Best stocks under $5

Screening Filters

1. Price: min 0.5, max 5

   • Purpose: Find stocks trading under $5 while avoiding extremely low‑priced “penny” names that are often illiquid or highly speculative.
   • Rationale:
     • Your request is “best stocks under $5,” so a maximum price of $5 directly reflects that.
     • A minimum price of $0.50 is added to filter out ultra‑low‑priced stocks (e.g., $0.01–$0.49), which are usually much riskier, have wide bid‑ask spreads, and can be subject to manipulation.
     • This still fully respects your “under $5” constraint, but focuses on the somewhat more established portion of that universe.

2. Market Cap Category: ['small', 'micro', 'nano']

   • Purpose: Align the search with the types of companies most likely to have share prices under $5—typically smaller and earlier‑stage firms.
   • Rationale:
     • Large and mega‑cap companies almost never trade below $5 unless they are in severe distress or in special corporate situations.
     • By explicitly focusing on small, micro, and nano caps, the screener targets the segment of the market where sub‑$5 prices are normal rather than a distress signal.
     • This improves relevance: you’re more likely to see companies that are naturally in the under‑$5 range, not just larger firms that have crashed.

3. Volume: min 200,000 (shares per day)

   • Purpose: Ensure that the stocks you see are reasonably liquid and practical to trade.
   • Rationale:
     • Under‑$5 stocks often include many thinly traded names with very low volume, making it hard to get in or out without moving the price.
     • A minimum average daily volume of 200,000 shares helps filter out illiquid tickers, so the results are more suitable for real‑world trading (tighter spreads, better order execution, less slippage).

4. Exchange Listing: ['XNYS', 'XNAS', 'XASE'] (NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX)

   • Purpose: Restrict results to mainstream U.S. stock exchanges, matching your “US stock market” requirement.
   • Rationale:
     • XNYS = NYSE, XNAS = NASDAQ, XASE = NYSE American (AMEX) — the primary U.S. stock exchanges.
     • This excludes OTC and pink‑sheet securities, which often have less stringent listing standards, less transparency, and higher overall risk.
     • Focusing on these major exchanges aligns with how most investors define the “US stock market” in practice.

Why Results Match:

• The price filter (≤ $5) directly targets your “under $5” requirement, with a small safeguard floor at $0.50 to avoid the lowest‑quality extremes.
• The exchange filter keeps the universe to major U.S. exchanges, which is what you likely mean by “US stock market.”
• The market cap filter reflects the reality that most sub‑$5 stocks are small, micro, or nano caps, improving relevance and avoiding unusual large‑cap outliers.
• The volume filter makes the list more practical by highlighting stocks that you can realistically trade, not just obscure illiquid names.

In summary, while your request was purely about price and “US market,” the additional filters (market cap and volume) are there to improve quality, tradability, and relevance within that under‑$5 U.S. stock universe.