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

Unless these drops stop....my fear is : a meltdown of the markets and we will be all stuffed .....ftse is looking really low...but there comes a time when it might just go over the top (or shall I say bottom).....let's all pray that this does not happen !.

I think the authorities are of the same mind required field. Worrying times. At least now they can't be blamed for a lack of action if it all goes pop.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

it is indeed very good to see at least some of the serious gov'ts taking action ... inn particular, FSA's ban on shorting finacial stocks must surely be applauded, even if pretty draconian

SEC has already done it, so it makes sense for all other markets to do the same, otherwise, as someone has already pointed out, the hedge funds will just go on the prowl for foreign targets.

About time FSA acted, it seemed that some shorters/hedge funds were hunting in packs looking for the next victim. This needed to be stopped before we had well funded and sound banks going under, which is in no ones interest.

As I said earlier, we were only a few days away from financial meltdown if the government didn't act. I applaude the decision.

Strawbs - a lot of this is confidence. If the sp starts to rise then the shorters will have to cover their positions. I would think the shorts will soon disappear altogether. As you said earlier, we may not now have the massive ups and downs but in these times that is good for the sector.

Dow has gone through the roof... now +375

Anybody know what a RTC-TYPE solution is? Something to do with the US gov taking over the bad h'sing debt.

That's a 600 point daily range! Phew would not want to be short financials tomorrow, mother of all bear squeezes

if one can get in quickly, HBOS or even Lloyds could be a very good buy in the morning ....... have left a small and profitable Dow long open, but am disinclined to open a FTSE long at this juncture as already +200 or thereabouts

changed my mind and banked the profit!

I think Lloyds adr's are already 290 cynic probably best jostleing into the auction

how does that equate to the UK price?

It hit a low of $17 stateside and closed around $22, roughly 3! Asia and futures may also affect, my short term target is 350 might get there on a spike, though I'm sure there's lots more bad news round the corner so will not be holding long term save for a small core perhaps

Hmmm. Might be tempted by some speculative longs tomorrow. The shorts will have to decide, keep the position and lose money, or close the position and not be able to reopen.

Still not convinced the problems are over, but could be a good opportunity at the right price.

In my opinion.

Strawbs

the charts on page 1 are worth a look, if only to see how far we have fallen through all the supposed support levels and, despite yesterday's surge on Wall Street, with a further jump indicated today, we are still way way below even 25/ and 50 dma

Oh well, get ready folks. Not sure I can stand another day like yesterday. My blood pressure must be sky high unlike my shares!

Having thought about things overnight, I might steer clear of buying anything today. It strikes me that as yet we haven't had the "Oh my God" type fall that's associated with a market crash. That 800 point move that gets you in the pit of your stomach. Many I fear will pile in today, perhaps misguided in the belief that financials are now safe with short sellers gone. The problems remain though. If the falls are more about a lack of buyers, than a mass of short sellers, we could be about to see a final exhaustion of the bulls, before that big drop I've been expecting.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

if i was going to be in the office, i would actually take a look at shorting either FTSE or Dow as it is hard to believe that they will continue straight up from the (indicated) opening levels .... however, gyrations are almost inevitable, so to be away from the screen would be almost suicidal

These conditions are almost unprecedented so difficult to know what to do. Things are going to gap up massively and then possibly drop back so may just sell when out of auction

Watch out for the possible LSE market Freeze due to volume..with trading suspended for the rest of the day. With people unable to sell at their paper profit!