rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

Dow is struggling seriously to hold above 12500, and have shorted same.
Am also short of SOLA, and though did that too early at 276, am tempted to short further for all sorts of good chart reasons
Contemplated shorting here (AL.) but may have missed the boat.

would happlily consider other suggestions

Whats your chart reasons on SOLA....?? Still shorting the DOW as have been all week, nice to see some blue finally, intend to keep shorting against a long play.

have a look at the SOLA thread ..... Peter Holden's charts and input should tell you plenty ..... however, in a nutshell, sp challenged the important 340 level and failed dismally

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that the outlook for the US economy is deteriorating.
He said the housing and credit market turmoil had hit the economy and added that a weak labour market could further undermine consumer spending.
Given the risks facing the economy, Mr Bernanke signalled that additional US interest rate cuts were likely.
The central bank began lowering the cost of borrowing in September and cut rates dramatically in January.
'Timely action'
Mr Bernanke did not mention the risk of a recession and said he expected the economy to pick up later this year.

Will have a look at the thread tonight Cynic if I get time......

Got badly burned today - shorted the FTSE - but set my stoploss too tight and got stopped out just 1 point before it dropped from + 40 down to-20 - damn

sorry to hear that bh, it's so annoying when that happens, I know how it feals. For a short term trade now I use a wider stop about 40 points and reduce the points, it would only be stooped out if I totally misread the market.

Good Luck

With volitility at the moment stop loss is 12800 on Wall St. At that price I pretty much break even... The markets are moving very quickly at the moment so tight stop losses can end up costing you in the long run.... I have now adopted a longer term strategy of using a smaller bet and a rolling spread bet. This way I figure I don't have to watch the markets sat here, obvious danger is not being able to close out should glourious news come about, but break even anyway.. Other bonus is you don't a point but not as profitable as hourly up/down day trading which carries a higher risk.

nice to know i called it right while i was out to dinner, though with quite long stops on both Dow and FTSE shorts ..... SOLA short may even get back on the right side tomorrow

WHEN ARE THE IDIOTS GOING TO REALISE WHAT IS GOING ON? UP 178 yesterday down 175 today make it on the way up and make it on the way down what a casino!!

that's what the stock markets are! .... but at least volatility can make it easier to make money ... or lose it too

lesson learnt

jumped in too early at 5884 short after trade going against me by 25 points, just managed to close out for 4 point gain. should have waited for rsi signals to short.

had 44 point stop/loss, which shows how important it is to widen the stops in these markets.

i don't think you did ..... market had a surprisingly strong opening, but clearly cannot now hold it .... similarly, Dow indications were initially surprisingly strong, but also now slipping

Thanks for advice.

Tried a smaller bet with a wider stop loss this morning and went long on FTSE.

So far so good. Had I adopted yesterdays strategy - I would have been stopped out already.

personally, i think long is brave, but as always, i could easily be wrong!

short signal at 5888, on rsi. lets see if lesson has been learnt.

but no position just yet. just testing.

closed - just before the drop with small loss

well stopped bh, looking a bit negative now.

though the bulk of my portfolio remains long, am very pleased indeed to have taken profits and also to have hedged bets with shorts on dow, ftse and sola .... shall also look at wpp

Just thought of a great idea... would you all like to know which positions i take, so you can all place one in the other directon...???!!! it should give you profits within seconds...!

No No - thats my game.Lol