What is the best day trade of today?

Important Note

No screener (or analyst) can reliably identify “the best” day trade in the market ahead of time. What we can do is narrow the universe down to stocks that statistically tend to offer better day-trading setups: liquid, moving, and with favorable indications. The filters below are designed with that in mind.

Screening Filters

1. Price: 5–100 USD

   • Purpose: Focus on reasonably priced stocks that are tradable for most accounts and tend to move enough for day trades.
   • Rationale:
     • Below ~$5, many stocks are low-priced/penny names with higher manipulation risk and wider spreads.
     • Above ~$100, position sizing becomes harder for small and mid-sized accounts, and percentage intraday moves can be smaller for many large caps.
     • The $5–$100 range is a sweet spot where you often find active, volatile, but still institutionally followed names suitable for intraday trading.

2. Relative Volume ≥ 2

   • Purpose: Find stocks trading at least 2× their normal volume today.
   • Rationale:
     • High relative volume usually means there is fresh news, catalysts, or unusual interest in the stock.
     • Elevated volume tends to tighten spreads and improve order execution—critical for intraday entries/exits.
     • For day traders, abnormal volume is a core ingredient of strong moves; this filter ensures we only look at names where “something is happening” today, not just in the past.

3. Monthly Average Dollar Volume ≥ 1,000,000 USD

   • Purpose: Ensure baseline liquidity by requiring at least $1M traded per day on average (price × volume).
   • Rationale:
     • Dollar volume is often a better liquidity measure than share volume alone.
     • It helps avoid thinly traded stocks that can gap violently on small orders, making fills unreliable and stops ineffective.
     • For day trading, especially if scaling in/out or using market/limit orders intraday, a minimum liquidity threshold is essential.

4. Price Change % (Intraday): 4% to 20%

   • Purpose: Target stocks that are already moving significantly today, but not at completely extreme levels.
   • Rationale:
     • A move of at least +4% signals meaningful momentum or a catalyst, increasing the chance of exploitable intraday trends.
     • Capping at +20% helps avoid the most parabolic, late-stage moves where risk of sharp reversals is highest and spreads may widen.
     • This range focuses on “in play” stocks with enough volatility for day trading, without exclusively selecting the most unstable ones.

5. One-Day Predicted Return ≥ 0

   • Purpose: Use a predictive model (e.g., quantitative or ML-based signal) to exclude names where the model expects a negative next-day return.
   • Rationale:
     • While no model is perfect, this acts as a directional filter: you only see stocks where the forecast is at least neutral-to-positive.
     • For a user looking for a day trade opportunity, tilting toward names with a non-negative expected return aligns the list with potential long-side setups.
     • It doesn’t guarantee gains, but it biases the universe toward higher-probability candidates according to the model.

Why These Results Match Your Request

• You asked for the best day trade opportunity in the US stock market today. These filters:
  • Focus on intraday action today (relative volume, same-day price change).
  • Ensure tradability and liquidity (price band, monthly average dollar volume).
  • Emphasize momentum and opportunity while controlling extremes (4–20% move range).
  • Add a directional edge via a non-negative predicted return filter.

Taken together, the screen narrows the entire US market down to a manageable set of liquid, actively moving stocks with favorable characteristics for day trading, from which you or a strategy can then pick specific entries and setups.