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

Fingers crossed then cyners.

have you seen the tip above from Lucian??.

thanks stinky .... no i had not noticed your post .... have now put on my watchlist and shall contemplate o'night

please note from 11/3/09 ......
The Board of Chaucer Holdings has responded to a statement issued by Novae that it has ended merger discussions by stating that discusions are continuing with other parties.

Wall Street trying to misbehave, whioch is all very dull ..... key level to watch is +/-7550, but currently about 100 above that

If it keeps falling there will be a tasty gap on ftse, dax,and cac at the close.

presumably to go long FTSE(?) o'night

just noticed that Dow dumped to 7550, which was meant to be a support, and has certainly proved as much, at least pro tem

Affirmative though only trade it from close preferably 805pm though Dow seems to have rallied so probably won't bother, will see in 10 minutes

Went long DOW @ 19:10

silly times innit! ..... i went long Dow too in a modest way at 7559 but shall close that out in a mo for a very useful profit considering the outlay

and gold up but oil down - strange strange

Well I stood watching that rally into close like a lemon instead of trading it like you sensible folk,not much of an overnight gap now.The last hour reversal, that old chestnut! Personally feel it's only worth trading indices in first and last hour as they get too confusing in between! Might put a cheeky ftse long order in overnight at 3830

would be happier if FTSE had held 3900, but maybe worth a punt with some sort of stop

Oh bugger, forgot about summertime over the pond. Can't close my long

:O(

stinky digit (especially) ...... depending on one's mindset, it could be argued either that FTSE is consiolidating with a view to breaking firmly through the 3900 barrier and onwards and upwards, or that 3900 is proving too tough a hurdle and that FTSE will fall back below the support of 3750.

on the basis of the last couple of days, my inclination is towards the first scenario.

Pony.

def a good day at the races today!

FTSE really is underperforming at the moment relative to Dow ...... Dow is currently +150 at 7900 while FTSE is staggering along barely +20 on the close ..... if Dow stays strong through close, the odds are surely ever shortening on a stellar day for FTSE tomorrow.

as i am my own master for the evening, may have a dabble on the Dow and try not to lose money!

Youve been saying that now cyners for the last 4 days.

My feeling is that politics have taken over the agenda for the City and it looks like our Gordon is going to have a tough time next week with all the World leaders, plus lets not forget we start the US reporting season starting monday onwards so it could be bad tactics to be top heavy going into next week.

Im sure all the City wide boys are aware.

Daily bets in the morning chaps, dont get caught holding the baby going into next week and being the wrong side of the market.

Of course I speak with limited knowledge of indicies as i have previously declared, but Ive just got this feeling after the last few days....

Perhaps you should go long ftse/ short dow, cynic

i made enough for a decent dinner long dow last night, which i closed, and have stayed long ftse

Dinner with a suitable companion I hope