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

bugger!
thought i'ld been prudent, but DOW has now dumped nearly a further 100 points to under 16,400

This week I've been trading the FTSE-100 using 7ema/20ema crossovers on the 5-minute chart (and toggling the 1-minute chart but not acting on that), using the live free charts at IG.com where orders and stops can be placed on the chart.

Just looking to grab 15 points a couple of times a day during tea breaks. So far it is working much better than I expected, making a profit every day.

Lend us a bob!

for the gas meter?

It's an approach I first employed in 2006 for several months, trading on random occasional days. But the free trading software makes it so much easier now, hence me revisiting it.

FTSE
currently playing with 6140 resistance - at which level i banked a modest profit
i think it's likely that this will be broken later today, but i am out all afternoon

DOW
(cash) is staging something of a rally, and i have a small long from 16,425
if this follows through, as again i think is likely, then ftse should be dragged north on its coattails

Gone long FTSE this morning .

me too (added) but pretty scary
not sure why the collapse, but there you are

a bit illogical, but i guess the VW scandal may well have had a significant impact
that is to say, VW shares get whacked which then drags dax with it, and then the spill-over into ftse ..... or some such nonsense

if several of the VW directors are not sent to jail, it will be an even greater scandal
i also wonder if there are others who have done similar

falls look horribly overdone, but i'm certainly not brave enough to piss against the wind, so shall just keep fingers crossed

This morning I pressed the sell button on FTSE with a target of 5,000.
Will not be able to watch the markets for a few days, but as previously said a break of 6,000 is very significant and I am quiet comfortable holding the short position" blind ".


Good luck

All in my humble opinion and no investment advice intended


Andre Minassian
Clever Games UK

aldo - am also less than sanguine about the markets in general and am certainly very concerned with the continuing weakening of the chinese economy

i have already bitten the bullet on 50% of my ftse long and shall now contemplate my navel as to what action on the balance + dow

Should have hung in there this morning at least ,i'm now in a few point profit.

easy after the event isn't it :-)
confess i was slightly in two minds, but decided prudence was the better course

Closed 6005 . +18 pts
Up around 65 pts this morning after big drop so i'll see what happens next .

EDIT and still going .

Could have hung on this morning for a nice 80 pts at least but didn't like the look of the market early .

I too closed a FTSE long too early, jimmy, but took 40 odd points nonetheless. Waiting to see what the Dow brings this afternoon before opening anything else! It's not straightforward to predict but I am not particularly confident of any sustained rises given the amount of uncertainty around so perhaps days such as this are shorting opportunities?

wall street strangely out of step and reluctant to correct that

I'm the same splat ,can't see the FTSE really motoring this month .

What a crap market..