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

just to go back a few posts ...... playing the indices is arguably muh less risky than playing with individual stocks, for with FTSE (for example) you are effectively buying into a basket of 100 companies and the share price movement thereof.

for myself, i certainly only dabble gently, but with IG offering CFD contracts at 2 a point, and i am sure others are similar, one can be as brave or foolhardy or cautious as one wishes

things that go bump in the night, or even mid afternoon in this case ..... Dow was earlier +100 and is now and suddenly -100, for no published reason ..... "too far, too fast" syndrome?

Thats why its gambling playing indicies. Rest my case.

so is it buying/selling shares!!!
indices only rise/fall in line with the shares within them - there's nothing arcane about it!

I dont think its quite the same cynic ,,if you sat day after day trading the DOW/FTSE up and down ,i think it would be harder than investing in companies ,its more toss of a coin .Heads or tails.

FTSE100 (for example) is like a unit trust with a holding across those companies ..... de facto, FTSE is intrinsically less volatile than an individual company, and assuredly less so if your preference is to dabble in amoeba and minnows

if you're going to try to make money day trading, you're virtually a racing certainty to get immolated regardless of what you buy/sell

I'd rather trade indices than shares

i've been 'immolated' whatever that means!

Apparently its the first album by the Polish death metal band - Dies Irae :-)

:O)

DD - are you sure you don't mean molested?

yes please ...

;-)

My tuppence worth: Surely it's much easier to understand how & why an individual share is performing rather than trying to understand the complex issues of why a whole index is moving, particularly the FTSE100 which is heavily weighted with foreign companies?

indices are often more to do with momentum and chart patterns ...... i play with FTSE and Dow in a very modest way, but use the info i am given as a guide to what i may do in the wider market

A fairly substantial correction over the last two days, particularly on the FTSE250.
Just going to have to sit & brave it out, imo, with an eye to picking up some stocks at lower prices. Many seem top have dropped below their 25DMA with hopeful support at the 200DMA.

Dow now -91, so unless a late recovery, things looking very gruesome for tomorrow ahead of US GDP numbers

i am advised that if FTSE falls through 4950 and/or Dow through 9650, then watch out.
conversely, i guess one could argue that either/both indices should bounce from those levels too, or from a bit above them

Is this going to be like March ? ,i'll be surprised if it is ,,is this just a pullback ? Only holding 2 stocks myself....

What happened in March?