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

I have only just noticed that the spread on the FTSE index is 6 points - I am sure it used to be 4 points - or does this only happen after the market has closed ??

Spread is 6 after close and 4 during hours, applies to all indicies I believe but can't be sure as only trade uk and us indicies at present.

Thanks - although I notice that DOW is always 6 points both inside and outside of trading hours

DOW just bounced off one of my support lines at 12250, no doubt it will have another go quite soon; question is will it hold? Most analysts seem to think there is further to fall?

Edit: No position for me until it falls through.

Incidentally, since 3 o'clock the DOW has been in a perfect channel (down obviously) the next rally should falter at 12280 ish

IG Have a spread of 6 and a spread of 10 does anyone know why the difference?

4 on the DOW at the moment, will switch to 6 after the close. They also widen the spread at times of high impact news.

Right on the button, will it hold?

Yep :)

12250 provided support again, summats gotta give. Sat right in the middle of the channel, not a good time to take a position. Any rally should top out 12270 (unless of course there's a proper rally)

Talking to myself here, oh well :) Nothing unusual there

Dropped out the bottom of the channel, no idea where it will go now

Hi pt - not quite talking to yourself! I'm trying to recoup some losses from earlier in the day. Early part of this week went so well that I rather lost focus today...

I'm Listening with interest
Also think Ftse's in a down channel at minute keep kicking myself fo rnot getting in But channel is narrowing so might break out up

closed my FTSE short. Think I will call it a day @ 5665.

Having traded all day - I come out with a small profit. What is hurting me is the commission - so although I make a profit from trading - by the time I take account of the buy and sell costs (12.50 per trade) - it reduces my profit quite dramatically - as I am only confident enough to trade in small amnounts at the moment.

I think I am over trading

Blmey, the undivided attention of two girlies :)
It's trying to get back into the channel, personally I wish it would as I would be a whole lot more confident shorting it again from higher up, always wary of the remarkable rallies this market is prone to. The previous top at 80 was an absolute peach, wish I hadn't closed too early :(

Use SBs - no commission :) (err and no tax)

Is that why the spread is greater with IG cos it's an SB?

Not sure what you mean maggie. All the brokers offer differing spreads whether it be SBs or CFDs and quite often the spreads wll alter during the day for differing reasons.

Good luck for the rest of the evening to you guys. I've messed up enough for one day! Will make a fresh start and rebuild on Monday.

That's me finished as well, have a good weekend all.