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

cant believe i never left my ftse short at 6200 to run... hindsight they say...

HARRYCAT------Try BEG, VTS or TNO.
2517

Cheers George. I will have a look at them over the weekend. Can't be any worse than the ones I've got at the moment, hopefully!

Just a cautionary note from this week's Shares Mag, written by Simon Griffin,
To paraphrase: "DOW chart seems to have a clear head & shoulders. If the chart goes below 11,723 then the target would be 9,900. Possible support at 10,740, assuming the level of 11,300 is breached conclusively."
A couple of recent aticles I have seen over the last week echo this sentiment that the DOW is heading for a big drop. Simon Griffin's comments are based only on chart analysis, which is not conclusive on it's own, but the implication is that the FTSE will follow the DOW lead.

Have also read recently gold stocks tipped for upsurge (usually linked to price of gold and seen as safe haven when markets are diving) so all in all more doom and gloom...

FTSE looks like negative sentiment today, with DOW dragging it down, no position yet but may short later if indicators indicate.

No position yet, the fall is a little to rich for me to trade shorter. I will just content myself with a nibble of RBS if they drop below 200p.

Really bloody out there, ftse 100 now below 5500....oh boy !

Typical I had June off from trading FTSE then started today during this bloodbath.......... I'm sure there will be big opportunities today, but am I brave enough to trade them ?

DOW futures currently down 102. Gonna be another bad afternoon for U.K. stocks, on top of the already bad morning!

only one trade today a short at 5443, lost 15 points, very frustrating had a power dip just as I came into close which would have been even. Ended up phoning close order at the close of play.

One of the advantages of dow and ftse being worth less is that there is a lower margin requirement to trade them, just a thought

having a bash spread betting went long on XTA and 'made' 650 [beginners luck] and will offest the 570 i 'lost' on the DJ index. anyone recommend a good comapny for when/if i decide to leave the demo circuit and try this for real.
i am still practising for the minute as this is basically gambling and i could lose all my brass[as opposed to holding worthless shares that may recover].
i am playing with stop losses as i believe whenever you set up a new a/c the companies almost always insist on limits[for your & their protection]. can anyone think of anything else to get to know whilst i am improving my proficiency.
Alex

the indices always make an interesting dabble.
if you are only operating on demo, then try nymex futures, but you'ld be a brave man to do that with real money!

Cynic,

I went long on FTSE this morning along with XTA and profitted but probably beginner's luck.

nymex futures. where will I find them? I am playing with commodities, exchange rates, indices as well as some shares.

I am operating demo mode on Trade fair[http://spreads.tradefair.com/public/] so only have very limited options to play with. They promise more on their live site but not going anywhere near it until I can demonstrate good discipline and a sound understanding of what I am doing.
Losing 'pretend money' wont get me killed by the wife: 'real money' on the other hand...
Alex

nymex = US light crude - see IG Index

Hi Robertalexander, I used Signal Watch several years back, they send emails with an audible signal when the Dow is on a trade point,how did I do as a beginner? After a couple of months I thought the system was not for me as I was getting the signal from the us after the spreadbet prices based on futures had moved, even galloped, away from me.Anyway have a lookit may have improved by now: http://www.signalwatch.com//markets/markets-dow.asp . re spread bets ,I saw that IGIndex ithink it was, were doing trailing stops, this wd have been a big advantage in reducing my Dow losses I think!! anyway good luck ,post up on the trailing stops please if you choose that. Ps very choppy just now!!

Good luck Robertalexander, it's good to have the SB option in todays market. I used to trade companies long and short but I was rubbish at it, I always seemed to call the direction well but my timing was off. I only trade FTSE now, not doing too badly at the moment, today wasn't great I ended up even after going long later in the afternoon.

But like you I had to back test the systems I use for FTSE, and now have paper records of intra day movement since December. (a bit sad I know)

Have just started experimenting with day trading using Pivot points, Resistance and support levels, it seems to work prettty well, the only problem is that I would need to be sat at my computer most of the day, the weather is too nice for that, so may start this one in the autumn.

more beginners luck went short on SP500 index and woke to a '1005 profit' .
You can bet your bottom dollar that if it were real money it would be the other way.
Alex

No trade today, I looked at 15:30 and my system indicated a short, but at 5395 I didn't fancy it. Should have trusted my instinct and gone long. Stil there is always tomorrow.