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

What the hell is ZAR? and what happened to the dow?

george was mentioning shorting sterling ..... ZAR = south african rand

as for the dow, it got real sick! ...... shit employment numbers

The only thing going up at the moment is the dollar a new bubble?

well I decided to play the idices one more time and went short just after lunch and rode it all the way down and banked almost 500 in profit.

Wasn't I the clever one. - easy peasy money this

So confident that the market was at its low I went long whilst I went to the Dentist.

Gave it all back !!! Lost the lot

Morale of the story - stay to what you know and watch it like a hawk. - Enjoyed the ride - but I am too compulsive for this game.

Hi to those I know through this board

Looks like we are about to go into a death spiral on FTSE

DOW bumping along at 11200 at the moment, looking grim for FTSE tomorrow, but there could be some bargain hunters about later. (including me hopefully)

bhunt1910
sorry to see you gave the profit back, why don't you set a daily target , and when reached stop for the day.

Spitfire - thats exactly what I start out doing - I had 100 as a target - but then I get carried away.

I know you are right - dont seem to have the discipline

i am amazed to see FTSE as resilient as it is this morning .... unfortunately, it hsa still crashed comprehensively though 5400 level

have been a bit quiet lately but y/day i surpassed myself and i am currently down 1.25 million[all be it play money ie demo mode] as i went long on the nikkei. was playing whilst watching but got distracted and then this morning i had a heck of a shock!!!
i was thinking of trying this for real as i had 'made 20k' this week but think i will leave it well alone.
Alex

indices really do need watching constantly but it is still all too easy to get it wrong ..... i am an ace on indices ..... getting it all wrong that is!

13:30 US unemployment data due, could move markets either way.

Markets feel very nervous this morning, I will just content myself with some bargain hunting today.

once we get through this new bout of selling after the hedge funds have liquidated all of their commodity stocks there should be some cracking bargains around. There are so many stocks at 80-90 % off their all time highs. It like shooting fish in a barrel. In the ,meantime hold on tight as the ride could be bumpy as players are flattened at the exits in the apparent stampede. I would not be surprised if the FTSE ended up near 4800 by month end.

I have seen 4800 level mentioned as target many times, I think it refers to a support level seen in early 2005. If I have read the charts correctly we first need to see a fall below 5200, which is the next support level from late 2005.

See chart below, it's only a basic chart, but it does show the support levels.

The unemployment data should be interesting. Less about the numbers, more about market sentiment. Personally I think the selling will continue for the next few weeks, regardless of the numbers. Tuesdays close on the DOW looked rather ominous to me.

In my opinion...

Strawbs.

don't disagree, esepcially with the enforced sale of equities by the hedge fund that is being closed down

however, i shall close my FTSE short before those numbers as yesterday's fall is almost certainly overdone and surely (clutching at straws?) the bad news is already discounted?

Only IMO of course but I do disagree. I'm setting myself up here but I think we're testing the recent 5200 low and as we've had several days of large losses, I believe we're due a bounce of sorts.

see my amended post above, but FTSE and Dow do not move entirely in step with oner another

have taken a small profit on FTSE short and opened Dow long with guaranteed stop ...... quite brave, but properly protected.

a useful bit of local knowledge ...... about an hour before the figures, MMs (i don't think it's IG) are quite likely to increase the guaranteed minimum stop level from 30 points (currently) to 100 or more

i was correct .... just checked and guaranteed stop is now 100 points from strike price

Sounds expensive if you happen to be on the wrong side of a spike. Good luck.

Strawbs.