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 certainly think fred may have had his groats squeezed rather hard when he was a lad playing rugger

shortie - i see ftse touched 6740 .... did you manage to get your short in place as of course it has fallen back considerably since?

Nah, missed it... I gave up waiting..

Dec 4 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank slashed its forecasts on Thursday for growth and inflation over the next two years, saying the outlook had deteriorated since its last staff forecasts were published in September. It forecast 2014 inflation at 0.5 percent, rising slightly to 0.7 percent next year and 1.3 percent in 2016. Staff cut their prediction for economic output in the euro zone to 0.8 percent this year, 1.0 percent in 2015 and 1.5 percent in 2016. In September, ECB staff had predicted that inflation would be 0.6 percent this year, then rise to 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively. It had also forecast in September that gross domestic product would grow by 0.9 percent this year and by 1.6 percent and 1.9 percent in 2015 and 2016 respectively. By lowering its forecasts, which show how the ECB expects the economy to develop, the euro zone central bank will heighten expectations that it will take further steps to bolster the bloc's flagging economy. ECB President Mario Draghi recently threw the door open for drastic measures to prevent growth and inflation from sliding further and expectations are rising that a move could come as soon as the first three months of next year.

markets are clearly unenamoured

Eyes are on the Dax, will it rebound?

9915 gone long

9847 long again

This has got me running off 5's now... Not a comfortable chart to be on..

9880 closed 2nd position +33

well out i think though DAX (i assume) is not one i ever look at

Should be ok for a profit off the first position, although I settle for a b/e being I'm in profit off the second.

if/when dow drops to about 16810/20, you may want to think about going long

Not a fan of Wall St right now, its very overpriced I think...

gassed too long and missed that entry point, but no matter

Not looking good, I'll stick with it though.

Back on my shorting watchlist

just trying a little tickle on short dow at 17859.6

The upside looks more favourable to me Cynic right now.

got it wrong at the moment :-(