Leading economist in the US market claims that the US stock market has the potential to rise over 50% in the next couple of years. He recommends buying options, or to be fully invested in stocks but buy protection through out of the money put options, for example S&P puts.
Get the book - Naked Trader by Robbie Burns. Brilliant stuff and easy to read.
If you trade the penny share companies or small indexes then you may find the spreads too big, shares can't be sold back easily etc. Anything smaller than FTSE 350 is risky.