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

Swiss catch markets off guard
In mid-morning trading the FTSE 100 is down 30 points at 6350, as the Swiss National Bank removes its 1.20 currency ceiling on the euro.

The Swiss are known for their neutrality, but today’s move by the Swiss National Bank is far from neutral.

The sudden abandonment of the floor by the Swiss central bank has sent the markets into a tail spin.

Equity markets have been shaken out by the Swiss move, and dealers are seeking the safety of the US dollar. Markets are still struggling to puzzle out the full implications, but the sudden drop in equity markets as well in the FX sphere shows that the move caught everyone off guard.

chris beauchamp (IG)

i've got to go out in a sec, but dow is now in an interesting area 17330/17300

support should be good especially at the bottom of that range, but such are the markets at present, that nothing should be taken for granted .... hence, i haven't the balls to buy and leave, or even sell and leave

I like the video clips from IG. Very informative, though mostly just another opinion, but well presented and clear to understand.

and while pottering about getting my bits and pieces together, another nice turn made ...... wish i could do this every day, successfully that is!

And a little bit more made over lunchtime to turn it into a profitable day.

DOW
just logged back in and was interested to see that ~17340 provided support and bounce point yet again
i wasn't around to take advantage, but worth remembering, and also that 17300 may be a stronger point

The LPs were really struggling to make a market in the CHF on the news that the SNB would no longer defend the 1.20 euro peg and liquidity dried up totally for a while, with no counter-parties willing to take the other side.

It took a while for players to come in and for the market to stabilise, but there's a lot of folk who will have been short swissie ahead of the SNB who won't have been allowed out of their positions.

Betcha Kashya Hildebrand was long. :o)

Same thing happen in 2012 when pegged against the USD. Their experienced in insider trading and would have hidden their tracks well. I doubt there will even be a ker-fuffle..

She couldn't possibly know Hils, could she .......? :-Q

Any banks taken a big hit?

Not stupid enough to play insider for amounts that stand out I think.

Floss,

I'd made a withdrawal request from one of the biggest brokers in Australia before the SNB news yesterday - that initially got processed last night, and then cancelled at 3am pending a review of various activities which were expected to include:

• Reinstatement of positions where appropriate and possible
• Amendment of open/close prices on trades
• Assessment of client portfolios closed due to insufficient margin
• Adjusting client cash balances to reflect the actions above

So, I'd say there's a fair chance that a big bank might have got caught short, and they intend to use a bit of 'creative accounting'. :o)

Shortie - 16 Jan 2015 10:21 - 17451 of 17452

Not stupid enough to play insider for amounts that stand out I think.

That would be because the spot currency market is regulated where and by whom exactly?

But when she profited from selling the swissie ahead of the SNB announcement of the euro peg back in 2011, it was actually her husband who was investigated for any possible wrongdoing, on account of how it was he who was the head honcho of the SNB at the time.

That's a bit of a bummer for you. Hope it gets sorted.

Taken from one of many broker emails received over the last 24 hours:

"Following yesterday’s exceptional market events due to the Swiss National Bank’s abandonment of its EURCHF floor, many brokers have experienced major losses in their trading book."

This particular broker then went on to say that, through their own prudence and adherence of capital regulatory requirements, they were unaffected themselves. I did find it a bit strange that they were so well 'informed' about other brokers' circumstances though.

:-)

I'm not too worried in that respect, Floss, Australian financial regulation is quite good and client funds are segregated at top-tier banks.

The point here is that there's probably going to be a fair bit of book re-writing today and over this weekend and both profits and losses may well be removed from trading books. Brokers don't want clients emptying their account balances in case they need to claw the money back.

Casualties already! :
"(Reuters) - Retail currency broker Alpari filed for insolvency on Friday after a majority of its customers sustained losses after the Swiss National Bank's decision on Thursday abandon the three-year old cap against the euro.

"The recent move on the Swiss franc caused by the Swiss National Bank's unexpected policy reversal of capping the Swiss franc against the euro has resulted in exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity," Alpari said in a statement.

"This has resulted in the majority of clients sustaining losses which has exceeded their account equity. Where a client cannot cover this loss, it is passed on to us. This has forced Alpari (UK) Limited to confirm that it has entered into insolvency."

The SNB stunned markets by scrapping its three-year-old pledge to cap the value of the franc at 1.20 per euro. That sent the franc soaring over 40 percent against the euro at one point. EURCHF=R

Another player in the retail space, London-based interdealer broker IG Group, said on Thursday many clients were able to close out their Swiss franc positions with IG more swiftly than the broker itself managed to close out its hedged positions on the currency in the forex markets. It forecast it would take a hit of around 30 million pounds."

Hmm. I closed my Alpari account a few months ago. Sorry for those who still have accounts.

UPDATE 1-Asia FX brokers hit hard by Swiss franc shock, regulators probe

"The surprise move caused New Zealand foreign exchange dealer Global Brokers NZ Ltd to close due to hefty losses incurred from the volatility."