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

Poor figures from Dell & another rogue trader scandal (M F Global commodities trader), if I was a spreadbetter I would certainly consider shorting the DOW today, coupled with the possibility of friday afternoon profit taking on the FTSE.

John, hope you re-entered your gpbjpy short, i too closed last week, but set order (which unfortunately triggered first thing lower than set, when it gapped down), but it is heading down sharply this morning...

We might be in a bear market (as so it seems), but there are some terrific stocks out there !, shame the market doesn't react more to the good ones!

DOW futures currently -88.
Are all you spreadbetters & CFD traders short this afternoon?

not exactly a fun week, but managed to squeeze out a reasonable profit since last friday, though not sure how! ...... just for reference, i note my portfolio value at the end of trade each friday

Ted - No have left the Yen now, good fall today though but I fully expect it to reach the 210-211 again in the next couple of weeks, 205 is as low as I think it'll go but with March futures coming to an end don't want to be caught short so will play against the June future. Will short then as Wall St will be at lower levels. Keep an eye on Desire (DES) lots of movement up this week on the back of a farm out agreement, too soon too fast I'm thinking especially with the FTSE across the board declines. Copper also looks like it going to break out after consolidating but again want the future play for June rather than March so will bide my time.

memory tells me 190 is the target within the next 12 months, but will need to remember to check

Also I'm now looking to pick my buying point in gold for a future play long. $1000 USD I don't think so, long term I think double this easy. As Christopher Wood put it so nicely in yesterdays Times, "gold is the exact opposite of a structured finance product"..... Jim Rogers in the same article .He said that the plan by Ben Bernanke, to "crank up the money-printing machines and run them until we run out of trees" had exposed America's weekest point to her rivals and enemies. Rather amusing I thought talking about the currency with a hidden pun for timber, another commoditie I'll be looking to own an EFT against.

190 is the target for next twelve months Cynic you are correct, my 205 refers to Q1-Q2 which I think will be the lowest point moving between 205-210 mainly with peaks at 211 and 212 at a tight push. 190 longer term for sure though, shouldn't break the 200 barrier until other formations come into play EUR v's GBP,USD,JPY strength, where EUR should fall in these pairs thus becoming stronger. This of course is the current track whilst the USA ignore inflation.... Just my humble thoughts of course and I'm sure many have other ideas and reasoning.

Thought the new Rambo was good but the fall on Wall St looks even better, will it rebound though or just a little then fall again, this is the question.....

Short on Wall St all day from 12572, closed at 12267 and shorted again at 12286 rolling over to Monday. 12300 again, will it be the tractor beam level next week again.

Mr E .... what a very clever chap you are, starting your short at the very peak and even picking your bottom (so to speak!) and managing yet again to choose the top of the short-term bounce to reopen ...... house in the caribbean now under construction perhaps?

i was out last night splitting my sides to bobby davro in very non-pc mode, so was unable to monitor .... however, as i left a stop on my own Dow short at 12220, i note that was not hit and after hours sees the Dow (allegedly!) back at 12300 ..... that is but marginal comfort and i am glad i took quite a lot of money off the table during the week.

Cynic, I'd call it luck more than anything else.. Have only achieved to claw back losses earlier in the week when Wall St was going up and I was shorting all the way might I add to 12650.. No house under construction I'm affraid, I only play small bets as can't afford to risk more. Got caught out with the YEN as the rise at the beginning of the week + rise in Wall St forced me to sell the YEN as I couldn't cover both, as soon as I closed the bet if fell, bet theres a few people posting here that know that feeling.! Have a look at the chart below and set to either 1 minute or 5 minute and you'll see how quickly and the range the DOW was moving.

http://www.selftrade.co.uk/historical-charts.php?symbole=$INDU

for myself, have just closed Dow short as 12200 is likely to prove some support and suspect indicated opening (further - 60/70) may well be overcooked

If you look at the forward diary for this week, there is a huge amount of economic data due out from the U.S. on wed & thurs. Obviously it depends on whether this data is good or bad, but shorting the DOW all this week would seem to be on the cards, imo. Maybe the FTSE will follow suit, particularly as a few big companies going ex-divi this week.

nothing falls in a straight line either! .... as always, if trading indices, always dangerous if you are unable to monitor constantly

Think I'll leave the short running, 12185 I think we'll see it finishing at with a small gain maybe being made in Tuesdays trading... Fridays candle was engulfing so going by this will look to close the position upon a short candle with a small wick... Each to their own, you pay your money and take your chance... Good luck

Interesting article on commodities boom. Just wonder if today or tomorrow could herald a major correction in oil with OPEC meeting today. Buy on the rumour sell on the fact re. whether production will be cut stay the same or increased.
thttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/04/cccomms104.xml

ive been short on oil from 96 dollars on brent and 101 on crude. If its anything like last week it will probably go up until around 7pm uk then reverse in the last hour of trading. Im then expecting it to continue its decline tomorrow. Trading very flat in an 80 point range today

Quite amazing that drop last night! I have been shorting brent a lot recently for short term gains as it has been a counter trend strategy. If DOW really tanks through 12000 that may send oil down as a recession would be deflationry. We shall see