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

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

falc
no disrespect but predicting is gambling, in my opinion.
get it right and yes it is high reward but get it wrong and just ask the hedge funds.
making money in the markets is about following, not predicting. if this then that etc.
trouble is time we wake up to being wrong it is oft too late.
stop losses and running quick help.
or if long term investor maybe running slow, but as they say, run slow but when you decide to do it do it fast or not at all..
oft time we are wrong. my recent foray into autonamy being prime example.
i'm still here . solvent and doing well.no regrets.
by the way, i do agree with you in one respect, i'm not predicting, but i just have a sneaky suspicion that hedge fund problems, yet to come out of the woodwork,may just be image of bank problems that may just, when revealed, take us down to the final low. could be wrong. just a suspicion.
regards
jkd

jkd (and others) ..... i too shall try to sit on my hands, though i suspect this morning's fall is heavily overdone and ditto that predicted for NY .... however, that does mean that i shall riush in and take a long on any index!

the only 2 shares that half way tempt me to go long are IEC and SHP .... i actually hold a small number of IEC, but SHP's figures on wednesday should certainly be (very) good and quality pharmas are not a bad place to expose oneself - Boots does not count!

The world is de-leveraging, all that debt that has gone into the system since supposedly 1968 has to come out! In Uk we are fortunate to have a currency that is/has been major and rates can be cut cushioning the blow even if that drops the pound ! Hedge funds are having to reduce 95% margin position to 50% and have to sell assets to make that happen and they will surely be in for a bout of regulation. Private equity has lock-ins for investors so they don't get the huge redemptions that hedge funds are experiencing but they only make a profit by leveraging and those debt terms are coming up for renewal. Who knows what will happen next, there are slivers of light with falling oil prices and low PE's but panic is bound to make thing move a lot further. Value shares though must become better value in terms of their yield as long as it is covered . If this is the worst economic crisis I can't see it bottoming at 3700, perhaps dow 5000, ftse 2800 though that's total guesswork, might be worth putting a buy order December expiry FTSE for 2800!

You seem to have overlooked those investors sitting on the sidelines with their piles of cash waiting to invest.

i would hazard a guess that NY has decided to have a decent rally tonight, but shall (i hope) keep my itchy fingers off the index "buy" button

looked earlier as if i had made a correct call, but damn glad i obeyed my own instruction!

wonder what spooked everyone .... Dow closing down about 200 points at 8150, having been up to 8600 about 2 hours ago

Look out below!!

your right ... Dow in freefall .... now down 275

IG have widened the normal spread to 6pts from 4 - gits

Edit - just realised the effect of reverting to GMT - DOH!

just shows what an impossible market this is to trade.
after hours last night, Dow slumped another 100 points, with FTSE being dragged with it, yet we wake up this morning with Dow indicating +300 and FTSE +100 for no reason whatsoever that i can determine

Just wonder if it's Asia putting the boot in. Japan got poleaxed yesterday and Friday perhaps partly because it's economy is dependent on exports and the yen is going to the moon due to the carry trade un-winding. The hangover hits the European markets and US futures which then progressively recover only for profit taking before the close in anticipation of another Stuka!

apparently bounce is solely on the back of a strong showing in F/E o'night, though that merely recouped some of the previous devastation