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

indeed - sticky for all his manyfold faults, is not abusive of others when they disagree with his suggestions or analysis - very much unlike mentor!

the markets, having been totally shell-shocked at the open, are now making a shaky attempt at recovery ..... let's hope that further severe relapse is not on the cards

I'm still wanting to go long for the bounce at some point but when ?
i nearly left a buy order to get filled in the night at a cheeky 5550 ,however that wouldn't have looked so clever or cheeky this morning would it .

A sorry mess.

5400 not such a dumb idea keaydian.
Take your pick........anywhere from here down to 5000!

5550 would just be in the money as i write

across the pond, 15,600 is holding but bouncing no higher than about 15,660 before falling back again

this'll be great for nerves in US as well ......

Twitter share price nosedives on news it is losing users
Price of stock falls 13% in after-hours trading after hitting an all-time low earlier this week on news its number of monthly users has stopped growing entirely

all markets looking weak once more

violent volatility of the markets self-apparent
DOW spiked down to 15,560 (glad i missed that!) but is now back to 15,640 and FTSE is back over 5,550

Well are you feeling brave cynic ?

not for now ...... DOW continues to get dizzy at ~15,560 but looking slightly firmer for choice ...... fluked a small 35 point profit earlier

interesting to see quite how badly DOW opens - ie after 10 minutes, will it be higher or lower than say 15,650?

DOW sadly, looking very much like yesterday ....... a respectable early recovery, only to fall away once more

however, good to see FTSE still holding quite well above 5,500 though above 5,600 would give greater comfort

Iv'e been in and out of FTSE grabbing a few points here and there ,playing for bigger stakes and fewer points.
It's terrible this fall for stocks .

Don't get too distressed jimmy. We have been here before and most stocks do recover given time. If you can afford to sit tight with your stocks and don't panic sell, then just look at your losses as a notional figure.

HARRY , i have luckily got some decent dividend paying stocks so i will do exactly that.
I shall also be looking for bargains .

IMB (was IMT) is an excellent defensive stock
BATS should be but isn't performing nearly as well
DOM continues to astound

just to cheer everyone .......

20th january, dow dropped to 15,450 and then closed at 15,850!
today, dow opened at 15,850 (guess that means midnight) and has so far been as low as 15,515 ...... currently 15,580 and really struggling to break north of 15,600

must be more than a certainty that china will be truly dreadful tonight, but perhaps that's already been discounted

shall keep a wary eye on S&P500 ..... currently it's nicely firm along with everything else, so fingers x'ed that it stays that way until NY close

for all that, i can't believe this is more than a short-term relief rally so shall endeavour to remember that!

I agree. Just a trading bounce, so am not going to get sucked in to buying stocks........yet.

ditto with indices ..... might be ok if you're already in, even if just ameliorating running losses(!) but quite brave to open new except for quick trades