Whats your opinion????????????????????????????????????????????????????.

To be honest Im getting a little fed up with all this Credit and Margin within the market, as I see it leads to volatility and sideways markets as short - termism leads the way.

Spreadbets, CFDS, T plus and many more are having a very negative effect on the market as I see it, even Winnie and Evil K admitted this last year, whats the solution if there is one? or are we stuck in a circle chasing are arses and tails. Your opinions whatever way, would be most welcome.

cheers GF.

Never read so much twaddle in all my life. There have always been shorters, and there needs to be to make a market. Who else provides the other side of the deal when you want to go long ? No, don't tell me, it's someone selling you their shares because they're altuistic and want to share some of their profit on the long side with you.

Hotei. I partially agree with you, but I think 10 years ago shorting and going long was less common and then generally on the larger capitalise companies and therefore had little effect on the overall movement of the share price and the market in general. I think it is unlikely to change and as you state we are only making money at someone elses expense. (But we only notice our own pain when we are loosing, like to-day S-d IT! Majority of shares blue but the red ones hurt.

Fred - I agree that the ability to short, for the small trader, is something that relatively few had access to until recently with the advent of CFD and spreadbet instruments. But now we have them we are on a more even footing with the big boys, and I think that is good. It's too easy for people to blame others (shorters, market makers, analysts, "de-rampers" etc) when their investment decisions turn out to be "not so good" the market is as the market is - people need to learn to live with it and benefit by it, or move on to do something else with their money.

The big boys are gradually moving into Bonds well away from the volatility of this market with all its credit tools.

What we are really seeing at the moment is one of the downsides of the consumer credit bubble burst. People have overspent, they now have to pay back what they owe, theres less money being invested in the markets.

As for Hotei, Im sorry but this remark is totaly wrong "Never read so much twaddle in all my life. There have always been shorters, and there needs to be to make a market. Who else provides the other side of the deal when you want to go long ?"Ends, err hotei for every buyer there is a seller, selling in the convential way is not the same as shorting, and shorters are not needed to make a market, sellers are.

cheers GF.

GF - self-evidently, there must be a seller for a buyer. However, a seller doesn't necessarily have the assets he is selling at the time the trade takes place.

Hence you answer your own mistaken assertion and you have a shorter in the above case. Anyway hotei my initial post is not just against people going short it also covers them going long aswell on credit.

I beleive the amount of credit in the market place now leads to far bigger swings both ways and directly leads to the volatility we have seen since the end of the last Bear market. I hope you dont take my post as offensive its not intended to be. I really just want to know how people feel about these new tools in the market place and also their likely effects on shaping markets in the years to come.

cheers GF.

Hotei - How dare you tell me to get used to it or move onto something else. I've been investing for years, recently supplimenting my pension. I have absolutely no desire to "move onto spread betting, cfds, horses or dogs".

Spread betting is great for someone like me who can't afford to buy shares in the FTSE 100 or on the New York Stock exchange.
But then the amounts I bet are so small they are hardly likely to affect the market. Also I only bet with cash on deposit.
Is it ok for me to carry on? :-)