For US stocks: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=241164 I won't spell out the precise details of the criteria I personally use, but applying it today for the S&P500 reduces the 500 to the following: ACE ACN AFL AGN AMP ANF APA APC APD ATI AXP BBBY BHI BTU C CAM CAT CELG CERN CHRW CL CLF CNX COF COG COH COST CTSH CTXS DE DO DRI DVN EMN EQT ESRX EW FAST FCX FDO FDX FLR FTI GILD HAL HES HOG HOT HP HUM INTU IR JCP JOY JPM JWN KLAC LMT MCK MON MOS MPC MUR NEM NFLX NFX NOV NSC OXY PCAR PH PM PNC PRU QCOM QEP RHT ROK RRC SBUX SHLD SLB SNDK SWK TDC TIF TROW TWC UPS UTX VLO VNO VTR WDC WFM WHR WLP XOM YUM Of course not all of these may be suitable so the attachment may help to visualise how each stock has behaved recently, from which a few can be manually selected for more detailed assesment in relation to levels, or to be watched when the markets open. Understand levels, forget TA. If real time stock scanning tools are available then when the markets are open the above list could be filtered to find those stocks that are near their high or low of the day, or are near their high or low of the previous day, or have momentum with significant range to the next level to make a trade worthwile, or etc. None of this guarantees success though, how you behave once in a trade will make or break you.
stocks in play. movers with fresh news, top gainers or losers, stocks with a float >250m shares, familiar names, liquid stocks with no more than a .9 spread... that's my cup of tea EDIT: also being on a desk or with a group of people helps immensely. more eyes = more possible trades.
Yes its true to a certain degree you must keep Trading simple. If your going to Trade a "stock in play" something off a scanner... Trading on news. You want to keep it simple as far as your technique So if you ask me you have two choices how to "pick" 1) Specialize in one (or small number) of stocks. Example- Trade QQQ exclusively. You probably want something liquid obviously. This is the same as people who Trade oil, gold, or the s&p 500 for a living. Advantage -- you only look at ONE thing all day (or a few). And you get to know them Disadvantage you need more patience and more setups because big clean moves are harder to find 2) Trade stocks in "play" or on news- Look at as many as you can by finding a scanner and look for certain setups after you pick the stocks. Like the guy said 10am bull flag. Is one easy example. Any stock that is on bullish or bearish news.. that Trades Higher and lower (cleanly) is ALL you should care about (trying to get that money) This is CTSH today. If you managed to short and get out of this your are leaving with some nice $$$. This is a simple example. Tomorrow it will be something else. To me those are the two choices to "pick" a stock for day-trading
CTSH.... neat stock to trade... Prop firms should have a guy or a gal that scans stocks for traders. But prop firms are too damn cheap. Probably a good job for gals. Women reporters are pretty good. Scanning stocks is tedious.
Some stocks in the news make fantastic moves, but you better get the direction right, which is not an easy thing to do. For example, anyone who tried to buy GMCR's 40% gap down on 5/3 instantly lost another 17% without using any leverage.
Yes true, buy buying the gap down is Flat out a guess. GMCR spent 18 minutes Trading up (above the open) Short gap down is also a Technique. Look at my CSTH example today. Look at the same GMCR example 5/3 you just mentioned Shorting a gap down stock (that trades to the downside) is a very usable strategy!! My point is to use the scanner to find something , moving. Then look for them to Trade a certain way. -- If you had three stocks all up/down 7-10% (for example) that had (good volume) you are in good shape to start your day The hard part (Trading strategy and execution actually making money) is a whole nother discussion!
That's what I'm talking about (in reverse). Obvious bear flag at 10:00 AM. $2 per share just lying on the ground waiting for you to pick up.