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

nice to see that some others have seen the reality of chinesse accounting (and mores), though i do not see armageddon as nigh.

just for the record, i took the plunge late friday and went long Dow (had been stopped out earlier) at 12485 on the basis that (a) there is support at this sort of level and (b) a bounce is overdue and (c) friday's fall was on very low volume, most likely caused by many squaring their positions aheand of long w/e

Quite a good read this weekend http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

I have taken a small short on the FTSE at 6125

out at 6102

now long at 6100 !!

Hope you're right I'm long too

Good call so far cynic better than expected home sales 3.3% probably manipulated but should give dow a boost

walking a tightrope at the moment

out at 6090 - got that wrong

Good call cynic - well done

Bhunt - me too!

Dow a good call so far, but we all know how treacherous it can be ..... shall be watching carefully, with a view in any case of getting out at about 12700

sold 50% at 12595

NEWSU.S. economic growth in the first quarter is revised higher to 0.9% from a previous reading of 0.6%.

now don't get too excited everyone - lol!

on a more serious note, am seriously considering shorting crude as while i doubt we shall see sub $100 for a very long time (if at all within next 12 months), i cannot believe oil will climb much further before everyone bails out.

that will be bad news for oilies, especially the mini-minnow E&Ps, but good news for many other businesses

What kind of level are you shorting to, Cynic? Tricky to pick a support level, unless you are going to sit there with your finger poised over the keyboard for a few hours!

i now have NYMEX (US Light) on my watch list ..... it's certainly a bit lively, but am looking further forward than just a couple of hours or even days

You certainly won't die of boredom trading oil... up 4 dollars than down 5 in 2 hours and counting...

well I am not sure that trading the indices is for me. I dont seem able to keep my profits and over the last month have ended up losing more than I have been gaining. A couple of good runs - but also a few bad runs - so I think I will stand on the touchlines for a while and watch you experts.

Its been fun - and I much appreciated all the advice - but I think I am too impetuous and playing too short a game

bhunt1910-----I am a couple of months behind you in the learning stakes, I've just opened a spread betting a/c, funded it but not taken the plunge yet. I have read yours and other posts with interest and hope to learn from them. Thanks.
2517