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

Thank you Stan - as a novice - I think I will do dummy cfd's and see what might have happened.

Thanks again to those of you who take time out to provide advice and guidance.

Markets do appear to be bullish (tempoarily) and money coming back, but jobless data may put a spanner in the works later... I feel the markets have perhaps climbed a bit too fast and there is room for a breather, or pull back...

difficult calls at the moment ..... if trading, much as Mr Bolton may choose to despise such activity as a way of attempting to make money, then one needs to be very watchful and nimble

as i write, Dow indicators show +112 ..... it seems to me that is putting an awful lot of hope in the employment figures to be announced later today ..... i suppose the counter argument is that the horribleness is pretty much discounted as was already known by Fed when latest rate was made .... even so, we have seen as pretty dramatic recovery over the last few days and don't forget the w/e is ahead, so many positions are likely to be closed off tonight.

Thank you to whoever it was who suggested use of stop losses. Got stopped out of my sell on the FTSE with a small profit - which I would have missed as I was away from my desk when the index started to rise again.

Staying out now.

also stopped out a minute ago, shame, missed a profit earlier on, and only came down to make a cup of tea...!!!

i am now short Dow, with guaranteed stop in place ..... i have guaranteed it because, on announcement of the employment figures, the index could move 100+ points in a literal second, thus stopping one out much lower than intended

I read the prediction for employment figures last month were 58k, market took heart from prediction and rose from 5965 to the 6000 level. Thankfully I managed to cancel a sell order at 5995 before reached. Too hard to call now. So have placed a short order on KGF, in case markets spike this afternoon.

I'm staying well out 12785 for the DOW but didn't think it'd get here this quickly, seams to me that a goodwill bubble has formed, how long this will last is anyones guess. If the charts show a similar trend to yesterday then I'll think about getting in. FTSE also to me looks too high too soon as does the DAX. A fallback I think is coming but when I don't know, all this goodwill is great for equities so fingers crossed I'll soon be looking at even more blues and taking profits....

-17000, expected 70000+

have traded successfully today and taken some profits off the table - no one ever went bankrupt putting the cash in the back (unless NRK!) ...... Dow short modestly in the money, and still running.

inter alia, sold RIO (again!) but suspect i shall get back in later today, though shall place a guaranteed stop lest all goes pear-shapeed

I have sat on my hands this afternoon and watched and learnt from the masters. If I had followed my instincts - I think I would have made a few bob - but staying cautious for now.

bhunt - You'll have to share the masters tips with us also...

Lol, I tried to short FTSE twice and although could have banked a profit earlier, ended up unsucsessful, lesson learnt, dont go against the grain... I actually posted earlier that money appears to be coming back to the market and even a potentially nasty piece of news from the states has been brushed aside, perhaps we are safe again for a week or so, or 200/300 points before the next down leg... who knows???

Big Ted - I think you hit the nail on the head when you said 'don't go against the grain', its abit slow at the moment for my liking but there is still a range that can be traded as long as you don't mind sitting at the screen trading it. I'm sat here just waiting for what I consider the right time to get in, have charts also running to I can see history, helps get a feel on the range..

I must say this thread seams to have a nice bunch posting on it, many others I just flick through as I've seen the ramping and abuse. This really concludes only one thing, be very careful who you listen to or maybe take advice from.

Good weekend all - I shall be decorating for my sins

And you bhunt, I have new skirtings to fit also....

In on wall st 12660 buy

Sold 12691, small profit but then and again range is only small today.

Not willing to take the gamble as I believe long term the DOW will go up as already stated in earlier posts so looking to only buy at the lower points of the range. To me this limits the risk of being caught out betting against where the support line will be.