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

I can't believe you haven't already traded a piece of that prediction, Cynic.
Indications have been down all morning.

do keep up , the futures have been suspended for hours!

we have restrictions in place today. futures limited to -5% which is why they haven't moved and the same at start of trade. If it happens, then there is a 2 min breathing space b4 trading begins again. If down 10% then another 2 mins and so on till a big fat Zero I suppose.

looking at IG CFDs which look possible to trade ..... currently showing -640 actually

harry ..... have got out of almost all ..... far far too scary for me

Richard, US suspended until 2.30pm. IG are making their own opinion as to where the DJ will start trading.

Could quite easily hit 7900 when trading commences.

If this carries on....panicstricken sellers will drop the markets further....gloom and doom....may this end soon !.

yes, i know it's IGs "view" but presumably backed by biz too .... in fact now indicating/predicting -700 ...... if that is borne out, it is hard to believe that FTSE does not have a bundle more to lose

now -780 ...... IG are going to be either awfully right or awfully wrong, but i suspect the former will be closer

Fortunes being made shorting and lost !.

glad i was just an interested observer!

US h'sing stats coming out at 3pm

place your bets now please ..... you know full well that whichever way you choose will be wrong!

and here's the answer ......

Existing home sales stronger than expected in September, up 5.5% to 5.18 million annual rate.

Gap close and down so far...

Used the slight recovery to get out of BG. for evens. US has a long way to go today and fully expect trading to be stopped at the 5% and maybe 10% or 20% before their day is out.

I stopped day trading ftse early October(fortunately away for two weeks with no computer access), it was far to volatile for me anyway, like being at the races. But I will hopefully start again in November if calm returns.

I kept a paper record of my trading system for the rest of October, and the results were huge gains, but it could just have easily have been huge losses.

Happy to sit this one out for now.

surely another bleak week in prospect, though there may be a decent DCB in then offing ...... IEC and perhaps SHP could buck the trend, but am currently holding shorts in CSR and WPP and may well switch more of what is left of my mangled porfolio in that direction

Making money in the market is about predicting where the contagion is going to spread next. Banks are no longer the shorting targets it's countries that could implode e.g. Pakistan, eastern Europe, private equity/ insurers also looking vulnerable

cynic
do you mean managed? or do you say what you mean? or should it be mean what you say? sorry, these markets are enough to confuse just about everyone, myself included.i think you always do both,( not confuse) maybe i should have left that out? but i could be wrong. confused?
i've slept on it and have now decided to step back for a week or two or maybe just a little longer.i'm just going to run with my current open positions with protective stops and try very hard not to get drawn into taking any more positions.
famous last words. lol
as with all traders hats i reserve the right to change my mind of course. on a sixpence. and then back again.
seriously though, although that was, it depends on my total exposure which ultimately governs my pain threshold which is very low. i run quick. unless i'm in profit and then it is much higher.then i'm ok closing at progressive small profits or finally at no loss if i'm lucky should the market seriously turn on me.
i'm still a medium term bear but wary of a sharp rally given the volatilaty.
a question for all.
is it likely / probable that if/when the markets do rally then it is a given understanding that all stocks will do likewise?
do all holders just have to sit it out for the long term?
i have been fortunate over recent years. i havent had to sit through the ignomy of seeing a stock i held being relegated out of one of the indices.
might we start being asked such questions as 'the stockmarket is up or has now recovered but why isnt/ hasnt my share done the same'?.. or not?
any views on this anyone?.
good luck and best wishes to one and all
regards
jkd