wary of Euro denominated assets. The Dow strength is probably due to a preference for dollar assets.