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

cynic , Elliot Wave , is the BEST "Hindsight" method of trading ever invented!.

so enlighten us all please!

go to elliotwave.com , everything you NEVER NEEDED to know!

cynic, a good resource and explanation of the Elliott Wave can be found  here


You may also like to take a look at the reference to the  'efficient market hypothesis'  (see here)  which states that it is not possible to consistently outperform the market by using any information that the market already knows, except through luck.


An explanation  here  relates to the  'Random Walk hypothesis'  which claims stock prices are completely random because of the efficiency of the market and therefore cannot be predicted.

Good thread Cynic, FTSE 250 does tend to have a much wider spread, 60 points round trip as opposed to 2 on FTSE in trading hours which can eat into profits, though obviously it has a different exposure

Falcothou, present price of FTSE 100 (ISF) is 655.75 - 656.25 whilst FTSE 250 (MIDD) is 1117.5 - 1121.5

................or are you referring to spreadbetting??

all relating to CFD trading ..... FTSE has a spread of 2/4 points depending on whether open or not and Dow 4/6 ..... FTSE 250 has a spread of 50 points but unlike the main indices, is not tradable ouit of hours

Hi Harry, I only refer to the spreadbetting platform that I have used to trade the 250 in the past but came to the conclusion that it was more cost effective to trade the 100 instead of the 250 and just double the gearing to get a similar result without getting clobbered for as much commision. I do not know whether CFDS have a tighter spread on the 250

FTSE currently indicating to open at 6440 = -80 on friday's close = implies financials in particular likely to be hammered again and also FTSE 250

watch the charts in general for guidance ...... indications this morning are that Dow will open sharply down, which once more will put 50 dma under pressure ...... if Countrywide frightens the market at all on Friday with Q3 results (see Dubious Sell-off), then a very big fall is more than likely ...... a reasonable strategy may be to go short wirth a guaranteed stop

after today's topsy turvy trading, s&p giving very contradictory signal from both Dow and Nasdaq .... make of that what you will

Dow swinging like a Surrey suburb

NASDAQ continues to indicate north while all others are now looking south ...... as posted elsewhere, i am currently short of DOW as i think the markets are way way ahead of themselves and further, cannot see Fed reducing rates by more than 0.25%, and just possibly will not even do that ..... one way or another, after the news, or maybe even before it, expect a sell-off ..... DOW currently down about 80 this evening.

conversely, i shall almost certainly go SHORT on cable - i.e. :$ - as upper target of 20700 has been hit all bar a tiny fraction .... if Fed rates not lowered by more than 0.25% with (probable) indication of no more likely in the near future, then expect $ to rally sharply

certainly not to my surprise, Dow is looking very soggy to open - currently indicating down 135 - so my short there is now comfortably in the money again.

on the other hand, $ remains exceptionally weak at 20830 ..... i confess that i thought it would strengthen very sharply from this level (see above) and with no further Fed cuts looking imminent, this may shortly prove to be the case

NASDAQ is amazing .... it is running totally contrary to every other index

DOW, on which i am running a short, is now challenging or perhaps looking for support at 50 dma level of 13655, and if that fails with any impetus, then i guess the next level to look at will be 13200 being 200 dma

and so have taken partial profit at 13665 and shall now watch and wait .....

rather prematurely it would now seem, but had to leave the office as too dangerous to leave totally exposed .... Dow now down 370 at 13560

13665 long gone

don't entirely disagree and have just closed my position completely with a very nice profit .....

what made you decide to go long? ...... did you just feel fall overdone or is there more "logic" than that?

Sorry, cynic did not mean I had go long, more that 13665 was surpassed a long time ago, looks like it is trying to rally now as it tends to change direction in the last hour though may be a false charge

equally sorry .... di not read your post properly.

as it happens, i have got greedy and taken a small(ish) long on Dow at 13585 on basis that there is likely to be at least a modest bounce overnight .... assume you know indices effectively do not close.