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

Finland’s prime minister opened the door on Thursday to a renegotiation of the terms of Greek debt short of a writedown in the face value owed, ahead of elections on Sunday. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Alexander Stubb said that his country could consider extensions to the maturity of the debt and changes in the conditions attached to the debt, but no debt forgiveness. His Irish counterpart, Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach, agreed – FT.

6818.3 gone short

that was a brave call with so much going on

i was running short dow and that was very nice ... cashed in at last knockings last night purely as a precaution .... a bit prematurely as it happens, but it was a decent profit

i think shortie will be smiling this w/e as his position shows to be about 10 points in the money (cash ftse says so)

Manuel,

On which part of your chest do we pin the medals!

Have to be careful as you might go pop.

why do you think i go to the gym? :-)

monday outlook
the greeks looked to have voted in the anti-austerity mob, which is no great surprise
what that means for € and eu in general, i really have no idea, but i cannot imagine that it will be greeted with cheers by the markets in the morning

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A possible for shorting down to 320?

Stan, a s mentioned before, I hold CLIG - its a bugger to trade due to the spread - 10p as I type.

I'm still holding short on the FTSE, two positions in total, may well add later in the week although I doubt I'll have much time for trading this week.

True Skinny and yes you do have to wait for that spread to narrow which it does occasionally, can you set limit orders for shorting as with going long?

Yes.

What ya waiting for then -):

I do often use limits, but on a share like CLIG, I wouldn't short it unless looking for a decent drop - not 10p - not worth the risk/reward. :-)

Just looking at the day price I see what you mean.

what's the excitement?
while i've been at the gym, i see the markets have dived
surely not just the blizzard warnings in usa

glad i'm short both dow and ftse

I'm staying short, that's one hell of a bear cross..

i've got to whizz off, but from memory 17,300 on dow is the solid support and if that fails, 17,200
as i can't watch, i've closed out dow short at 17,302

no idea for ftse, though that is looking surprisingly solid under the circumstances
shall leave those short positions running

dow
interesting evening by the looks of it - i was out to dinner
recovered sharply to a tad below 17500 and then fell back 100 points
however, after hours +74 probably on the back of fantastic results from APPL

no idea what tomorrow will bring

hard work making a shilling or two today, though still think 17300 (dow) may be challenged again