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 know nothing at all any more ..... with that in mind, i shall try not to get itchy fingers and hang on to (nearly) all stocks in my current portfolio ..... no doubt i shall play the indices, but hope that common sense will prevail and that will only be in small amounts.

my gut feeling for monday is that the markets will fall

I also believe we have not reached the bottom yet but maybe that's wishful thinking as I've still got a short open on the Ftse. Hope you're right Cynic.

I have re-drawn my chart this morning and although there is definitely 'price' resistance around 12780, my falling trendline from the all time high would seem to indicate 13000. A breach of this level should signal a resumption of the overall uptrend. There is also a possibility of a slight negative divergence on the Daily MACD which may suggest that this particular rally is running out of steam. Guess we will know more tomorrow.

hi peter ... sorry i could not join u on msn, but for some reason the system would not allow it

Still Consolidating..
Dow trades sideways throughout session, remains within tight consolidation range.

From prior commentary, "...The range spans from 12,500 to 12,700 and could continue to widen out as it resumes development. Eventually, a breakout from this consolidation could spark a move of about 350 points..."
The Dow traded quietly sideways throughout the session today, as the index pushed back and forth within the boundaries of the clear consolidation that has formed from 12,500 to 12,700, as seen in the 15 and 60 Minute Charts. The index closed the day with a mild loss of just 17 points, but is likely to get a big breakout from the consolidation early next week.

The Daily and 60 Minute Chart shows the Dow has traded quietly sideways the last three day after reaching the top of the large trading range at 12,600. This behavior is typical of continued strength ahead. However, a breakout in either direction could fuel nice movement of about 350 points.

Keep an eye on 12,700, as a breakout this zone will likely spark a test of the major 12,800 fulcrum. This is the major 'line in the sand' that the markets are watching. Otherwise, a break below 12,500 will push the index back toward the 12,200 level.

Short Term Dow

The Dow closed the day beneath the 12,700 level, which is a clear resistance level in the 5 Minute Chart. Watch this zone closely for early direction Monday morning.

Medium Term Dow

In the medium term, we are still out of the market and will watch 12,725 up, and 12,500 down; using 25 point stops.

Having attempted some lateral thinking today, my opinion is now biased towards further strength in the indicies this week, which just goes to show that it's easy to change one's mind during this period of uncertaintity :)

Spitfire prediction after after 5 or 6 glasses of J P Chenet, DOW will struggle to breach 12700, FTSE will rise short term Monday to 6050, at which point I will short with very long stop all the way down to 5343. Tuesday FTSE wiil fall to 5743, then Wednesday continue down to 5643, at which time Man Utd will proceed to semi finals of champions league.

I may have changed my mind in the morning, maybe I wont post this after all, where's the cancel button, post damn too late.

Thanks for all your pearls of wisdom! Can't decide which way to go so will sit tight for a while

difficult innit!

With start of new tax year - I think FTSE will climb some more - but my analysis has beed so far off the mark over the past week that I will just watch you experts for a while before making up my mind/

If or when it tanks they'll be calling it a fool's rally. Rio quite close to resistance now which makes a short a consideration as it it made a long a consideration at 48 support, wish I had then!

Pity I didn't follow my own thoughts and take a long position on the DOW last night. Hindsight is a wonderful thing :)

FTSE has just spiked to 6000 level, interesting to see DOW futures at 12700. So we could see some short term strength, I will content myself with a little scalping at 6000+ level to the downside.

spitfire - can you explain scalping please ?

Rather than taking a longer term view of the Index spitfire is trading very short moves for a few pts at a time, perhaps even just one, ie, scalping.

thanks PT.

I use BSL and they charge a fixed amount on index cfds of 12.50. So I would need to cover 25 plus 4 points for the spread. Am I paying through the nose? or do you use a big bet ie 50 per point - to reduce the overhead of the commision charges.

I am only at the 5 per point stage - so obviously I need a bigger movement to cover costs and spread to make a profita

I wouldn't consider scalping using CFDs, spreadbets only with no commission charges. Size of the bet is individual preference depenadnt on risk appetite. Personally I think 50 is quite a sizeable bet and one that could cause significant damage to one's pot in pretty short order!

Ah - thanks. Am only using CFD's - have not really got my head round SB's - perhaps thats my problem - and why my profits dissolve with the commission charges.

I started trying to use CFD for index reading, but changed to SB's which have no commission, only the spread which is only 2 points on FTSE.

I only scalp using 3 points, and only on days where market seems undecided about positive direction. A bit like myself today, I just can't make up my mind on when to jump in.

Very frustrating, problem with scalping you have to watch the screens the whole time, I missed first chance at 6000 to short, but I'm sure FTSE will hit 6000 again.