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

Temporary short selling bans imposed after a dramatic sell off in global markets during the summer have been extended in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain.

The extensions are made while the eurozone debt crisis grips market commentary and European officials scramble to buy time before a Greek default by boosting the leveraging power of the EFSF from 440 billion to some 2 trillion, among other measures according to various media reports.

Italy and France extended the short selling ban until 11 November, with the French regulator, AMF, stating that it "will continue to monitor, in coordination with the European regulators concerned, the markets and their developments. [The AMF] may decide to lift the ban if market conditions allow it".

Belgium extended its ban indefinitely. Bloomberg reports the Spanish regulator confirming the ban will remain in place until the market conditions allow it to be lifted. Greece has extended its ban on short selling until 9 December.

Many market participants, frustrated by fragmentation of rules across European nations, question the wisdom of such bans, pointing to research suggesting the move reduces liquidity during times of stress and does little to achieve price stability.

short selling has paid off my mortgage this year.

well done bm - pleased to hear it - done correctly i am not surprised - gl

Thank's If this keeps up i will have that new Ferrari. I feel rather guilty making this easy money.

fancy supporting my musical project then Bernard? Currently looking for funding and don't need a lot either. 5K would go a long way :-)
ps Well done!

Try Dragon's Den, I have many charity's that i donate to.

I wasn't being serious!

I guessed that lol.

You must be the only person on here enjoying this !.....as for myself.....gaaaaaddd....(:(

For those looking for less volatility, SHRS is EX dividend tomorrow @3p.

Looks like Ben 10 is going to help Wall St via the FED today better take my profit now.

I thought his "speech" started at 3pm our time.

Just on now he was late, finishing off his bagel lunch.

Just putting things into context.....if great britain pulled out of the EC we would probably have a drop to 4000,.... a dirty bomb in london 3000...if adolf hitler struck again : probably 2000......a new iceage perhaps...1500....an atomic war just 1000.....and a decent size asteroid......well 0... I presume.....so blinkin'..flipin'....bloody greece defaulting :.... 6100 down to 4800.....well it's bloody overdone.....!..

Greece is a "peanut" don't know what all the fuss is about just an excuse for shorters to continue destroying asset values.

You are not wrong yorky, blown way of scale, Fear rules, so does greed.

Greek default is affecting the banking industry though. Dexia, belgian bank, now in trouble due to greek exposure write-offs.

Harry Dexia is in trouble because it is under capitalised.

Greece is offering holidays 2 for 1

BBC:
"Dexia's exposure to Greek government debt totals 3.4bn euros ($4.5bn; 2.9bn). Its total exposure to Greece - including to private-sector Greek borrowers - is 4.8bn euros.
It has already written off 21% of its Greek debts, but market prices now suggest the eventual loss to lenders could be in excess of 50% of the amount owed by Greece."