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 made 50 off FTSE today. But, the more I look at it the more the Dow is where I should be trading

DOW is certainly a lot more lively though DAX is also good in that respect
unfortunately the DAX chart on here is total crap - epic = DEX.

a very disappointing close to DOW last night as a gain of about 200 melted like the snow in spring in the last 15 or so

DOW currently down 800 points. Amazing swings. I wonder if the FTSE will follow suit? Asian markets don't seem too bothered at the moment.

I've gone long FTSE at 7112. Opening position. I'll add close to 7000 if it goes there.

I think this will work it's way through over the next few weeks. Give time for the fear to grow, collect the stock cheap and then watch for upgrades to come through if earnings aren't great.

tbh FTSE isn't that bothered either, considering I took the same trade a couple of days ago about 100 pts lower on ftse when dow was here.

The big question is whether I should hold the trade long term or trade it. Inclined to trade it. I think it will bounce around for a while before the move up

if you want to see how volatile everything has been today, take a look at the DOW ....... low 23,624 and high 24,205 and hurtling around all over the place in between; currently 23770

Crazy. I just added to my FTSE long at 7026.

this has been a gruelling week, and DOW continues to look seriously shitty
for the last hour or so, it's been struggling to recover above 23,600 and is heading sharply south once more at 23,450 (down 400)

I get why it's pulled back from 26,000.

I get why the pullback has been quite strong. Certainly 24,000 wouldn't seem unreasonable given how fast it went up.

The way it's continuing to sell off seems to me to be overdone. After all it was good news on the economy that kicked this off.

As for FTSE it was holding up pretty well today and at least made sense. Most of the data was good at 9:30 just the Brexit talks not going well, which seems to be the same message every time.

I'm a bit nervous about my long now. In at 7070 on average and not a large stake so I have plenty of firepower left but I think the reset is going to take a few more days.

I was planning to hold my FTSE long for about 7300 but I've re-appraised that. Would be happy with 7150 right now. Might even let it far lower. I've no conviction in the trade now!

chuckle .... downright scary isn't it .... one feels the indices are testing ones pain threshold, and they're doing a grand job!

ha. They've tested mine. I've sold three quarters of my position at 6095 for a few quid.

In at one position at half usual opening stake. Happy to let it roll or happy to reload if Dow craps itself again.

I would expect it to fall into the close at it's a Friday but frankly it could do anything

so out of spite, it is now nicely +50 though it has been a tad more within the last 30
managed to close one DOW long with 75 points profit and heaved a sigh of relief

And out of last position 7145 which appears to be +120 in three and a half hours.

Well done. Bit of a scary ride. I'll reset if it goes back down.

take a look at the 10-minute DOW chart from yesterday
there were occasions when it moved 200 points within a given slot, and you wonder why it was impossible to trade according to the trend

i managed to make a few shillings on some quick trades ..... normally i'ld have been very pleased, but given the hammering over the last week, it was little more than a crumb

although DOW is well off its high, it looks to be showing good resilience - still +200

DAX is also holding together well - still +250

FTSE is still pretty much at its day's high - +110

DOW exploding - now +425

Crazy times. Where will it close today. Who knows.

currently +520

Augers well for tomorrow