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

if signalwatch knew, the guys would have retired many moons ago ..... probability is still upwards ..... agree re 12250 being a support and 12200 being important for stop losses ...... 12000 much more important overall

Al. seems to generally overshoot in both directions as aggressively traded for its volatility. Opened 100 points down this morning which seemed a little excessive considering the results seemed to be consistent with revised expectations and as you say a bid possibility makes it a risky short at this level.

Agree, i like signalwatch, HOWEVER, they are using charts, which is no substitute for newsflow, couple of weeks ago their triangle indicated to watch for breakout below 12200, it went below down to 12110, but came all the way back, so no breakout, i will take what they say with a pinch of salt form now on...

Wouldn't touch AL. as with the rest of the banking sector, playing here is pure speculation in my mind.

Big Ted - Unfortunatly I've been keeping away from gold spreads, only reason for this is time and the amount of researching indicies and currency. Theres alot of changes happening at the moment and shifts in wealth. I don't believe this has been fully flushed through in the strength of local currencies. Back to gold though, I wouldn't be too eager to throw a short on it just yet, remember there is a historic ratio between gold and oil 9:1 I believe and oil isn't showing any signs of weakness at the moment, this strength in oil will keep gold prices high, I'd prefer to short only when I see weakness in gold/oil as a pair. On the equity side however I do hold Serabi Mining which although progress has been slow in recent I have my fingers crossed for '08. As always DYOR.

Thanks Harry for pointing me in direction of signalwatch, had heard so much about this triangle, but couldn't find it on grapth. Was looking too far back, didn't realise it started in January. As to direction of break out it comes down individual instinct, gut feeling whatever you want to call it. I feel we are in a general bear market with corrective rallies along the way, so still expect ftse to try and breach the 6000 level, before falling back again.

explosive you are right re AL., but as you will see, i bought and sold within a very short time .... my logic was that the price was correctly clobbered but that there would a good number of bears who would be happy to take their profit ..... really only worked because i was live on screen effectively throughout, though i missed the top

Big Ted is the man to thank for the Signalwatch link. Not always right as a prediction tool but very useful as a chartist view to add in to the mix.

I had thanked Big Ted when he first mentioned it, then forgot to check it until I saw your thread. Must be old age.

as i have often said, charts are not the Holy Grail, but there are so many followers of them that they have a habit of being self-fulfilling

agree with that, I still like to use fundamentals, then use charts after to confirm entrance/exit prices etc. there seems many traders concentrating on this triangle on dow at moment.

No sooner I post my last post I read an article on US oil inventories which appear high as suggestive by a slight decline in price. Inventory report in US due today

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aOzKvXX1yYW8&refer=india

Above link suggests very good inventories so a fall in oil prices should also see a fall in gold prices if you trust the historic ratio... Interesting because maybe we're on the verge of a turning point into the spring/summer.....

Cynic, theres always money to be made trading against tight lines and time frames... AL. and the banking sector I should have wrote should be left alone for either those who can afford a few losses or seasoned traders. Not a sector for those wishing to practice or new to the game... No offense anyone...

AL. was always going to be a dangerous trade this morning, as my own broker commented ... however, in this instance i got it right, though it was a calculated risk and i was able to watch pretty much constantly

good to see that, as predicted, 12235/12250 proved to be the point from which Dow should and did rally ..... now to see what happens next (currently 12310)

Higher inflation than expected, oh dear, that tunnel has just got a bit longer...

Gold and oil also flying re inflation data,

Good call Cynic...!!

Stops have killed me in the last two weeks, its a masterpiece knowing when/where to place them, got stopped out of gold today at a loss, when would now be in a four digit gain... *wipes away tear*

so was AL. (preen preen!)

Yeh, all 8000 of the blighters...)

Credit where due Cynic, well done on AL. too..