Give me top stocks for day trade today

Screening Filters

1. Price: $5 – $100

   • Purpose: Focus on reasonably priced stocks that are practical for short-term trading.
   • Rationale:
     • Below ~$5 you get into very low-priced/penny-stock territory, which often has erratic liquidity, huge spreads, and manipulation risk — not ideal for disciplined day trading.
     • Above ~$100, position sizing becomes harder for many traders (fewer shares, less flexibility around scaling in/out), and high-priced names can move in large dollar amounts that may not fit all intraday risk profiles.
     • The $5–$100 band tends to capture a lot of active, “tradable” names that are popular with day traders.

2. Volume: ≥ 5,000,000 shares (today)

   • Purpose: Ensure high liquidity so you can get in and out quickly with tighter spreads.
   • Rationale:
     • High volume usually means tighter bid-ask spreads and better order execution — both essential for day trading.
     • Low-volume names can “gap” on small orders, making stops unreliable and slippage high.
     • A 5M+ threshold focuses on heavily traded stocks where intraday setups are more actionable.

3. Relative Volume: ≥ 2

   • Purpose: Find stocks that are trading at at least 2x their usual activity today.
   • Rationale:
     • Relative volume ≥ 2 flags “in play” stocks — usually reacting to news, earnings, upgrades/downgrades, or sector catalysts.
     • These names often show stronger intraday trends, breakouts, or mean-reversion moves — the kind of volatility day traders look for.
     • It avoids “sleepy” stocks with average or below-average activity, even if their absolute volume is high.

4. Exchange: XNYS, XNAS, XASE (NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX)

   • Purpose: Limit results to major US exchanges.
   • Rationale:
     • User asked for “US stocks”; these are the primary US equity exchanges.
     • Major exchanges enforce stricter listing standards (reporting, minimum price, etc.), which generally means better transparency and tradability.
     • Excluding OTC/pink-sheet names cuts out a lot of illiquid, highly speculative tickers not suitable for most day traders.

5. Price Change %: -100% to +100% (today)

   • Purpose: Allow all intraday movers, both up and down.
   • Rationale:
     • This is effectively not filtering out any stocks based on the size or direction of today’s move; it just keeps the screen unconstrained on this metric.
     • For day trading, you may be interested in both strong gainers (momentum longs) and sharp decliners (shorts or bounce plays).
     • Using a wide -100% to +100% band ensures you don’t accidentally exclude extreme movers that might offer the best intraday setups.

Why Results Match Your Request (“top US stocks for day trading today”)

• US-focused: Restricting to NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX delivers US-listed stocks as you requested.
• Day-trader-friendly liquidity: The high volume filter (≥ 5M) ensures tight spreads and cleaner executions — critical for intraday trades.
• In-play today: The relative volume ≥ 2 requirement specifically finds stocks that are unusually active today, often due to catalysts, making them far more attractive for day trading than quiet names.
• Practical price range: The $5–$100 range avoids many illiquid penny stocks and very expensive names, focusing on tickers that most active traders can size and trade efficiently.
• No artificial move bias: The wide price-change range means you’ll see both big gainers and losers, giving you flexibility to trade long or short setups based on your strategy.

Together, these filters are designed to surface liquid, US-listed, high-activity stocks that are “in play” today, which is exactly the kind of universe most day traders start from when looking for opportunities.