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

closed dow long (+117) :-)

quite likely i'll open a "small beer" short any time now, but watching

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short dow 16502.2

Nice one Cynic

I thought I'd posted this 20 minutes ago!!

I decided to keep my Divi play HWDN :-

Can't say I blame you Skinny, support at 300-310 there, I may buy in also if the RSI gets and holds above 40 for a day or two.

16494 gone short on Wall St..

copycat :-)
half tempted to extend mine, but i shan't be watching this evening so may resist

Actully your not wrong, your recent run of Wall St profits hasn't gone unnoticed and I thought I'd jump in for a change and follow someone elses picks.... Must say its far easier then doing the hard work for myself... ;-) ... no pressure...

Crude rising....

i own up to being totally unscientific, but it seems to me that indices have a rhythm, and when i'm "in tune" i seem to be moderately successful
the biggest difficulty is getting the first move at least reasonably correct

I get that problem in bed cyners......

i thought you'ld be more like "crude rising" :-)

I'm not sure where the FTSE gain is coming from this morning - not many heavyweights up SAB,IMT & BATS.

I just placed a rather large short on the FTSE @ 6832.8 which averages me upto 6796.2.

Cynic, I bet you were good at 'Play your cards right'...

FTSE should track the range I think, so outside the lines without conviction of a breakout its a game on play in my eyes.

Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances.

While attending a Marriage Weekend, my wife, Irene, and I listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other."

He then addressed the men: "Can you name and describe your wife's favourite flower?" I leaned over, touched Irene's hand gently and whispered, "Self-raising, isn't it?"

And thus began my life of celibacy.

6832.8 closed 6825.3 +7.5pts.

shortie - i suspect your comment isn't exactly a compliment :-) .... anyway, i'm happy enough to stay with my current dow short

9700.5 gone short on the DAX

That's a cracker, Skinny! Thanks for trying to brighten the mood :-)

Closed DAX over lunch +10pts