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

5625.5 FTSE100 gone long

what a crazy day on Dow

Shortie - Would I be right in saying your long based on breach of bollanger band oversold, so looking for a retrace to test 5660 - 5700? Then a sell off into the close to resume trend.

5680 is the probable resistance ..... however, with dow flying around all over the place, it's anyone's guess where it'll finish tonight

Aye cynic, not sure I would want to be long over the weekend, but wtfdik,if in doubt stay out good for me. :O)

strange evening with dow hopping around all over the place, albeit within fairly narrow margins .... i'ld guess monday will open strong, but not brave enough to open any position in anticipation

Apple has lost £104 billion from its market value since mid September - quite amazing!

Apples market valuation of no surprise to me Skinny, premium brand, recession, competition catching up, value for money..... I could go on..

FTSE long closed... Yes bought as viewed the FTSE as oversold and was looking for a retrace. This wasn't based on bollinger brands though as I rarely use them when trading 10, 15 and 30min charts.

I've gone short FSTE again at 5658 - an odd number, but it's served me well in the past week - hmm, possibly a bit premature!

Interesting link below - Apple is top of the cash pile!
8 Companies you didn't know had so much money

I think the FTSE has overextended, I'm expecting it to rally back to 5700 then target the 200 DMA approx 5746 at the moment (no signals though). Good luck with your short position Toya.

Thanks Shortie! I shall keep an eye on it today and be ready to stop it if it's clear I've made the wrong decision.

I just feel it will be a short-term rally. However, it could all change when US Housing Data is released at 15:00 today

can't disagree with shortie's analysis, though "overextended" in my language implies "too far too fast"

We speak the same language then Cynic..

On pure logic and charts, I entirely agree with you. However, I also feel that current politics could influence the markets quite strongly:

"Strategists said upside for equities remains limited after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told a cabinet meeting that the Israeli forces were prepared to significantly expand the offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip... Europe’s debt crisis could also move back to the fore, strategists warned, as euro-zone finance ministers prepare to meet Tuesday in another effort to bridge differences over how to achieve a sustainable debt path for Greece."

Also there's the US fiscal-cliff, debt ceiling, potential credit rating downgrade, look at what happened last year after the debt ceiling was raised and the S&P cut the US rating. Further QE, it's long due a knock on USD strength.

FTSE clearly is heading higher...

Paragon finals tomorrow, going long I think, they've recently increased and extended their warehouse facility and look set to outperform expectation. With estimated full year profits of £72m I think they should be trading on a PE of 12 which would support a 287p sp.

249.27 Paragon Group Mar 13 Spread Bought.

USD Existing Home Sales 4.79m consensus 4.76M previous 4.75M

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 46 consensus 41 previous 41