Do you guys think it's better to find stocks that are most likely to be in play on a given day or just stick to playing a handful of the same stocks everyday? I've been going back and forth on this for weeks now as I've been struggling lately. I've been playing 'in play' stocks for years now but I previously played the same stocks everyday when I first started out (boring but can be okay). It seems most of the big traders I know tend to go where the action is so to speak... Thoughts? -Guru
You should not make it a choice. You need to maximise your daily opportunity factor, so you should be doing both of the above... and more.
Thanks for the advice. I tend to agree with you. The problem I have is getting bogged down trying to do to much and end up losing focus and missing opp's. -Guru
I personally focus more on in play stocks then will have a handful of stocks that I tend to trade better and keep those on my radar for levels to watch ect... I find that in play stocks will usually have more volume, better moves and will tend to trend more intraday then their ATR on average. Plus with in play stocks its easier to read the order flow and the algo's don't seem to manipulate them as much. Especially this time of year the only real trading seems to be in play stocks for shorter term horizons. I don't think there is an 'either or' though with this, you can play both, I just personally find it easier for intraday trading to play in play stocks, and swing trade stocks that are not in play.
When a stock is "In Play", as it's called around the wires, the stock is possibly exhibiting unusual higher volume this increases the trend effect chances or chances of greater moves. Once you have some candidates, proceed to pull the daily or weekly chart and spot it's key areas. If intraday it's trending well you might use the daily areas as potential magnets and try to land a decent risk reward play. Perhaps you recognize a breakout failure at some point and you begin a breakout failure trade. It's really up to your style. Just because you trade something that you know on a daily basis does not mean it will behave well on a daily basis. I have a child, I know him well, sometimes he does not behave eventhough I know him well, see the analogy? On the other hand, you might have better chances trying to spot what is a potential candidate for behaving well for that particular day for your particular strategies. Good luck with your trading. ESD