how to choose a basket of ten stocks to trade whith a mechanical trading-sysytem in a 15 min time frame? My choice was based on high volatility and high volume, and until today my portfolio was: ABGX BRCD CIEN JDSU JNPR NTAP PDLI QLGC SEBL. have you some other idea?,
I can see the high volume part but not the high volatility in your stocks. I don't think $2 and $4 stocks like JDSU and CIEN can be very volatile unless you are talking about historical data from 2 years ago. KLAC, NVLS, AMGN, MXIM, and QCOM might be good.
NVLS is starting to fall off my screen as its volatility is shrinking on an almost daily basis. MU is another past favorite. ERTS has been a recent favorite. INVN has been good lately, but is probably a temporary pop in volume due to LLL's rumored takeover bid. If you don't mind listed stocks, IBM always trades multi-point days and moves with the techs. Last year AMCC, VTSS, NTAP and JDSU were my winners; now they're just coma stocks (flat-lined on the daily charts like being comatose).
ERTS should be in anyone's list of favorites. Solid support on any weakness, and trades beautifully in just about any time frame. If only I had 10 more like it!
Dont waste your time with stocks under $10 or $20 for that matter. My core is EBAY, MSFT, ERTS,AMGN,IDPH,QLGC,KLAC. Just check the ATR on your chart setup for range.
I use beta as a guide, plus minimum volume of at least 750k , 1mil preferred. CCMP is another gem but the spreads for some reason suck. Once a stock drops below 20 bucks it's usually finished as a good daytrader.
Here's my basket : MSFT,KLAC,NVLS,LLTC,EBAY,ERTS,INTC,AMGN,MCHP,MXIM,XLNX, QLGC,MERQ,BRCM,QCOM WATCH LIST: VRTS,BRCD,PSFT,CHKP,AMAT,ADBE,DELL,INTU