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

*nods head*

Closed out 12163.... Debating on a long

*Damn* its addictive, cant believe its the weekend... *Damn*...!

12219 gone short again

chocks away... 12230+

very strong rally, may regret that last one..

A good illustration of the wonders of the market, i cant reproduce the graph, but to follwers, (but non traders), its like a rocket just took off... 12311 and that was two minutes ago now...

Tell me about it, went short...... oooouuuucccchhhh...

Just shorted 12386...

That just wiped out my days profits, a measly 87 up today I'm left with..... Any ideas what caused that??...

Only thing i can find...

A CNBC commentator noted that a bailout plan for bond insurer Ambac (ABK 10.01, +0.78) could be announced as early as Monday or Tuesday next week. The report has given way to refreshed strength in regional banks (+1.0%) and multi-line insurance (+1.0%).DJ30 +7.65 NASDAQ -7.51 SP500 +1.26 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1753/1122/1.93 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1632/1473/+1.10 bln

undeservedly Lucky Alphonse here got very lucky and out of jail, clawing back about 60% of losses suffered earlier in the evening, but scary nevertheless

missus cant believe, i've blown 3 grand this week, that's her tit job down the swannie, im in the spare room....

*damn*

Reminiscent of the Liverpool Intermilan game this week. One man sent off half way through and then 2 goals in the last 5 minutes

surely only one tit's worth .... she can have one done now and the other later.

on a more serious note, though i am sorry Ted and other shorters ended up out of pocket, it means that Monday should start well ...... however, though Dow continues to swing violently, it is actually within quite a narrow band of 400 points, as it has been for a while now, and still there is no decisive break in either direction, though south looked odds on until the end yesterday

Unlucky Ted, I went out with a boob job once, looked fantastic but felt like squeezing up against a couple of books!

hats off to Big Ted, at 12 years old with a missus who wants a boob job, things have changed since I was 12.

as to the markets, it's amazing how dow shot up on just a rumour of bail out for Ambac, it wasn't ready to fall on a day with not much news. On the FTSE next week, the only position I will look to take will be a short, at 6050 with long stops and try and hold with following stops.

Thursday will be important, with Cattles, RBS, BAT, Avis and Aviva reporting Finals. And another 30 companies also reporting.

Hmmmm, i do like reading a good book...! I was only joking about losing the three grand, just looked behind the settee and there it was... lol
I wasn't short yesterday, in fact i was 6' 4"...
was tempted to short very tempted when it was well below 12200, have opened one at the death, possibly prematurely, but cant believe that the gain will be maintained... Missus did threaten if i dont make enough soon for BOTH boobs she's leaving me for Cynic... :) lol

great thread this.

I was unable to participate today - which was just as well as I would have got it totally wrong going short on the Dow.

I am off for 3 weeks hols to sunnier climes - so no open positions - keep up the good work guys