Finding the Best Swing Trade Stocks
Swing Trading is an exceptional strategy to profit consistently in the markets. Profits are realized quickly, from a few days to a few weeks. This means that there of being exposed to a stock market crash than a traditional buy-and-hold investor.
But the stock markets are enormous. The NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) alone trades stocks for some 2,800 companies ranging from new high-growth ventures to established blue chip multinationals. And that’s before you look at other US equity exchanges, never mind the international markets.
So how do you know which are the best swing trade stocks?
This article will take you through the 7 criteria you should use to filter out the best swing trade stocks from the losers.
I want this to be practical, so have also included a tutorial on the TradingView Stock Screener. This will help you can apply what we learn.
The powerful and free software which will allows you to filter the noise and identify only the best swing trade stocks.
We will also review 3 swing trades at the end.
6. SQ
SQUARE INC
Last Price $70.80
Market Cap $29.3B
Volatility 5.17%
Daily Vol. 12.7M
WMT
WALMART INC
Last Price $93.86
Market Cap $272.6B
Volatility 1.69%
Daily Vol. 12.5M
AMZN
AMAZON.COM
Last Price $1626.23
Market Cap $787B
Volatility 2.65%
Daily Vol. 11.5M
KO
KODAK
Last Price $2.88
Market Cap $123M
Volatility 6.77%
Daily Vol. 168K
STOCK
SCREENER
JPM
WALMART INC
Last Price $103.88
Market Cap $340.3B
Volatility 1.79%
Daily Vol. 13M
KO
COCA-COLA
Last Price $48.70
Market Cap $207B
Volatility 1.4%
Daily Vol. 18.9M
FILTERS
Type Common Stock, ETF
Listing NYSE, NASDAQ
Last Price > $10
Market Cap > $300M
Volatility Between 5%-10%
Daily Vol. > 500K
SQ
WHAT IS A
STOCK
SCREENER?
7. Swing Trading Stock Screener
Symbol Type Common Stock or EFT [No Depository Receipt, Pref. Shares]
Exchange NYSE, NASDAQ
Price Above $10
Market Cap. Above $300M
Monthly Volatility 2% - 10%
Avg. Volume Above $100K
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8. TradingView Features
Continuous and automatically refresh
Build custom screeners for each of your favorite trading setups
Export the results from your stock screener to Excel for further analysis
Run filters based on any time frame.
Coverage on every major global stock exchange (an a few minors too).
Get real time alerts via email or SMS when stocks move into filter
Filter, sort and prioritize almost any technical or fundamental dimension you want.
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https://www.tradingview.com/screener/
12. READ THE FULL ARTICLE BEHIND THESE SLIDES
SMART SWING TRADE
https://smartswingtrade.com/which-are-the-best-swing-trade-stocks-top-7-criteria-with-examples
Notas do Editor
Swing Trading is an exceptional strategy to profit consistently in the markets. Profits are realized quickly, from a few days to a few weeks. This means that there of being exposed to a stock market crash than a traditional buy-and-hold investor.
But the stock markets are enormous. The NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) alone trades stocks for some 2,800 companies ranging from new high-growth ventures to established blue chip multinationals. And that’s before you look at other US equity exchanges, never mind the international markets.
So how do you know which are the best swing trade stocks?
This article will take you through the 7 criteria you should use to filter out the best swing trade stocks from the losers.
I want this to be practical, so have also included a tutorial on the TradingView Stock Screener. This will help you can apply what we learn.
The powerful and free software which will allows you to filter the noise and identify only the best swing trade stocks.
We will also review 3 swing trades at the end.
What is volatility?
In investments, the term volatility defines the statistical measure of the dispersion of price for a given security or index.
In simple terms volatility is a measure of how “jumpy” a stock is.
A stock with zero volatility implies the price never moves. While a high volatility means that the price is subject to large swings.
As a swing trader looking for the perfect stocks to trade, you will need sufficient price movement to lock in profits. You can think of volatility as the energy in a stock which propels it towards your profit target.
Average Daily Range (ADR)
A similar measure is a stock’s ATR (Average Trading Range or Average True Range). Each stock has a unique range that it typically covers in a single day. This can help you estimate how long it might take your trade to hit the profit target.
For example if a trade has a $3 profit target and the Average Trading Range is $0.50 then we shouldn’t expect to close in at least the next 6 trading days. And more likely 9-12 days.
Knowing this before you enter a trade will help you to remain patient and realistic in your expectations.
Charting volatility
Our eyes are naturally very good at spotting volatility. Consider the chart below which plots the price of S&P500, Hunter Oil Corp, and Consumers Bancorp.
By plotting the percentage change on the right axis we are able to compare the relative prices of several stocks. It is easy to see that Hunter Oil Corp (Ticker: HOILF) is far more temperamental than Consumers National Bank (Ticker: CBKM).
The volatility is often a related to the nature of the underlying business and industry of the stock. For example Hunter Oil Corp’s stock experiences more volatility since its operations are closely linked to the unstable oil price. Consumer National Bank, on the other hand, manages a stable savings and loan business.
The best swing trade stocks will have volatility, but not so much that the risk cannot be managed.
Stock liquidity
Liquidity describes the degree to which an asset or security can be quickly bought or sold in the market, without affecting the asset’s price.
Clearly the best swing trade stocks must be sufficiently liquid for you to enter and exit trades quickly and low cost. Long-term Investors have the advantage of being able to scale their positions up and down over long periods of time. However swing traders don’t have this luxury due to the short time horizon.
Volume
The most straightforward measure of a stock’s liquidity is the Daily Trading Volume, also known simply as Volume. This is the number of individual shares traded in a day.
A more common measure would be the Average Daily Traded Volume (ADTV). This gives the average number of individual shares traded during a certain period. It can also tracked to see changed over time.
When the average daily trading volume of a security is high, it is traded more actively and will typically has a narrower spread.
Share turnover
While volume is helpful is assessing a stock’s liquidity, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Imagine 2 shares A & B.
A has 1,000 shares and an ADTV of 250.
B has 1,000,000 shares and an ADTV of 250.
While both A and B have the identical ADTV, A is clearly more liquid as 25% of the entire outstanding shares are traded each day.
Share turnover is calculated by dividing the total number of shares traded over a period by the average number of shares outstanding for the period. A high level of share turnover indicates that traders will have an easier time buying and selling these stocks.
Successful swing traders are unwilling to put their money at risk by purchasing the shares of a company with low share turnover.
Large position size
It is quicker and cheaper to buy 10 Microsoft shares than 10 million. Clearly the liquidity of a stock must be measured relative to the position you are looking to trade. This is usually more of an issue for large institutional investors. But even smaller traders can have liquidity issues moving smaller position of thinly traded stocks. Some use the rule of never trading more than 5% of a company’s float (number of shares actually available for trading).
Warning
Always be careful when looking at historical values. Although a stock may appear liquid today, liquidity can dry up in the case of bad news or a stock market crash.
What is a stock screener?
A stock screener is a tool that traders use to filter and sort stocks based on a set of metrics or criteria.
For example, an Australian swing trader may want a list of all the equities listed on ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) with a volatility between 5% – 10%.
A US based value investor might want to see every stock on the NYSE with a Price/Earnings Ratio below 9 and earnings growth above 15%.
A South African gap trader will need to identify every share which has gaped up or down by more than 10% on the JSE (Johannesburg Securities Exchange).
How a stock screener will help you find the best swing trade stocks to trade
This is where we finally put everything we have discussed into practice.
By using a stock screener we are able to filter and sort through thousands of listed stocks in an instant.
A good starting point for constructing a swing trade stock screener is:
Exchange: NYSE, NASDAQ
Symbol: Common stock; EFT (exclude preference shares)
Market Cap: Greater than $100M
Volatility: Between 5% – 10%
Price: Greater than $5
Average Daily Volume: Greater than $100K
Remember that as you add filters the universe of potential stocks decreases.
So you may need to compromise and reduce your filters if the output is too small.
Best stock screener
Many of the charting platforms on the market will offer a stock screener. Several brokers also have a basic filtering tool. There are also a number of free options available.
In my opinion the best stock screener available is the TradingView Stock Screener. Besides for it being neat and visually appealing, there are a number of other benefits.
Continuous and automatically refresh
Build custom screeners for each of your favorite trading setups
Export the results from your stock screener to Excel for further analysis
Run filters based on any time frame.
Coverage on every major global stock exchange (an a few minors too).
Get real time alerts via email or SMS when stocks move into filter
Filter, sort and prioritize almost any technical or fundamental dimension you want.
Read here if you want more information on how to use a stock screener.
Example #1. NFLX. 6% in 3 Days
The Swing Trade Stock Screener picked up Netflix (Ticker NFLX) as a good stock to swing trade.
The stock showed a long-term price decline on the higher time frames.
Price rejected resistance $298.50.
Short trade opportunity with target $271.96 and stop-loss at $305.09
Outcome: 6% profit in 3 days.
Example #2. GE. 33% in 45 Days
The Swing Trade Stock Screener picked up General Electric (Ticker GE) as a good stock to swing trade.
The stock showed a long-term price decline on the higher time frames.
Price broke support at $11.17.
Short trade opportunity with unknown target (new low).
Trailing stop-loss at $10.64
Outcome: 33% profit in 45 days.
Example #13
The Swing Trade Stock Screener picked up NVIDIA (Ticker NVDA) as a good stock to swing trade.
The stock showed a long-term uptrend on the higher time frames.
Price held support at $216.48.
Long reversal trade opportunity with target at $238.84. Stop-less set at $209.53.
Outcome: 10% profit in 10 days.