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

"Missed opportunity!"...yep thats the Banks for you -):

Yes thats the name S.

Ian, please can we have this thread on the traders board. Please please please.

DOW up 282.
From Bloomberg
"LSE also faces competition from as many as seven new competitors, among them Chi-X Europe Ltd. and Turquoise, an electronic market backed by nine investment banks. Chi-X, which started in March last year and now accounts for about 18 percent of all trading in FTSE 100 shares across exchanges, said it handled trades all morning."

Mentioned here in the Telegraph article re todays FTSE problems.
Telegraph Article: London Stock Exchange trading derailed by computer crash on frenzied day

Strawbs.

I wonder if the markets will punish the LSE stock price when things get going again?

Strawbs.

I would think that would be a 'yes' and deservedly so. I can hear the chopping of heads

anyway, that was a sort of fun day!
actually banked a decent profit on my long Dow, and have actually ventured back in fairly modestly at 100 points below what i sold at .... fingers crossed, though much volatility likely during the evening, so i hope another respectable profit will appear for the taking, provided i keep my wits about me

Well - what a jammy sod I have been - decided to have one last punt on Friday. Went long at 10 per point at 20.45pm, set my stop loss - which would have zeroed my account and went away for the weekend.

Just got back,read the news - and I have made up all off my losses in one lucky trade.

Have rapidly increased my stop loss to within 10 points to 5460 - and am sitting down now with a stiff drink and 1500 profit.

I shall let this one run now with the current stop loss - then give up trading the indexes for good - as I am no good at it - just a very lucky punt.

I'm thinking of going to classes as I have better luck on the horses!!

Unbelievable, after checking FSTE first thing I decided I couldn't trade today, so I played golf instead. Have just logged on to find that on one of the biggest up days of the year, the LSE was closed from 08:15 to 16:00 anyway. You couldn't make this up............

Someone from Credit Suisse commented that after the past bank rescues there has been a rally lasting 6-8 days if lse actually allow you to trade it !

On the other hand Asia is not convinced

And London can't make up it's mind,. I'm with Asia today.

FT seems to think that on balance this was a "good move" and reaction from China and Japan g'ments was actually pretty positive ..... I expect today to be pretty quiet while ther is further reflection and also to see how NY performs

I know that history rarely consistently repeats itself but in this current era of uncertainty it seems to have been quite a good bet to short the dow at the close after it has had a big rally and then close out at the open . For example last night it would have been worth 50 points,this probably has even more relevance when it closes at resistance e.g. around 11750

FTSE seems to be leading the pack this morning, now up to 5512, the problem is no one else seems to be following, with DAX only slightly up and DOW futures slightly down.

This still feels like a relief rally to me, with so much negative news being released, and more to come, reality will return.

scared the poo out of me so closed out at a small loss. (Definately learning as would have ridden it out in the old days) waiting patiently for another opportunity to short

Slightly off topic, but after monday's fiasco & the subsequent conspiracy theories, the following just goes to show how easy it is for one piece of information to sway people's thinking:
"The Florida Sun-Sentinel was to blame after accidentally re-publishing a six year-old story from parent paper the Chicago Tribune, stating that after 76 years in the air UAL had filed for bankruptcy. The United share price went from $12 to 1c at one point.

United did indeed file for bankruptcy protection - back in December 2002. It emerged from Chapter 11 in 2006, but soon got back to its loss-making ways - chalking up a $2.7bn deficit in the second quarter of this year alone.

Perhaps it is understandable that investors jumped to the conclusion that this airline was bust.
An old rule of financial regulation says that the authorities should not seek to protect a fool from losing his or her money, but should stop a reasonable person from being made to look a fool.
Idiot market participants are at fault here - not the hapless website operative that pressed the wrong button."

How quickly sentiment can change, the DOW is down 200 points now with worrys over Lehman Bro now down 40% lower, a refinancing deal with a Korean Investment Bank has fallen through and Standard and poor has put Lehman on a credit watch. The Fed can't rescue all the major banks. Also I noticed a news release today saying new house builds in America had fallen again, it was only last week that I heard reports saying that maybe America had now seen the worse of the housing downturn. Now reports are saying that the housing crises could be far from over.

Sorry to be so gloomy, but tomorrow looks like it could be a very bumpy ride on the FTSE.

Earlier today I was thinking of cashing in my bank shares, and re-purchasing lower down, it looks like I may have missed this opportunity now.

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