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

All looking negative now, it looks like we are in a downward bear chanel now, with bear rallies. Confirmation might be indicated if the next low is lower then previous one, which I believe was 5555 on the 22nd January. I'm following some blue chip companies with a view of building a long term portfolio slowly over the next 12/18 months. With expert timing brought some BT 2 days back, 10% cheaper now ! Will add some more lower down 205p if they fall further.

Shorting at 12265... very volitile todays been...

Just touched 12300, will I be punished????

This is getting scary. 4 figure loss and still mounting. Can't work out the logic of why its going up. Just hoping the end of day sell off happens before im cleaned out

12330, looking scary now, holding in there though, fingers crossed its not an upset.... RSI climbing also..

The American 'buy one get one free' offer seams to be in place, small print always states though 'whilst stocks last'.... Famous last words.... maybe..!!

my cheeks were clenched earlier, was heading for 4 figure loss myself, but closed out at a (small) loss in the end, I will concede my timing was very bad and have watched in amazement at the recovery since, even did a dummy long later which would have been profitable...

12225 Thats me out, very strong upwards momentum, builds quickly but didn't last, anyway one thing I know about this game is not get greedy... Will short again if it goes back over 12300...

Fallen to 12200 now.... Sods law, however could have easily gone the other way.

Charts option on TDW doesn't appear to work and cant find somewhere that streams constant prices to a 5 minute chart...

Amazing range, has lost 100 points (Wall St.) in under 30 mins.... Tonight not for the faint hearted, I'm going to see if I can play this range for 40 points a time..

Big Ted try selftrade.com home page scroll down hit DOW and then charts, top left of the chart is intraday, 15-20 mins behind but can still plot a range with the data..... Today is exactly the reason I've waited untill now to get involved, volitility expected and thats what we've got.

All those seeing support at 12200, I still don't see any support here so if you'd be kind enough to explain your theories and how you came to determine this I'd be very grateful.... I'm hoping to learn something new with this so your patience is very much appreciated. Charting today tells me theres something here and I'm intrigued to learn more... Any charts posted would be very welcome so I can see and better understand reasoning.... Thankyou in advance... John

Amazing just seen 12161.... That really does show you the potential. I only want to bet on the downside though as long term I believe we're still heading down..

12300 out if sequence, 12250 now looking for to sell.

strorysj - looks like you've got your sell off.... Good luck

very interesting .... as have said, am abroad at the mo and also as have said, indices are v dangerous playgrounds if you cannot watch ..... for myself, i am far from convinced that Dow will continue south, but will need to have time to watch before i make up my mind ..... for general info, Dow +30 as i write at 12230ish

After seeing the rebound today with all the bad news that was out with earnings, i'm inclined to agree... could have sworn we were in for a big sell off, maybe on the next nasty news... only problem is, there are not going to be so many nasty surprises anymore because it is becoming to be expected... here is an article i have just read...


Thu 07/02/2008 19:59

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street struggled to rebound Thursday as investors, though still nervous about the economy, bought up stocks that have been pummeled by three straight days of losses.

With market having largely priced in the possibility of a recession, many believe there are many valuable stocks at cheap prices. The stock market had tumbled this week, slicing 543 points, or 4.26 percent, off the Dow Jones industrial average.

'The market is coming to the conclusion that it overreacted over the past few days,' said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist for ING Investment Management, noting that it's unsurprising that bargain hunters would enter the market after three straight days of sharp losses.

Trading was fickle, though, given Thursday's gloomy data -- which included declines in retailers' sales figures, a drop in sales of pending homes and a disappointing outlook from Internet networking supplier Cisco Systems Inc.

'We're kind of trying to create a silk purse out of a sow's ear here,' said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors. 'The earnings are lousy, the economic numbers are lousy.'

Ends at 12272, well thats only a small loss, sell off coming so would rather a rebound at close than with hours to go. See what tomorrow brings, 12200 down side test several times today so expecting lower....

Possibly a little bit of a respite next week, as I can see no release of any critical data from the U.S., except for final results from Coca-Cola & IBM on thurs.
Sorry to see you shorters taking a bit of a hammering, but for us equity holders next week may see some blue for a change.