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

well done cynic - my shorts looking a bit sick

.I would close that dow long if I were you - mind you I have got it wrong all afternoon - so would not listen to me ?

when I asked yesterday why have both a FTSE and a Dow - I guess today provides a good answer,

When the Ftse closed at 4.30, the FTSE stood at +152 and the Dow at + 266.

Now 45 minutes later, the FTSE has dropped to +142 (-10) whilst the dow has risen to +290 (+24)

Bhunt: yes, I did follow my own advice, thanks, and made a better job of it than yesterday. Was without internet access for a while, which was very frustrating, but luckily stayed in profit throughout.

The FTSE also had a very good day today, and it might still be positive tomorrow, riding on the back of today's DOW I guess. I shall be reading the early-morning bulletins to see how the Far East does overnight, as a pointer. - Does that make sense to those with more experience??

toya - well done - I have made a mess of today - so dont think I am qualified to offer advice - but I would guess if the Dow stays as high as it is now and asia and Japan are all positive - then it I would agree with you - bwdik

bh: I've only been trading the ftse and dow for a short while (i.e. couple of weeks!) but have found it certainly pays to read those early bulletins to get a feel for what may happen. It's also worth being aware of the data due in the US, and the time of the announcements.

This may be of no interest and simply coincidence but yesterday's and today's graphs of Dow & Ftse are very similar ie today's both dipped around 07:40 then continued up the rest of the day. I too have only been trading Ftse, with money, (dummy traded for a while) for days inspired by this thread but would agree with you Toya I also check out graphs for Asia to see what they're doing. have also made a mess today and hope Ftse falls back so that I can close the ill timed short I opened.

I also look at Asia overnight and dow finish to have a feel of how ftse will open, most times it helps for the first hour or two, but then announcement and events take over. Sometimes I'm caught out of course, I didn't anticipate yesterday's recovery at all, but did better today.

Still short on Wall St runing with a May Future so not bothered about today rises, considering opening another position though. Closed my GBP/YEN buy for good profit.

Well, we should all get-rich-quick then, being so diligent in our daily research!

Maggie: I too was fascinated to discover that the Dow and Ftse move more or less in concert for much of the time, and so have sometimes traded both at the same time for that reason.

Looks like the Dow has gone completely insane, doesn't quite reflect the front page of today's Independent headlined the Great depression with people queueing for food!

wow! .... just moved my stop to 12595 .... did have a limit at 12635 but cancelled it just in time

FTSE long looks interesting for tomorrow ... currently undervalued imo at the moment

It was another of those amazing surges wasn't it! I just hopped on board briefly for a small profit before it drooped back down.

good evening Ms Wilcox ....hope you amused yourself this evening

Today has been like an inverted crash! Can't quite understand why it has gone up at all with UBS writedown and another 400 billion still in the pipeline but then again the lunatics are running the asylum

Greatly so, thanks Cynic - I've just been riding another of those lovely waves on the dow. And your good self?

almost vicarious as was cooking and then having dinner, but a pleasurable smile to the the wrinkled and toothless was most welcome .... very fine pouilly fuisse too by the way

well I have been completely wrong on this all day - and my short is still open. Views on tomorrrow ??

Hang Seng & Japan almost certain to trade higher and momentum will carry on to FTSE tomorrow.

Do I let my short run - or take the hit ??

Painful dilemma bhunt. I have generally run my losses far too long, though yesterday's luckily turned around for me at the last minute. I try to make myself accept the pain sooner rather than later now, on the basis that I am then free to trade again with a good chance of recouping the loss.

shut out of Dow at 12610, but more than happy .... so long as Dow stays strong to close, then FTSE profit should also be assured .... nous verrons