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

Hi all, I'm a newbie doing badly at the moment. I went long the Dow and lost, short the Dow immediately and lost! same with the ftse---I've never seen money disappear so fast!!! I'm only 1 a point so not too bad---either I close much too quickly or I have to be prepared to see larger losses I close at 15 at the moment. When I check later I see my predictions are right so my timing must be crap!! ah well back to the drawing board. I'm bombarded with emails from RHPshares mag to join various s/b classes----is this worth doing? so far I've ignored them.

i know that feeling all too well ...... s/l is fine and prudent, though as you have discovered, it is easy to get stopped out just on the turn! .... nevertheless, running an open sore of a loss can be even worse and is certainly very stressful.

for myself, i try to run index positions only when i can monitor constantly and also find the 15 minute candlestick chart a useful guide when trying to determine direction .... if you are using IG, these charts are easily obtainable

Moneyplus also may be worth checking this site http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?display=discussion&code=cotn:UKX.L&it=li ,much as I like this one.
1 on the dow is a reasonable stake, it is still exposure to 10300. If it goes against you instead of closing with an s/l you can open an opposite trade on ftse, dax, s&p or whatever other your provider offers to hedge and hope for some convergence/divergence.

cheers--have a good weekend. It's so hot in Devon I'm indoors for a cool off!

Moneyplus, Why not print out the daily graph of the indices you wan't to trade at the close of play, and test your trading system each day. It sounds a bit laborious, but after a few weeks of back testing, it should help to fine tune your strategy.

I know exactly what you mean about predictions being correct, but timing being lousy. I has the same when trading companies long and short, I was rubbish at it, so now I just limit myself to the FTSE.

Cheers Spitfire..............

thanks for the tip spitfire--good one.

That sounds like a good idea I'll try that as well,(thanks spitfire43) I'm new to SB and lost on co's, notably SBRY, having gone long on 3 occassions, guess who missed out on their rise to the 310 mark. I resorted to the FTSE and have had mixed results.
2517

Has anyone taken up the learn s/b offers with amazing profits? I'm bombarded with them from rhps associates or others--but have not responded as they look too good to be true! Any opinions? I did seriously consider spending a day with Robbie aka The Naked Trader as there are good recommends on that one.

http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/Spreadbetters.html
Never done any but suspect some are flogging dubious trading system software or expensive future courses, like anything there must be the good, the bad and the very ugly

moneyplus, IGIndex has trailing stops (which I have not yet used),with a trailing stop of say 30 on the Dow, as the index moves hopefully in your direction the stop moves up in 10 point steps, so if you are in at 11500 say the stop is 470 and when you get to520 your stop is 490. Havent used it but may reactivate my old account. also notice for newbies they send instructions in 6 weekly parts i think. You being in Glorious Devon willwant to take that option rather visit london for a course perhaps

Thank you pericles. It certainly has been glorious--slightly cloudier today though but still good for the holidaymakers.

Looking at the way the DOW fell after FTSE close at 2.1% down, we should be in for a very negative start, will have to check far east and ASX overnight, but can't see them making much difference to FTSE. With the DOW being hit by some poor company results, we start to see some interesting results here tommorrow and the rest of the week. Interims from BB. and BP. tomorrow, then AV. LLOY and CRBY on Wednesday.

Good luck for tomorrow.............

From market today looks like long oils and miners short financials is back in fashion again

Late news last night "Merrill stuns with new cash call and write offs" sez the free ft.com 6AM Cut news email service, write down $5.7bn share issue$8.5bn, making 26bn in all to date.uk banks down from the open interesting times with results coming thro, as you say spitfire43

Robert Alexander:

If you are struggling suggest you get some training if you wish to make money in the long run.

Try the Online Training Academy at this link.

http://www.tradingacademy.com/london/index_london.htm

here is link to their free Education Centre: http://www.tradingacademy.com/education/index2.htm

and whoever you go to please avoid 'Win Investing'

Hope that is of some help.

Not a great start today, with 16 point loss on first short trade, hopefully will have another entry point. Surprised at ftse strengh today, seems a battle between finanacials and oil companies.

Thats my lot for today, will accept a 16 point loss I can't sit here all day waiting for an entrance, will try again tomorrow morning, always another day. lloy could influence proceedings tomorrow.

Now watch the ftse fall, now that I have chosen to call it a day.

this is prob why NY looks to opening nicely higher again, and of course taking London with it .....

Federal Reserve extends deadline for firms to borrow from discount window by 4-1/2 months to Jan. 30, 2009,

silvermede,
will give it a look see,
thanks
Alex

My best day yet! managed to gain 23 on the dow-probably should have held on but it's too nerve wracking when you're not fully used to it especially on the winning side!