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

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

No trades running. Waiting for Janet Yellen to start talking in rhymes at 7.00pm. Then I might have a punt.

after dithering about, dow has now headed firmly south and nearly has 17,300 in its sights once more

===========

small long at 17,306
if this level broken then perhaps down to 17,200

chuckle ..... didn't expect that when i went for my shower; already 17220 .... time to add a few more

no loss overall as am relatively heavily short ftse from about 6800

============

did so at 17199.4

and now i'll sit and wait and perhaps even let them all run o'night

Up on the day but gave a lot back in last 30 mins. A bit worrying for Dow to ship 300 points in last 2 hours. Cut all positions.

.

dow position almost back to b/e on the combined purchases
ftse in profit of course, and shall just sit with that for the moment but may cash in at least some later

Still holding FTSE shorts and EUR/GBP shorts, CHF tempting for a long position. NOK should get hit due to US crude inventory supplies in weekly data.

got lucky and made good money on dow long positions (all now closed), and ftse shorts also in the money (still holding)