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 i moved my stop a bit further upwards

My candle pattern didn't complete on the 15 min but did on the 30min so very pleased I closed when I did.

Must admit I really thought we were in for a crazy up day, but plenty of time left yet!

stopped out at 11275 which was still +80 which is fine by me

Well done chaps

will you get back in?

I still think they might go for it in the last 30 minutes, but I have to go out - so enjoy!

Wish it was as easy to scalp like this everyday. Will it rally again into the close? Look forward to finding out when I get home from the pub :O)

Chris - when I said "have to go out" - that's what I meant :-))

Cheers skinny! enjoy.

Not sure Ricardo, wish I'd shorted the git when I closed now, but that's just 20/20 hindsight.

Like Skinners, I'm still thinking we're in for a charge, but I don't fancy trying to catch this particlar knife. Would much prefer a return to 11180 ish and then go long from there, but don't think it will be that easy!

Having said that, it seems to be finding some support here (11260)

Ricardo, believe the Markets close at 1800 today, don't be caught with an open position over the weekend you don't want!

A mini charge in the wrong direction!

IG still making a market, but spread on Indices 6 pts.

Still waiting for this bloody bull market?

thanks peter - a good warning!

Dc - who's predicting a bull market?

Bears in charge for now, grrrr.

I thought you did, a few weeks ago ?

ptholden - 21 Oct 2011 22:04 - 7228 of 7589
The DOW has broken through resistance tonight having been stuck in a trading range for a number of months. Chart convention would indicate the index will continue to rise before a pull back to that same resistance level which will provide support to a more sustained rally. I expect the markets to have a bull run for the remainder of the year. You heard it here first :-)

DC - Indeed, but sentiment changes as does opinion, try this for size:

ptholden - 24 Nov 2011 19:01 - 7538 of 7590
Not so long ago I was quite Bullish overall, I could see Cable continuing its upward trend and the DOW / FTSE doing likewise.

What a difference a few weeks makes :(

I've noticed that the EUR/USD cross has been in a long term downward channel since July 2008 and is now well into the next downward leg (the third). It's quite an easy channel to spot and also symmetrical in time and price. If the price movement follows previous performance, the pair could hit 1.15 very early next year (2000 pips in three months?).

Naturally, equities will spiral downwards in the same manner and I think we'd be quite lucky to see a low on the DOW of just 10,600 and I've only picked that number as the last major correction. I wonder if the 2008 sub prime low of 7000 ish could be re-visited?

As always just ruminating about the general state of affairs, but for sure it would appear that the enormous levels of debt worldwide have not yet played out in respect of banks, financial institutions, even countries going to the wall.

DC - No point in trading what you think, trade what you see and at the moment the markets are sinking, although I banked a nice profit today by being long :-)

For all I know the EUR isn't going to collapse either, but it's what BBs are for and some of what I post is rather tongue in cheek and sometimes a deliberate effort to illicit a response or provoke discussion.

ptholden, lets hope Europe survives. Get the feeling a few companies will not be here in the next few months, through lending problems with banks.