| Why pay so much attention to the first few | | | | actually on the "most points gained" list |
| minutes of the trading day and who the top 10 | | | | right after the open, you have to watch that |
| or 15 stocks are right at the open? | | | | one! It should pull back some from that huge |
| | | | gap, base out and start climbing up again. |
| As you know many times the market will "gap" | | | | |
| open. That is, it will open stocks higher | | | | To put it frankly, you can scan thousands of |
| than they closed the day before. This is | | | | headlines every morning looking for that one |
| important because "something" is going to | | | | "gem" of a story that will give a stock a big |
| happen to that stock. It will either fall | | | | boost and a lot of times you find it, but |
| back down and be forgotten (great short) on | | | | Wall Street will show you those stocks and |
| the day or it will "fill the gap" meaning it | | | | dozens of others simply by the amount of |
| will pull back and then possibly move higher | | | | excitement right at the open. Some of your |
| again. There is no stronger indication of | | | | best research can be started just two or |
| what stocks may move later in the day than to | | | | three minutes after the bell. Look for point |
| take notice of who is the point leader just a | | | | gainers, volume spikes, and % gainers. If |
| few minutes into the day. | | | | you see a stock that is trading on the leader |
| | | | board and it is up 2 or more points from |
| Every morning you can scan the headlines for | | | | where it closed the day before, rest assured |
| stock moving news and take note of a handfull | | | | either it is being carried over from the news |
| of really interesting headlines, jot those | | | | the day before, that morning's news, or some |
| companies down and in addition to them, you | | | | thing neat is going on! |
| want to see who the "market" is moving. Many | | | | |
| times you will see a stock up 3 or 4 dollars | | | | Use the leaderboard as a tool, it tells a |
| from yesterday's close and you cannot find | | | | wonderful story. If you study it long enough |
| one word of news about why it may be moving. | | | | you will see very evident patterns emerge, |
| These are often very interesting stocks to | | | | and you will be able to benefit from these |
| take note of because "something" is happening | | | | patterns. |
| there and it warrants further investigation | | | | |
| (inside buys, news leaks, new contracts, | | | | One last note: On a terrible day it is even |
| rumors of mergers, and all kinds of | | | | more important to watch the leaderboard |
| interesting things could be causing the | | | | early. Why? Because even if the market beats |
| move). | | | | them up and pulls them back, they could again |
| | | | be the winner the next day. Watch for that to |
| Another interesting thing about watching the | | | | happen often and you will find some good |
| "leaderboard" a few minutes after the open is | | | | bargains the next day. |
| to affirm your own research. For instance | | | | |
| suppose you see a mention about the XYZ | | | | Larry is the publisher of and is a |
| company looking good going forward. You do a | | | | recognized authority on the subject of |
| little homework and decide that "yes, this is | | | | trading and has been publishing his |
| a good looking candidate". Well, if that | | | | newsletter, Stocks2Watch(R), since January of |
| stock opens strong the next day and is | | | | 1997. |