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

Ah - thank you Skinny!

if anything, looks more like a position from which to go long with a short term target perhaps 150 higher

Now then: can someone help me to interpret RSI (presumably if it's +50 then it's an indication the price may continue upwards??) and MACD - ?

It could actually be at a reasonable level to short right now, but my funds are a bit stretched currently so daren't take a chance just now

I certainly think if it rises up to 7400 then I'll go short again, even if it does travel a little beyond that

More charts - thanks Skinny! A good illustration of the wide range within which the DOW travels compared with the FTSE

FTSE 100 gone short 5785.3

Toya RSI is a momentum oscillator so 50 means no trend, 70 overbought, 30 oversold. 14 is the days taken over so short term.
MACD is the relationship between two average prices to hopefully produce a signal.

Thanks Shortie :)))

Reckon a short at this level of FTSE should work but I messed up the other day so need to tread a bit more carefully!

i happen to disagree as the markets currently seem disinclined to stumble, though that is not to say there will not be a brief window of opportunity, depending on what (small) southerly movement is deemed to be sufficient

CAD Core Retail Sales m/m 0.0% consensus 0.5% previous 0.4%

Well 5790 I think is a short term resistence point, so we'll have to see if it gets taken out and how easily.

2hr chart below (RSI 4 days, lines 70,30)

http://rt16.it-finance.com/FinSpreadsFlash/showimage.phtml?id=2e44ce96ffaf303385dd4598b197ab563e0d7879388946ca1ea8b31c8855f461&type=png

We're pretty much back to where we were 11 November, so there could be a pull back to, say, 5740?

Anyway, I'm not brave enough to do anything currently on the indices

Someone put some money in the meter!

Have to wait till Monday Skinny - bet we'll see some action then (and probably upwards) when the US is finished feasting.

there's a short days' trading in usa tomorrow

So there is... forgot.

I'll bring popcorn.

There's a lot of Yen short squaring going on atm guys, ahead of the long weekend. Not too many folk want to be leaving risk on the table after a good run over the last few sessions.

I need to study alternatives - New Year's resolution. :)