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

Cynic not sure I do play with bigger numbers than you, I edit out my profits before posting and only advise pts up or down...

I think I could do a little better than Parkhurst... I was thinking http://www.isleofwightcampers.co.uk/

more importantly ......
dow is now dropping quickly, but ftse is still holding up easily ..... feels wrong so may go short ftse too

===========

just done so at 6537.8

===========

my usual dow punt is $50 p/p ..... sometimes i get excited and double that
.... ftse is typically £20 p/p

don't tell fred about taking a campervan on iow, for otherwise he'll want to join you, and you might then wish you were indeed in parkhurst!

see your well out of my league trading that much a point Cynic.. I don't really have a usual amount, it depends on how strong the signal is and how much time I have... All my bets are GBP though, non of this dollar crap for me...

Who's Fred, I assume the old duffer on the Talk to Yourself thread? I don't think I've ever had much to do with him but all the same I'll keep quiet about the IOW campers..

i'm talking rubbish yet again :-)

usual dow punt is $10-20 p/p!

200 swing on Dow. Very accommodating.

Napoleon,

Are you trying to boast again or just want to be noticed!

nice start to the new year
closed out remaining dow shorts for +125 - a bit too early as it happens - but have left ftse shorts running (they're just in the money)

fascist gazette (aka telegraph) well worth reading today
excellent article by Questor and another on Saudi forcing down the oil price
either may stop some getting too gung-ho about the market prospects for 2015

Strange cross...

All shorts now closed....... Going to wait and see, I don't like the look of the FTSE right now, I have a hunch it's going to rally before falling back once more.

you may be right with support for ftse at about 6490

anyway, not such a dumb move leaving my ftse shorts running over w/e

(csah) dow has suddenly turned even more sour, though i know not why .....

17725 now being challenged, so watching to see if breaks further south

too busy with other things, but as i'ld probably have gone long at 17660, perhaps that's no bad thing
no idea what happens next

Same here, I've made some money today but it wouldn't surprise me if the FTSE returned to 6500. Not worth a long play I don't think but if it does I may well short again.

caramba!
dow now down 230 to 17590
ftse now down 100 to 6435

no position currently in either
slapped wrist! .... stop grizzling when you've already banked good profits :-)

==========

shortie - you're the whizz on ftse, but surely it's currently showing much more strongly than dow and is therefore due for a further dump?

DAX tumbles

Dow
as i'm in front of my pc, i've taken a little long punt at 17599.9
for sure shan't be greedy :-)

I been shorting it on and off most the day. Overall I'm short but I try and play movements rather than just going short and waiting for a few days to collect profits. Right now 6434 is holding and a return to 6456 looks likely.



Update: I have short plays now back on... I'm not posting positions as trading quick charts...