I have lost todays bet and it was very close i was short into the close at 1369.3 but with comission we needed to close at 1367 or under.We could have gone either way in the last 15 minutes.I said down,sideways then a rally, tailing off and that was pretty close to how it went today.There was a big markup at 12.30 and it makes me think of market manipulation on the back of the banking testimony today.The whole afternoon felt as though they were desperate to keep it in the green at the close (this is not 'i lost,the market is manipulated' whinging,just my reading on things!)If you believe the market is manipulated,you should be able to recognise the signs-big markups around resistance and bear patterns,for example,and take advantage of that.So why didn't i? Simple risk control,i had 2 bets running already.In this case the previous close looked like becoming resistance and ADV vol was never convincing before the markup.So, is this sideways consolidation on a smaller daily range accumulation or distribution?Its hard to tell but i spend a lot of time thinking and very little time trading until i see something that makes me click buy/sell.I have to feel compelled.I am expecting the second trade into tomorrows close (same price) to lose but who knows,maybe we will have a friday selloff but that's probably too obvious,though the predicted pattern is usually a swing trading day with a bearish bias.