How to Pick Stocks for Intraday Trading

Revati Krishna
4 Sep, 24
5 mins
intraday-picks

Traders, the proper selection of stocks for intraday trading makes much difference in your trading success. We would focus on the most important parameters for picking stocks in this regard. Equipped with this information, you should have no problem recognizing at one glance the best stocks to trade for any one particular day. We will consider high liquidity, suitable volatility, general trends of the market, and why technical indicators are important to make informed decisions. This guide is a great fit for both new and seasoned traders looking for how to make wise decisions that yield better trading results.

Key Takeaways

  • Liquidity: This is the ingredient important for a market to be entered and exited easily.
  • Volatility: High volatility can bring both opportunities and risks.
  • Market Trends: Understand trends to identify trading strategies.
  • Technical Analysis: Helps in enhancing the decision while trading.
  • Risk Management: Always keep a stop-loss in place to avoid losses.
  • Chart Patterns and News Impact: May cause intraday trading opportunities.

Understanding Intraday Trading

Intraday trading, also known as day trading, is the act of buying and selling stocks on the same day. The goal is to gain from the slight changes in short-term prices while avoiding the risks associated with overnight market movement.

Leverage in Intraday Trading

Leverage is an important term in intraday trading. A trader can lend money, so that he has more money available to spend on a particular stock. Although leveraging can raise potential profits, the risks will definitely increase. Be very clear with regards to the terms of your broker.

Technical Analysis in Intraday Trading

An intraday trading strategy cannot be complete without a study of technical analysis. It constitutes a study of price trends and market momentum through Moving Averages, Bollinger Bands, and the Relative Strength Index. These indicators help in arriving at buy/sell decisions.

Stock Selection Criteria

For intraday trading, medium to high volatility stock would be better as they offer good exclusivity and substantial price movements, which in turn provides good trading opportunities. Liquidity is also very important for the execution of trades.

Benefits and Downsides of Intraday Trading

Benefits:

  • No delivery charges
  • Automatic position closure with set limits

Downsides:

  • No ownership of shares
  • Potential for significant losses

Key Factors in Intraday Trading

  • Liquidity: High trading volumes ensure easy entry and exit.
  • Volatility: Provides opportunities but also increases risks.

Importance of Liquidity in Trading

Liquidity is important in intraday trading. High liquidity will give one the leverage to trade without problems that much and will aid in the selling and buying of stocks. This will make the trader adjust well in the market without much fluctuation in price security.

Ways to Calculate Liquidity

One of the ways to calculate liquidity is through bid-ask spread, trading volumes, market depth, and price resilience.

StockAverage Trading VolumeBid-Ask SpreadLiquidity Rating
Reliance Industries12 million0.15High
HDFC Bank8 million0.10High
Infosys7 million0.08High

Why Volatility Is Important

Volatility is the fuel on which the interday business works. It is the rate of movement of the stock price that generates the small-time earning opportunities. But those which have greater volatility have greater risk too. Hence it is important to take the right approach, where opportunities perfectly match risk.

How to Find Volatile Stocks

There are many ways to find volatile stocks. Below are some. • Price movements over time, scan for trends in these movements`.

  • Price actions can be analyzed using statistical measures like Average True Range
  • Search for breakouts of indicators that calculate the momentum of price

Market Trends in Day Trading

Market trends are the fundamentals of transmitting a successful day trading. One must be able to confirm whether the market is bullish or bearish to prepare the strategy accordingly.

###Bull and Bear Market

  • Bull Market: It is characterized by an uptrend. It results from positive economic indicators and investor optimism.
  • Bear Market: A downtrend, poor economic forecasts, and rising investor anxiety define a bear market.

Sector Performance

Sector performance helps pick the right stocks to trade.

SectorPerformance IndicatorCurrent Trend
Technology+3.5%Bullish
Healthcare-1.2%Bear
Financials+2.8%N
Consumer Goods+0.5%Bullish

Intraday Trading Based on Technical Analysis

Technical analysis is an integral component of the fast-paced world of intraday trading. For deriving the price pattern and forecasting the future scenario, this study is helpful.

Chart Patterns in Detail

Chart patterns like a head-and-shoulders pattern, flags, and triangles play a very crucial role, as identification of these patterns helps us properly take trading decisions.

PatternMarket BehaviorTrading Signal
Head and ShouldersReversalSell after confirmation
TriangleContinuation or ReversalBuy on breakout for continuation
FlagsContinuationBuy after breakout
Double TopTrend reversalSell upon confirmation

Trading with Indicators and Tools

Indicators are things like moving averages and momentum oscillators that confirm the probability of your trading ideas. Combining these with strong chart patterns strengthens your strategy, making you more prepared for execution when the market changes occur.

Stock Trading Volume Analysis

Analysis done on volume in stock trading helps to measure the market activity and real-time liquidity. By monitoring the trading volume, you can actually see how stock prices move and understand the health of a market.

Understanding Volume Trends

Where there is high trading volume, it indicates there is more liquidity, especially during peak trading hours. That has a constant average daily volume that can help monitor trading opportunities and better highlight significant market changes.

Volume as a Confirmation Tool

Volume trends can corroborate market moves. Price increases on increased volume indicate a healthy market, as price decreases on large volume confirm a declining market. This assists in making sensible trading decisions.

Understanding Resistance and Support Levels in Intraday Trading

When it comes to intraday trading, the most important input is given by the resistance and support levels. These price levels can indicate a reversal from the trend for entry or exit.

CharacteristicLevels of SupportLevels of Resistance
Price BehaviorPrice tends to bounce off this levelPrice tends to reverse or hesitate at this level
Trading VolumeHigh buying interest indicatedHigh selling interest indicated
Market SentimentIndicates potential bullish reversalIndicates potential bearish reversal
Psychological FactorsRound numbers tend to act as supportRound numbers tend to act as resistance

News-Sensitive Stocks for Intraday Trading

News-sensitive stocks offer different opportunities for intraday traders. News can swing the prices of stocks, therefore offering volatility that intraday traders prey on.

How to Trade News-Driven Stocks

  • Keep News on Your Radar: Be informed on every bit of news.
  • Pre-Trading Homework: Learn how stocks tend to react to such news in the past.
  • Risk Management: To safeguard from sudden market turns.
    • Use Liquidity: To trade through liquid stocks.

Criteria impacting Stock Selection for Intraday Trading

Each stock to be taken for intraday trading needs to meet criteria such as liquidity, volatility, market trend and technical analysis.

Key Determinants of Stock Selection

FactorEffect
LiquidityGuarantees a smooth entry and exit.
VolatilityModerate volatility increases the opportunity for profit, while too much volatility is dangerous.
CorrelationEquities that move in tandem with at least sectors or indexes make decisions easier.
Technical AnalysisHelps decide when to be in and out of a stock through chart patterns.
News SensitivityTakes advantage of the way the market reacts to news announcements.

Risk Management in Intraday Trading

Ease of risk management is another tool that can be used to achieve success in intraday trading. It protects your capital and allows you room to build better trading results.

Ordering Stop Loss

Such trading orders help manage your risks in trading. It helps one plan an exit at a pre-determined price, thus helping in the management of probable losses which save your capital.

Portfolio Diversification

Diversification of assets always mitigates the risk involved and offers an opportunity to book gains from different market trends.

Entry and Exit Strategies for Intraday Trading

Entry and exit the market is one of the most important strategies in intraday trading. This is useful in pocketing the profit while limiting losses.

Perfect Entry Points

A good entry point is a technique that depends on market trends and is best achieved through technical analysis, namely moving averages and RSI.

Exit Strategies for Maximum Gains

  • Just Take Your Profits On A Timely Basis: Establish targets for profits.
  • Use Stop-Loss Orders: Ensure capital defense and exit on predetermined points.
  • Trailing Stops: Guarantees the profit you've locked in as the market moves in your favor.
Type of StrategyDescription of StrategyBest to Use
Breakout TradingTaking positions close to critical price levelsA stock about to exit the break-out point
Trend TradingTaking positions aligned with proven uptrends/downswingsLong-term stocks with steady action

Advantages of Top Gainers and Losers in Intraday Trading

What more the short-term trader requires than an indication of who the front-runners in the market are.

How to Know Which Stocks are Moving

  • Track record: Monitor big price change stocks for trade.
  • Trading volume: The most volatile stocks with high trading volume are to be used for day trading.

Disclaimer

The content provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. For full details, refer to the disclaimer document.