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

well done jimmy
i got back into DOW when it dropped back to 17,010 and am still holding ....... 17275 will be a major hurdle to cross should we get that far (currently ~17,200)

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out at 17,169 but shall keep watching with a view to re-entry, level to be decided

Is the DOW going to spring a nasty surprise today ,was up a lot further overnight ..

currently 17146 .

hard to tell with both major indices

i think everyone is still pretty shell-shocked so there will be bear closing pulling against rally selling - or vice versa

FTSE at current level of ~6125 is worth watching for direction

Closed DOW now for 65 points . Going down at the moment . Have no clue today if it's going to rally or fall back.
Again may be worth buying FTSE/DOW on weakness .

ftse also looking unsettled

Yes well done James

Re market today, if in doubt stay out is my motto.

Yes true ,i sometimes try and trade for the sake of it .

Memo to myself ,, trade when you think you see a clear direction.

markets dropping again ...... cash DOW suddenly -80 and FTSE only +12

Went long DOW 17055.

2 lots of numbers from US today, neither of which are likely to affect sentiment greatly .....

U.S. auto sales for December will reveal what a bumper year it was for automakers at 2 pm ET.
The Institute of Supply Management is due to post its economic activity index for January at 10 am ET.

I'm staying long for now and will stop out if things look nasty below 17000 . I have enough points in the tank to accept a small loss if i'm wrong .

FTSE has moved ahead again - now +33 - so with luck DOW will tag along

actually, with DOW now at 17095, i may bank this morning's profit .... shall certainly now keep a watchful eye so to do

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banked 30 points which is better than a kick in the nuts
shall now wait to see if 17,100 is (re)pierced with any impetus

cluck cluck cluck :-)

DOW now at next resistance of 17,140
and ditto FTSE at 6125

blinked and missed ....... dow suddenly roars to life (17175)

with mild bravery have gone long FTSE at 6130

all very confusing at the moment
still in the money on FTSE but not comfortable that DOW doesn't want to hold onto any gains, notwithstanding last night's awful showing (and ditto the day b4)

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decided to back out of FTSE with joke profit and shall revert to watching

Closed DOW for 62 points , like you say it doesn't seem to want to rally but might be worth another punt down lower ..

as i have written b4, i see 2016 as a year for shorting, but i don't know from what sort of level ....... as with longs, i'll probably duck in and out - and at the wrong time of course!

Strange day all in all ...