2 powerful tools to use each night to find the best stocks to trade

  • June 20, 2006
  • Ashton Dorkins

The

TradingMarkets Stock Scanner allows you to scan the TradingMarkets stock
database using your own criteria. The database consists of approximately 4,500
NYSE, Nasdaq and AMEX stocks over $10.00 per share. The data is closing data as
of the end of each trading day and is updated by 7:00 p.m. EST.

You can select values for as few or as many of the criteria you desire. To
ignore a criteria (or accept all possible values for that criteria), leave the
value range at “All” or leave the entry fields blank. After you enter the
desired values, you can have the results displayed according to your preferences
by using the “Sort By” fields next to the “Start Search” button. As an example,
to sort according RS rank, select RS in the “Sort By” field and “Desc” for
descending order.

You can also obtain data for a single stock by entering a symbol in the
company/symbol scan below the stock scanner.

Here are some of the ways you can search for stocks:

  • Sector — Use this feature to find the hottest stocks in a
    particular market sector.

     

  • Minimum and Maximum Price — Day traders and short-term
    traders tend to like high priced stocks but longer-term traders may want to
    focus on low-priced stocks. Filter your results by price.

     

  • Minimum and Maximum Volume — Make sure the stocks you are
    looking to trade have enough liquidity.

     

  • ADX — Find stocks that are trending by scanning for stocks
    with an ADX of 25 or higher. Use the DMI filter to select up-trending stocks
    form those in down trends.

     

  • Price Change — Find stocks that have experienced large
    one-day moves.

     

  • % Of Average Volume — Find stocks trading above or below
    their average daily volume.

     

  • Relative Strength — Find the best performing stocks over a
    variety of timeframes.

     

  • Above/Below Moving Averages — Find stocks trading above or
    below various
    moving averages.

Here is a scan I ran after the close on 06/19/06:


And here are the results:


It’s also possible to combine these results with

PowerRatings to fine-tune your entries.


As you can see from the results
above, of the original 16 candidates (CSPLF didn’t qualify for a PowerRating),
Laserscope
(
LSCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is the only stock with a high PowerRating and
Mikron Infrared
(
MIKR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is the only stock with a low PowerRating.

As a quick reminder: From 1995-2005, stocks rated 7 have outperformed the S&P 500 by a better than
4-1 margin over a five-day period. Stocks rated 8 have outperformed the S&P 500
by a better than 8-1 margin; stocks rated 9 have outperformed the S&P 500 by a
13-1 margin, and those stocks that have achieved a 10

PowerRating have
outperformed the S&P 500 by a 16.9-1 margin.

Over the same test period (1995-2005), stocks with a PowerRating of 1, 2 or 3 have underperformed the
S&P 500 over the next five-days. The 1’s have performed 4.9 times worse than the
S&P 500, the 2’s have performed worse than the S&P 500, and the 3’s have only
managed 90% of the S&P 500 performance.

You can
attend a free
class on how to use

PowerRatings,
presented by Steve Primo, our Director of Education.

Click here
to take a free trial of

PowerRatings.

Ashton Dorkins

Editor-in-Chief

editor@tradingmarkets.com



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