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

and more @ 9881

How are you getting on with your DOW long, Splat? All over the place. Was + then almost zero, now +130!

and has "lost" 40 of that o'night ..... mildly positive start for london but not sure it will hold

covered the rest +60 before the market open yesterday and reopened at 9799 before our close. That is also now covered +100. A separate UKX long from 5,000 also covered yesterday evening +41. No index positions open atm Harry.

5000 hit

went long @ 5017 on the way back up and just closed out now +40. Sorry couldn't post trade as it was by phone. Will be looking to long retracements

i was long dow but closed it at a modest profit when futures looked more likely to keep dropping

long UKX @ 5013

fingers x'ed 4 u .... last i heard before i went out to dinner here (dubai) was dow +110 ..... it really is bad news when it then collapses again

Unbelievable swing on the DOW today. I thought Ben Bernanke had brought about that 'feel good factor' & then the whole thing goes t*ts up! Out of my comfort zone to trade the indices. Just happy to watch & learn.

covered some UKX @ 5038

out more UKX +29

out far too early, again, but short earlier @ 5141 and out by limit +31
watching quite carefully, as klal has posted on the Traders' Thread, there is an interesting and very clear channel for the FTSE 100 atm. Looking forward to the breakout either way :)

Yes - I've just closed half my short @5093 +50. OCO on the rest!

nice one skinny, glad to know some one is thinking similarly :-)

short some Doodah @ 10,180 and a PhootSey @ 5,144

you really do have to be super-alert trading the indices, especially at the moment with this huge volatility ..... last night was a good example and tonight i think not much different with dow climbing about 100 in the last hour - makes a change from it dumping!

closed a long ftse just before opening at a small profit, but as i was en route from m/e across the whole trading day, it really would have been very risky to have left it running with anything other than a very tight stop - which would then almost certainly have been hit

Given that it is so volatile, I have found that contrarian trades work very well. I have taken some 2,000 points over the last few weeks from both dow and FTSE, and to be honest, it should have been a lot more, but my exit strategy is and always has been my biggest problem as a trader. It is precisely the volatility that generates the points so long may it continue, as far as I'm concerned.

for instance, Dow is now some 286 points higher than it was at 21.00 hours last night, it is not unreasonable to expect some retracement of that, even if it is only 50 points and that's why I'm currently short. Thanks, I'll take 'em.

furthermore, we seem to be at the top of a downward-trending channel established around May 3rd/4th, which, if it holds, seems to me a reasonable bet for a few points.