a few posters mentioned FAZ, SKF and perhaps SDS I trade mostly leveraged ETF's off the movement of SPY but only for a few pennies at at time with large volume. I concentrate on just a few stocks (or ETF's) as stocks move different depending on volume If your buying power is not that large perhaps as much as possible of a low priced stock like C, GE, UYG, XLF If your loaded with dough perhaps the higher price 2 or 3X ETF's
I like to trade the following stocks besides Gs and the fast movers FAS FAZ. They are more predictable to me: FCX POT MON AEM, AU AAPL SOHU (good short in the last few days, it kept going down and down) CTRP BIDU PCLN FSLR CME (100 shares is enough for trading all day long) APOL There are days some stocks are lazy, they don't move much. Well, have fun!
I trade mostly 1 ETF for the past 3-4 months. About 90% of the time (the rest is GS and AAPL): SKF It's inverse to the market's movement. SPY goes up, SKF goes down. Almost tick for tick. It is the inverse of the financials but SPY is a pretty good counterpart indicator. SKF moves quite fast and furious. Like a Ferrari on steroid. Not for the faint of heart. To trade SKF well, you need to be able to anticipate the market movements well. If you focus on trading 1 stock/ETF and trade it well, it can provide you the means of making a living... as it did for me. Recently SKF short shares are getting hard to borrow. In lieu of that, whenever I want to short SKF (but cannot borrow) I would long 3x the shares of GS. (e.g. short 100 shares of SKF = long 300 shares of GS, roughly). Not perfect but good substitute.
Work out what sort of stocks/indexes suit your trading profile before jumping into trading. good luck
Why do you want to swtich from Forex, if you are used to it, are you bored? Or what advantages do you see in the stocks?
Triple /Ultra ETF are great if you buy and hold for a day or cpl of hours, and you need to follow the underlying of the ETFs to have an understanding of where it is going. I used those with great caution, and smart stops. They were very profitable for me. On the other hand, for scalping I am using sp500 futures. I think they are the best for scalping, they can not be manipulated with 1 or 2 easy hands, tech analy works great, and easy in & out. Simply the best and more profitable thn etfs. Stops are the most important thing for scalping. If you are mastered controlling your emotions, you can master on scalping the sp500 futures too. Good Luck
As an FYI, find something that is comfortable, and very much dependent on your discount broker especially without T+3. I trade the 3x ETF's, and SRS, EEV, SDS, etc.. I trade FAS/FAZ at $10K per trade with 1 minute chart, fibs, 8-10 period moving average, RSI. Next to FAS/FAZ I have Nasd, SPX, DOW with 1-3 minute charts. Certainly enough action, a good deal of brain damage, may trade this via IB platform 10X a day. As soon as I buy, I am ready to sell based on Loss expected $30-$60, gains $100 - $1,000, expect 30-40% losses. Simple, although at times it seems like paint drying, with only some excitement during the day, but retired, on the beach and beats fishing or golf.