KLAC NVLS LLTC INTC AMAT MXIM XLNX BRCM are all components in the semiconductor index SOX ( http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=@^soxx ) The others you mentioned are in the Nasdaq 100. MSFT 13.16% AMGN 4% QCOM 3.9% DELL 3.7% INTU 1.86% EBAY 1.81% ERTS 1.29% VRTS 1.10% PSFT 1.00% ADBE 0.60% CHKP 0.60% QLGC 0.50% BRCD 0.45% MCHP 0.45% MERQ 0.31% ( http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/nasdaq100_activity.stm ) Since all of these stocks are in the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ tracking stock), and many are in SOX, they have a strong correlation to the overal Nasdaq. When we have one of those bear market short crusher rallies, all of these stocks are usually up big. When you buy or short these stocks, you are also buying / shorting the SOX, QQQs, etc to some degree. MSFT and INTC are in all three main indexes DOW, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes.
What's wrong with stocks under $20? I bought 6k of MLNM this past week and it was just as exciting as any other stock up there. Lower priced stocks make bigger % moves, just buy 10x the shares and you will get action hehe. KLAC is a great trader, all the shorts in that name makes it fly up hard even though it's such a pos ERTS is pure evil for anything above 2k shares, I removed it from my screen cuz I lost too much $ to lindq EBAY stick out like a sore thumb lots of times, and will make nice intraday trends while the rest of market is floundering about. MSFT will headfake the NQ frequently; don't know how many times I've seen a daily high on MSFT drag the NQ up while everthing else just churns -- usually doesn't last for long. JMO
I've gotta take strong exception to the comments regarding stocks under 20. Don't know where your logic is with that. In the past two months I've booked 20K in profits swinging ORCL between 9 and 10. The price of a stock has NO bearing on its value as a trading vehicle, IMHO.
Thank's for all your response. I trade only nasdaq100 stocks. - Cornhole trading : you are right, my choice was based upon an historical data from TS6 which is since nov 2000 only. But now, few stocks should be "out" ,like CIEN because a low volatility, and "ABGX" because high loss since two months. - Tech Analysis : what is "Beta"? - Lindq : my first favorite is BRCD, always the better results . I am going to look at for ERTS . - TG : how do you utilize ATR for your selection? Do you think that a Bollinger Bands in weekly time frame , can be a criteria of selection (if large bandwith), or reject (if small bandwith or "squeeze") of stocks to trade in 15 min time frame?
I utilize ATR to filter out stocks with less than range of 1.5 per day. My minimum volume is 2 million/day. ERTS is my current favorite because of its range and predictability. My approach is very simple and utilizes only 2 days of info, today and yesterday. No overnite positions until a stock gets to its Bollinger Band, upper or lower, and then I position based strictly on Bollinger's rules for decisions at that point. My ATR requirement makes me watch my stocks carefully when a squeeze occurs to see which way the reaction occurs when it expands.
PHISEL - Beta refers to the volatility of a stock releative to a standard index (usually the S&P500) A stock with a beta of 1.0 will move intraday the same percentage as the S&P. A stock whose beta is 2 will have twice the intraday volatility percentage-wise. These are the daytraders you want.
An interesting discussion. Seems like two of the main considerations are liquidity if you're day trading but not as important if you're swing trading, and the other one is average daily range in terms of the percentage they move from the high of the day to the low of the day. I created a screen for this in TC2K and if turns out that many of the stocks that many people trade of the Nasdaq 100 have the worst intraday ranges percentage wise. The lowest average daily range percentages for the last 30 days for the Nasdaq 100 stocks in order with the worst being listed first are: 1. SIAL 2. DELL 3. MSFT 4. EBAY 5. AMGN 6. ERTS 7. SSCC 8. SBUX 9. LNCR 10. AAPL 11. COST 12. INTU 13. BMET 14. CSCO And some others 25. INTC 27. ESRX 29. SYMC 30 ADBE So as illiquid says: "What's wrong with stocks under $20? I bought 6k of MLNM this past week and it was just as exciting as any other stock up there. Lower priced stocks make bigger % moves, just buy 10x the shares and you will get action hehe." 10,000 shares of a $5 stock that moves to $5.50 is obviously exactly the same profit as 1000 shares of a $50 stock moving to $55. It's $5,000 profit either way.
BRCD, BRCM are my favorite daytrading stocks... the guys in the daytrading firm called me the BR Fetish for making money in these constantly. Still, I have others like: XLNX, QLGC, QCOM, SEBL(another real favorite), They're like tracking stocks but I traded well in them-> MSFT, INTC
Two other considerations are bid/ask spread and correlation with its index or industry. Note stocks like MSFT and INTC typically have .01 spreads all day which can be an important trading factor to control slippage if one doesn't use limit orders. I personally like my stock to move with its index, it gives me more confidence to place aggressive trades. On stockcharts.com you can utilize their perf chart feature which wil allow you to compare a stock to any index or other stocks over varying time frames; it's an eye opener.
I was just wondering how you guys are watching all these stocks simultaneously. What I mean is that most of the books recommend to watch the stock you are planning to trade very closely, determine its s/r, market makers, the ax etc. This IMO can be done for one stock, maybe two but no more. Am I wrong here? Like if you are usually trading 10 stocks - do you have 10 Level II screens open on your computer, 10 charts, anything else? Or do you just go through them one by one all day long until you spot a potential trade? What do you do in a situation like that: you've been watching MSFT for 45 minutes ready to go long when it breaks through resistance. It does not and pulls back, you just wasted 45 minutes on this stock and likely missed 2-3 tradable opportunities with other stocks on you watch list. I am just trying to understand how you can keep track of a significant number of stocks simultaneously and spot potential trades with each one of them? TIA