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

A down forecast to start, but fancy a bit of up ness later all things being equal.

And up we go.

a good article for you to contemplate .....

Why a complacent VIX makes me nervous
The call:put spread measure of the volatility index (VIX), sometimes referred to as the level of put protection, is back at pre-CNY devaluations levels.

The US VIX has declined from 30 to a low of 13.4 in two weeks. It has declined eight out of the last ten days and is trading a full standard deviation off the historical average, even as most point to the S&P and DOW being overbought and overvalued again.
The ASX equivalent XVI hit 13.7 yesterday, the lowest level since 20 July 2015. It has declined 55% since the 10 February capitulation. It’s also trading over a standard deviation from the historical average of approximately 19.5, yet the ASX has seen trade volumes fall to 27% below the 30-day moving average as buyer exhaustion hits
Intraday volumes through the US, European and Australian options markets have also declined by as much as 30% in the past 30 days. Put protection buying has plummeted to complacent levels.
Deutsche Bank’s ‘complacency index’ is at its highest level since the top of the market last year.
Complacency breeds laziness and roots out diligence, which is not great when macro risks are everywhere.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked 10 macro risks that may cause what could be massive shocks to global equity markets.

Four out of the ten global risks stand out as near term risks:

Number one on the list is a China hard landing, which has been a risk factor for over 10 years. It still remains the biggest global risk and it would severely affect Australia if the GDP targets were to fail.
Number six on the list is Mr Donald J Trump becoming President of the United States. We are 117 days from the start of the Republican convention in Cleveland, and Mr Trump is on course for the nomination. Besides the social unrest he may create, the protectionism and trade risk that may arise would see gold having its best year since 2011.
The horrendous event in Brussels illustrates that the seventh item of terrorism will be an ongoing risk.
And the eight risk is the Brexit, with 71 days until the 2 June referendum. GBP was shelled overnight due to the Brussels attack. It is believed that this strengthened the exit campaign and according to several betting agencies, the odds of Brexit have now increased to 46%. As we get closer to the date, the Brexit will shift up the risk order and the VIX will go with it. The economic impacts have been exaggerated by both sides but it will have a major impact and it will fracture Europe further.
The VIX cannot continue this level of complacency for much longer. Increases in put protection will signal that buyer exhaustion is upon us and the fixed risk dates are beginning to impact short-term trade.

Still short FTSE .

armageddon feels to be a long time in arriving

Yes a bit boring ,what about you cynic ? we have to pull back at some point .

Dumb question, but why do the Americans applaud the opening bell every day?

Because they like to get excited about everything.
When billybob gets back from picking cotton and molesting his sister ,it's what's for dinner Ma ? It's cornbread Billybob , whoo yeee yeahhh .

LOL!!! Good answer jimmy!

Have a read

RBS or somesuch recommended to sell up early this year

I have cut right back on trading shares in the last few months ,it's becoming too unpredictable .I am still trading but no where near as much .

just maybe a clunking sell-off getting under way
dow is now down 80 though ftse only shelling 20

also, we have seen this on a few occasions recently, with a late recovery

midknight.......the interesting thing about the graph on your link is that if you are an investor and can wait, the market has always come back, so a crash isn't the end of the world imo. It's certainly worth holding some cash for the bad times, but most of the reputable companies do survive.

DOW
it recovered a lot but is now tottering back south - currently -40 - and dragging cash FTSE with it (-26 after hours) so worth keeping a weather eye during the evening if you are set up to do so

KISS mode today. Light volume due to Easter, markets tend to be volatile.

Closed FTSE short for 30 pts.

sure glad i sold over the last couple of weeks all bar a bare handful of stocks in my trading account

in my sipp, i have added no funds for about 2 months though i have switched one or two to more defensive holdings - eg BATS

whether chris is right that this is just pre-easter malaise, time will tell

I'm forecasting nowt cyners, merely pointing out markets may be volatile due to low volume.

a politician's response :-)