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

i've fiddled about a bit and banked some small profits .... currently i have a ftse long from 6240 which may not be the brightest, but we'll see

more or even fairly inclined to short dow ahead of the fed

now short both ftse (6190) and dow (16722)

U.S. Federal Reserve rate decision. What time will there be news ?

19:00

managed to encash a small FTSE profit, but getting a bit thumped on dow .... shall let that stand

Well the DOW'S turned your way .

sure has :-) ....... glad i held my nerve

for bulls, concerning that FTSE has dropped back below 6,200 (yet) again and DOW below 16,700

banked part profits, far too early as it happens, but never complain of such :-)

on FTSE, 6140 currently providing support, but if wall street comes in as weak as currently indicated, then it is surely unlikely to hold

wow!
was just contemplating shorting FTSE and suddenly it has plunged through that 6140 level, so a bit late

still, i have DOW short running juicily after least evening's little scare

If the FTSE gets Whacked again i shall try going long ,should have done it earlier in the week.

i believe that below 6129 there is gaping abyss, so be careful
certainly would not be inclined to be long over w/e, though there may be a bounce before close today

It went as low as 6017 on Tues i think ,unfortunately i couldn't be by a screen.

obvious level to buy is 6,000 or a tiny bit above

have banked all dow profit but shall be looking to get back in, probably short again

bugger!
thought i'ld been prudent, but DOW has now dumped nearly a further 100 points to under 16,400

This week I've been trading the FTSE-100 using 7ema/20ema crossovers on the 5-minute chart (and toggling the 1-minute chart but not acting on that), using the live free charts at IG.com where orders and stops can be placed on the chart.

Just looking to grab 15 points a couple of times a day during tea breaks. So far it is working much better than I expected, making a profit every day.

Lend us a bob!

for the gas meter?

It's an approach I first employed in 2006 for several months, trading on random occasional days. But the free trading software makes it so much easier now, hence me revisiting it.

FTSE
currently playing with 6140 resistance - at which level i banked a modest profit
i think it's likely that this will be broken later today, but i am out all afternoon

DOW
(cash) is staging something of a rally, and i have a small long from 16,425
if this follows through, as again i think is likely, then ftse should be dragged north on its coattails