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

no matter what happens in the US life will go on, just off to Tesco's!

it won't happen .... it'll just be the puerile and egotistical power game with a resolution at the last second ..... republican party has surely committed suicide thanks to the few nutters to the right of atilla

Lets hope so Cyners.

Shortie,

The MT4 client terminal comes with all of the standard indicators that you'll ever need. There are also hundreds (if not thousands) of custom indicators which are open source and freely available on the interweb thingie at various different forums.

You only need to understand how to code if you want to design your automated trading system. There's no need to worry too much about that at an early stage if you're just discovering the platform.

The only thing I would say is that you should probably ignore MT5 completely as it applies NFA anti-hedging and FIFO rules which aren't about to be adopted any time soon outside of the US. Stick with MT4.

sticky - the market thinks as I do with pre-market dow showing +100 ..... some of the pals here who are keen shorters will either have had nimble fingers or bloody noses

Cynic live feed, right up to decision or default, keep it open to be in the know and trading cable, Dow etc etc...............

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/us-debt-limit-brink-shutdown-senate-deal-live?CMP=twt_gu

City A.M.‏@CityAM6s
US default adverted: Boehner said to agree to Democrat plan

http://www.cityam.com/blog/1381931536/us-default-adverted-boehner-said-agree-democrat-plan

better than watching you carp or tench fishing!
many thanks

LOL. Hope they dont go back on their word or the 5 stocks Ive just bought s.it.

Be a case of sling me that rope.

wotcha bort?

Posted Warren Buffett's latest comments on the USA situation on the Talk to Yourself thread for anyone interested.

Those that I flogged. Cyners, all bought back far cheaper. Very nice.

Like watching grass grow - The BBC feed - a happy afternoon with 3 further FTSE shorts and 1 DOW now closed and now watching.

Still short on FTSE, if it goes over 6614 I'm looking to increase my position.

i'm surprised you had a happy afternoon being SHORT
certainly being LONG was quite cheery

Dow is +190 at the moment. Buffett had it spot on a few weeks ago when he said the "idiocy" would end up with a last minute deal.

NEW YORK--Stocks rallied as Senate leaders announced a long-awaited deal that avoids a potential U.S. debt default. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 195 points, or 1.3%, to 15363 in afternoon trading. The S&P 500 index gained 22 points, or 1.3%, to 1720. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 43 points, or 1.1%, to 3837. Stocks held gains after Senate leaders announced the deal, which would temporarily raise the nation's debt ceiling and fully reopen the government ahead of a key debt-limit deadline. The stock market has seen big swings in recent days as lawmakers wrangled over an agreement to assure the U.S. can meet its debt obligations and reopen the government. Wednesday's stock gains more than erased the Dow's 133-point decline on Tuesday, which came on reports that negotiations between congressional leaders had stalled. All 10 of the S&P 500's sectors pushed higher, driven by financial stocks. Bank of America gained 2.5% after reporting third-quarter earnings that rose above expectations, as net-interest income and investments improved and credit charge-offs eased. "It's a relief rally," said Ron Florance, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank, which oversees $170 billion. Mr. Florance said he expects stocks to continue to rise this week on the back of the deal. Longer term, though, he said that any compromise would be a short-term fix, and the likelihood for similar fiscal battles in the future means his firm will be "looking at higher growth rates outside of the U.S." to drive stock investments. Mr. Florance said he still expects U.S. stocks to march higher into next year, but will be looking for chances to sell U.S. stocks and buy foreign ones, particularly in Europe, he said. Brinkmanship in Washington prompted Fitch Ratings late Tuesday to put the U.S. sovereign credit rating under review for a downgrade, pointing to prolonged negotiations over the debt ceiling. Intel rose 1.1% after the semiconductor maker provided a downbeat sales outlook for the current quarter. Intel also said it was a quarter behind in its plan to start volume production of the latest technology chips, offsetting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, revenue and gross margin. Yahoo fell 1.3% after the Internet company reported third-quarter earnings that topped estimates, offsetting a current-quarter revenue outlook that was just shy of forecasts. A round of economic data showed U.S. home builders are feeling less confident about the sector's rebound amid the impasse in Washington. The October reading of the National Association of Home Builders's housing-market index came in at 55, two points lower than a downwardly revised 57 in September.

Surprise surprise eh -):

following the end of the folly, one might have expected the dow to jump then fall back, but the latter hasn't happened and dow is now very steady at about 15160 (+190)

with this steadiness in mind, i think it would be a brave call to short as assuredly the Asian markets will whizz, probably taking ftse with it on the morrow