This is obviously a newbie question.

If I want to put myself in a Daily Trade Routine, should I use my scans (favorites) "EACH MORNING"  to compile a list of stocks from (NASDAQ,personal watch lists etc.) to trade that day.

OR, should I already have a watchlist of stocks that I scan each morning, to create a list of setup candidates?

Also, what about the size of these lists?  20,50,100??

Thanks

The trainers can't give setting, interpretation or investment advice. I will move this topic to the Stock and Market Talk forum so other traders will be more likely to see it and comment.

Thanks

Hi Greg,

I think the answer to your question is entirely dependent on your trading strategy and personal style.  How frequently are you placing trades?  Are your entries and exits based on technical indicators, or is there personal discretion involved?  If you use position sizing to help control your risk, how many open simultaneous open positions can you have?

Matt

I'd add stay flexible and get "married" to your ideas from the day/night before.  Each day the market opens, there are different factors that will impact on your trade ideas.

Think of them as just that, ideas.

I believe it was Keynes that said "when I get new data, I change my mind" or some like that.

Mot

OK, so give me a number. 10 ideas in a list around each day??

thats up to you and how much time you have. and your style. some may keep the entire russel 1000 in there watchlist, others may simply trade market indexes.

Here's my plan: I keep a general watchlist of about 250 of the best I can find, in stocks and ETF's.( I am constantly looking for stocks)

I peruse this general list on a daily basis, looking for MY perfect stock. (Technical and Fundamental) I try to go through the entire list every month, adding and taking away. 

I cherry pick that list and add stocks to the default list of:  My Favorites!. I keep this list around 30 securities. (This list I am trying to find the best Technical setup within about a 1 month time frame)

From the My Favorities list I find my daily setups. I keep my setups list to no more than five securities. If the setups I choose don't react the way I think they should in abouth 3 - 5 days, I empty the list

One other thing, from the general 250 watchlist, i break that down into the different sectors that I want to watch.

Thats it. Can I improve somewhere?

The real question Greg93 is are you getting the results you want?

For example you said your setup list is 5 stocks
if they don’t do what you want and you miss trades
maybe you would need more?

Usually some type of logic will flow out of what’s happening.

If youre getting in trades and they are not working 5 is enough
and its more important to focus on timing or question the setup itself.




Thanks

are you a "top down" trader or "bottoms up" trader?

top down - do you study the overall market, for technicals and trend (i.e. market indicies, bonds, gold breadth, dollar, etc), and based on those results, then decide to look for either longs or shorts.

bottoms up - disreguard the overall market technicals and simply look or long or short setups.

I am a ""try to eke out a little profit from the money grubbers on Wall Street, type of trader""   I have cheap  and quick execution. so I am ready to make consistent profits. However, I am a little gun shy at times..

I don't short the market.

i scan the russel 1000,  the nasdaq 100 once a week. as well as the sector etf's once a  week.

What are you looking for and where do you put the securiyies you like?

i look for classic patterns. w, h & s bottoms, tops,  triangles, etc.

then check whether technical strength supports these patterns. using money stream. balance of power.

if i find patterns supported by technical strength, i move them to a favorites list.

then if a valid breakout occurs, place a trade.

Where do you look for these patterns? 

How many securities do you keep in your Favorites list?  

do you want information on classical patterns types and characteristics?  or are you asking what scans i use?

i keep however many candidates i can find in my favorites list.

As Traders we all want to have the very best setups every day.  I guess the information I want is: What universe of securities do you or anybody else start with and how do you break that list down into tradable securities?

What is optimal?

i scan the russell 1000 and sector etfs.  if i find a favorable sector etf, i scan the group.

I am focusing almost exclusively on the Housing sector and I use ITB as an Index. Since the early stages of 2007 and 2008 of the collapse. it has been brutal.. However, the recovery is under way for almost all of the 30 or so stocks. Most of the charts look great

I also Trade Forex a little bit.(still learning)

I use a breakout strategy for anything I trade

itb breaking out of a triangle pattern

I am constantly adjusting resistance and support lines, looking for that "perfect" breakout. I usually only concern myself with the price action and the 2 lines.

Greg,

Breakouts  retest about 70%  so you must have a great system,
and good re-entry what stoploss 3% below the BO area

lately they have been working pretty good, but a few months back alot of whip saw

thanks Purplehayes

I use percentages as a stop loss, usually 3 - 8%, depending on the security and situation. 

Purplehayes

What pre-market indexes do you look at?

don't look now. futures down big. fiscall cliff again

FYI: The present congress has been the least productive since the 1940's.As always they will find a fiscal cliff deal at the very last moment.

Doesnt the world end on Dec 21?

You would think that means at least a lower open.

productivity is relative.

 the house didn't vote on a bill that would't have passed the senate anyway.