There are many ways one can find stocks to trade. One easy way is through the use of scanners available on many websites. A scan is a tool that searches for stocks that meet certain predefined criteria. You are not able to change the criteria and a lot of times you may not know what the criteria are.
With most of the websites that we use, you can find scans on those sites. The scans can be based more on fundamental criteria or technical criteria. Scans can also focus on option criteria.
MSN.com is a free site where we typically perform a fundamental analysis. This site has numerous fundamental scans to find potential trades. The following link is the starting place for scans on this site:
http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stockscouter-top-rated-stocks?sco=10
You can access the top or bottom-rated stocks, top 10 or 50 picks from this page. You can also access scans by category where you can pick scans based on cap size or sector or growth/value.
Stockcharts.com is a free site for looking at charts. They also provide scans, which happen to be technically based. The following link will give access to some scans on this site:
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/
From the menu on the right choose from SCTR Rankings to get a list of a stock’s relative technical strength ranked from top to bottom or vice versa. Another choice on the right hand menu is Predefined Stock Scans which gives a list of different technical indicators or patterns being met. Click on the number of stocks that fit the criteria and a complete list of the stocks will show.
http://finviz.com/ is another free site. The home page lists mostly technical scans under the column heading of Signal. Click the signal name to bring up a list of stocks that fit the description.
If you have an account with OptionsXpress, you have access to some scans that are geared more towards option criteria. Visit http://www.optionsxpress.com/ to open or login to the site. Once logged in, go to the Toolbox heading and choose Dragon. The top left pull-down box allows a choice of numerous scans.
If you have a favorite site that you use for stock trades, there is a good chance that scanners are on the site. Take a little time to explore the site, and you just might find a new way to come up with potential stock and/or option trades.
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