Let's get some ideas of peoples favorite stocks to trade. We all have them. Away from stocks that may be in the news or hot sectors, we all revert to a few names. Here are some of mine and what they tend to correlate to. Please add to the list, I think this could be very helpful for us all especially the newbies. XOM, COP, SLB, DO, BP, CVX - tend to go in the same direction usually with oil or USO and watch the OIH to get an idea of direction as a group. All fairly heavily weighted in the S&P index so they will move in the direction of market in the very short-term intraday. JPM, WFC, BAC, GS, MS - GS and JPM tend to lead, WFC often follows but has a mind of its own for the first 1/2 hour of the other 4 moving in one direction. GS is tough to get into, always wrong initially, can catch a $1-2 move if you are patient. JPM moves well directionally, if you blow off your stop though you can easily be out .50+ in no time. Banks don't necessarily move in the direction of the overall market, have to keep that in mind. CAT, FCX, X, NEM, - I like to trade these when the dollar is moving. Pretty much dollar up, these are up and vice-versa. You can watch FXE to get an idea of where the euro is against USD. These also tend to move well in direction of overall market, especially lately because it has been dollar-led. INTC, DELL, EBAY, NVDA, SNDK - there are many others here. Bigger positions in $20-$30 stocks and look for smaller moves, tend to trend nicely intraday. They tend to follow tech/big NDX movers in general like AAPL, GOOG, BIDU. -Those are some of the stocks I like to follow. I can often get a good gauge on what the market is doing looking at just these stocks. I always correlate them not only to each other but where the SPY is and where it looks to be heading. I like to group stocks together. They don't necessarily have to be in the exact sector. Drillers tend to move with refiners. Semi-Conductors tend to move with Internet or software, etc... We all look for stocks in the headlines, let's hear some of your 'bread and butter' names you come back to and what you watch to get a feel for direction. Anybody really follow healthcare, coal, smaller regional banks, etc... -T
On the short-term speculative side with high vola: GE, BAC, AIG, COP, C and sometimes also CBY, IBM, SPY No specific or common direction, it must be determined individually from the chart by the trader...
Sorry, meant dollar down these do better. Commodities as we know are dollar denominated and tend to move higher as dollar goes lower. Cat moves with them, earth movers to do the mining? Never thought of that, just moves well lately with market higher/lower dollar and lower when opposite is true. Really good moves in airlines lately. They used to move higher on lower oil, but they seem to be ripping. Any ideas why anybody?
I'd like to know why as well since I have a swing short in UAUA, very small but underwater nonetheless...(maybe not underwater after today). Perhaps I should use my seat cushion as a flotation device
my favorite stocks to (day)trade are those with a daily average volume of about 15M shares and price higher than $55. there ain't too much of them out there though.
Thanks, I actually have done a lot of going over trades and the stocks I trade best are ones between low 20's dollarwise and $60 or so with at least 5-6mil shares of volume a day. I still trade some of the high beta high price names on occassion, but my biggest consistency comes from stocks in that range I mentioned. So I actually look for stocks that fit that bill.
Elsewhere, I have seen other posters recommend a price range of $10 - $50 for their "stock radar". Why does "price higher than $55" work better for you?
I recently settled into 4 stocks I trade daily: AAPL, AMZN, POT and X. They have decent moves even on range days and once they start in a direction the momentum tends to carry them. You can trade quite small and still make money.