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

Thats 25% knocked off DOW in 2 weeks, lets get tomorrow out the way, should be the big one...

MD, if I could predict where this is going to reverse with any certainty I'd probably end up a rich man!!

I think we still have further to fall, 3000-3500 for the FTSE and 8000 ish for the DOW before even considering the bottom has been reached. One thing I have learned from my forays into FX is that when you believe it can't go any further down or up, it nearly always does. (FX used to be one of the most volatile trading commodities before the Indices came along and changed everything!).

Incidentally the advice given by HiThere is nonsense. It's a bit like saying buy any old stock in the expectation if it goes down it will eventually go back up. There are no guarantees here, the rules are being re-written every day.

FTSE likely to open -350 at 3980, Dow predicting a further fall of 350 to 8300

I'm affraid it won't stop at 3000, although we may see pauses on the way. My charts don't go back any further in time anyway, so I guess beyond 3000 we're really in uncharted territory... :-)

I have a vary accurate contrarian indicator though, that suggests we'll just keep on falling (taken with a pinch of salt maybe). I tend to read a lot and spend a large amount of time in bookshops. They hold the best prediction for the future I know. I've seen large numbers of books on "How to Profit From the Internet Boom", "Making a Fortune From The Housing Market", "The Commodity Supercycle", "The World is Running Out Of Oil".... The common theme. They all appear just in time to be totally useless.

My father was very keen on doing the football pools, but wasn't very successful to be fair. When I was much much younger then today (:-) I found him a book on "How To Win The Football Pools". I offered to buy it for his birthday. He said "Don't bother, nobody's going to sell you a system that works". How right he was.

So why do I think it'll keep falling, and equities will be a wasteland for a decade or more. In the spring of this year, the local bookshop had a new set of books in the business section. "Technical Analysis", "How to Profit From Fibonachi Trading", "TA For Begginers"..... The list goes on.

I think we're doomed...... :-)

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

must have been a book by Horace Bachelor if you are old enough to remember

I have a feeling you are a 'Glass half empty' sort of chap, Strawbs?

These days I find it hard to remember much. :-) I was only a kid at the time, and we were looking for any easy birthday present, as kids do. Can't remember who it was by, but I do remember the blurb. I suppose now we'd call it spin. Rather stuck in my mind though. I suppose it's also true in a way, the best ideas are always the unique ones. I guess we won't know for sure if the "bookshop proxy" system still works until after the fact, now everyone knows about it. LOL.

Strawbs.

I did say pinch of salt Harry... :-)

Strawbs.

can't get any quotes on anything. Great opps TLW opened 20% lower. What a bargain but couldn't buy!!

I know exactly what will happen, they'll let the retail investors in after the initial surge hoping they'll buy then we'll have another drop.

They must think I am stupid!

Same for me. On-line stock N/A on many with Selftrade.

if you have funds, surely IEC is an ace buy at about 910 with completion of the deal almost certainly imminent (like within a couple of days), with no indication of price being renegotaiated from the promised 1250

Never thought that we would see the 3000's ever again (ftse 100).....total disaster for many !.

Babies and bath water I guess Cynic. I don't think any of it's particularly rational. A desperate dash for cash. Logic out of the window. May be Lehmans was too big to fail afterall......

Strawbs.

you're right ..... fyi, HB was a pools pundit with a huge following on Radio Luxemburg .... he was based in Keynsham, Bristol ..... anyone of my sort of age will remember his ads well!

ah they've just let us in Harry.

Be careful

Many a business will now fail...restaurants will be empty....travel agents will close....builders will go bust....UK economy down the drain !.

they said all this in October 1987 and by the end of the year we were on the up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

World economy down the drain perhaps....

FTSE looks like it's recovering a bit (I'm going by the SB prices on the IG index home page) ? Opening down so much must've blewn a lot of stops.

Strawbs.

I was just thinking the same thing MD.

and thats the reason i think we're at rock bottom, cos everyone thinks the world is about to end, but actually it wont...