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Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Watchlists

There are a lot of questions in comments about how I come up with my daily watchlist. My trading platform is RealTick (since the late 90s!), and I use their standard "gap lists" to build my daily watchlist. I don't carry candidates over day-to-day...every day starts a new watchlist based on the daily "gap lists" from RealTick.

In comments, Ken talks about how he builds his watchlist. I do almost the exact same thing, so I will re-publish his comment:

"I use RealTick like X, or at least he used to. X, do you still use RT?

Anyway, I get my watchlist from the gap lists they provide. I dump them into Excel, delete stocks prices above $100, and often delete stocks below $20 though I sometimes leave them. Then I cut and paste back into the RT program and it actively sorts by today's volume. Sounds like a lot of work, but I can literally do the entire process in less than 60 seconds. Since the earliest I take my first trade would be 10 minutes after the open, I have plenty of time to spare.

Hope this helps some of you if you have the ability to cut and paste into Excel, and then back to your trading program."

If you click WELCOME AND LINKS TO KEY POSTS at the top of the page, you will find other posts that cover watchlists, how to find gap candidates, and numerous other subjects. Here is a good post to read. And there are so many more dating back half a decade!

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4 comments:

Prospectus said...

X and readers,

I'm an Excel/VBA pro, but I don't use RT. If someone wants to get me a copy of a sample watchlist from RT pasted into Excel, both before sorting/culling and after, I'll write a macro that turns it all into a one click process and freely distribute it. Let me know if anyone is interested. Thanks for all you do, X.

Chips and Salsa said...

Trader X, Michael, Ken, et al,

Thank you for your feedback and insights regarding watchlists. The whole current versus relative volume was always a question mark for me.

Michael, thanks for the heads up. I did a search but couldn't find anything about X's take on relative volume. (Maybe it's hidden somewhere in comments?).

If current volume (and not relative volume) is what you, Ken, and X are talking about with RealTick, that's great news for me. Why?

I've always felt obligated to use extraneous websites and subscription services to access a relative volume scan.

But if you guys don't find such a scan necessary for your own trading, it makes me feel much better about streamlining by simply using my broker's trading software which only sorts by current volume (shares traded since today's open).

I'm always looking for ways to simplify my trading routine, so I appreciate the permission to "let go" and keep it simple. No more superfluous website and subscription hopping! :D

Trader-X said...

Nice offer prospectus, you are a scholar and a gentleman!

Chips and Salsa, the only thing I use volume for is sorting my watchlist, and it is current not relative volume. This topic always causes a lot of debate, and many people are attached to using volume as an indicator (much like me and Fibonacci). I have found that volume does not give me an edge, so I discarded it long ago as an indicator. It is important to note that I mean "for me"...I don't dismiss that others use volume and it successfully adds to their trading. That is why I always harp on "create your own style" and "use what works best for you".

Thanks!

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