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 thought I'd have a play with City Index, so I've set up a demo account.

First trade - I thought I'd gone long on the FTSE @6276 - just went to close it and it transpires that I'm short!!!

skinny .......who this trading view please?? on charts above.

I've only recently found them when looking for a live oil chart - click on the link in the chart.

Not sure how you managed that skinny, the buy sell buttons are colour coded for the mentally challenged! Hence why I use them!!

Cheers skinny, look impressive.

Surely at some time this oil SP as to be factored into the overall market SP.

Its been dragging down markets now for long enough.

Looks like a sell signal to me.... GF, your run appears to be over!

With consummate ease apparently!

I'll have a play over the holiday.

"i see a personal trainer (a bloke!) twice a week for an hour and have been doing so since the beginning of april ......"

Well tell him from me it ain't working, I should sack him immediately and do it yourself... save a fortune in the process as well -):

in part, i don't think anyone can quite work out what the knock-on effects may be if these very low prices last for another 6/12 months

though there may be a few winners, there will certainly be an awful lot less money for the opec sovereign funds to invest in "real" stuff rather than shares and the like ..... so that means less demand for almost everything you can think of

now add in a slowing chinese economy

skinny - ditto, want to compare spreads with Capital Spreads. Their charts look interesting as well. Have an account with ETX because they cover small caps but they only offer Daily Rolling Trades not quarterly. Do City Index cover small caps and offer quarterly bets? I did have an account with them a few years ago but their spreads were crap, I'm guessing they must have improved.

i lack the incentive and discipline to go to the gym on my own ...... almost as importantly, a good trainer will push you hard while ensuring you don't injure yourself and work on the muscles that he can see are the weakest

You wont find small caps on quarterly's at CityIndex, sorry Chris. They're great for indices, fx, and 350 stocks mainly, ok for commodities too. No good for penny share spreads though.

Lack an incentive?... thought this would be plenty -):

6315.8 small short placed... for the drive home..

Cyners just get yourself some differing bags of sand with different weights.

Without fail spend 20 minutes a day with a prog I have put together.

Her indoors as all the mod con stuff with bikes and rowers etc, but I keep to just the bags.

Really good work out and you have to do it every day.

were i o'weight that might be the case, though eating less in that instance would always work
am always amused by people who claim they eat well and properly etc, but never seem to do anything other than gain weight

Free weights at home training for me, I don't need a trainer or a gym..

Yep thats a good point. But you need exercise not just a good diet.

Shortie - That's fine, rarely trade small caps anyway. As long as they offer quarterlies and spreads are tighter than ETX will do the job. Thanks for that.

It's all about keeping our natural weight in balance, amount of food, quality of food and amount of daily exercise done... but agree easier said then done.