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

took a bundle off the table today and very glad i did so ...... Dow closed at barely b/e following further downgrade of greece so tomorrow london likely to open weak ..... surprisingly, euro does not lookde to have weakened against either usd or sterling

my portfolio still seems stubborn and not want to go down, in fact it went up today.
maybe i shall be in for a shock. i am sure i shall sooner or later.in the mean time i have
tightened my stops, but not too close, just close enough to allow me to give some back to the market, but not all of it. and will now let the market decide for me.
shall then start again, from a higher base hopefully.( ie.money in the bank)
but only hopefully. we shall see.
i am trying to "read " my individual charts and not be influenced by outside views and herd energies.
as always just my opinion and please be sure to dyor.
i could be wrong.
regards to all
jkd

jkd - This morning Dollar Index showing wee bit stronger. Unfortunately playing golf today so not trading. Re-Scalping opportunities post 5924, using j76's live US Dollar chart (post5926) click on time frame 10mins, indicators Bollanger Bands - RSI - MacD. If you have live Ftse and Dow charts post all three (same time frame and indicators obviously) on your screen and watch for the opportunities. For example if I wasn't probabably wasting my time posting, I would have gone long Ftse or Dow, Ftse at 1045hrs @ 5775 would by now had my stop at entry target 5798 top of Ftse Bollinger Band or be ready to exit watching indicators on Dollar Index chart.

1152 would have put stop to 5790

1155 would have been stopped out for a scalp of + 15. Fool to myself, out golfing now.

Going to be a blood bath on the FTSE Thursday

gees, just got back from the golf, even though would have made a few bob today tomorrows another day :O)

11800 is the number from which one can hope for a recovery on Dow and i think 5700 on FTSE, but with the way things are currently looking, don't bet your house on it ..... not half glad i took a lot of cash off the table last week

S @P in a similar position which is more worrying. Hey 'This to shall Pass' but don't hold your breath!

Ftse now in the five six hundreds now......dear oh dear.....

No great surprise rf, imo. This decline has been widely predicted. I wonder if Simon Griffin target of 5050 is going to happen. Certainly 5600 is on the cards, imo. Will make for a great boost in the autumn though, once the markets start to pick up again.

Month on Month retail sales were dire - previous month 1.1% consensus -0.6% actual -1.4%.

pity; Dow just drifting and drifting ...... having been +80 at one point, it is now hovering at barely b/e

Can't see the charts .....hmm, let me put my glasses on, no still can't see them :-)

Try on page 1. Cynic decided to leave them out of the header!!!

Thanks Harrycat

i smell a low or at the very least a decent bounce soon
currently flat on indices and watching for opportunitity. had already tightened my stop losses on my individual stocks but not been hit just YET. although my portfolio is finally now well down from recent highs. still well up through longer term and just trying to hang on in there.
on reflection it may have been prudent of me to have taken a dow/ftse short to protect my portfolio short term. trouble is from past experience i usually get em both wrong. so just sitting tight at moment and allowing my stop losses to do their stuff although i did manage to add a bit from my last long venture into the dow.luckily i escaped with a profit from what turned out to be a short term rally.it could have been an absolute disaster but fortunately, due to stop losses it wasnt.
lots of stocks looking toppy, but not yet broken down and confirmed. maybe they will.
or not? i dont know. thats why i have my stops in place.
all just my opinion as always.
oh! and btw for those that may be interested it's the longest day next week.
regards to all
jkd
edit for interest dow and ftse currently circa 12001/5703

Looks like FTSE will open down 30/40 points

let's hope dow can hang on to its modest gain over the whole session .... not greatly meaningful other than psychologically

cynic sooner or later even the Yanks will wake up to the fact that the greek situation is like a pimple on a pumpkin in world economic terms,an economy based on olives and showing idiot tourists their rapidly decaying architecture.Soon perhaps will be the time to be averaging those semi-submerged holdings, pretty sure Warren is doing exactly that.