Screening Filters
Market Cap ≥ $300,000,000
- Purpose: Focus on reasonably established companies and avoid ultra‑illiquid microcaps.
- Rationale:
- Very small microcaps often have huge spreads, thin order books, and can be easily manipulated — all bad for scalping, where you need to get in and out quickly at predictable prices.
- A minimum market cap of $300M keeps you in the “small-cap and up” space, where:
- Liquidity is usually better,
- Price moves are less random than in tiny penny stocks,
- Execution quality is more reliable for short-term trades.
Price Between $5 and $80
- Purpose: Target stocks in a “tradable” price range for scalping, balancing volatility, liquidity, and capital efficiency.
- Rationale:
- Below $5: many stocks behave like classic penny stocks — wide spreads, extreme slippage, and lower-quality order flow, which can kill scalping returns.
- Above $80: each share is more capital-intensive; small percentage moves can still be profitable, but scaling in/out can be more expensive and spreads can widen on higher-priced names.
- The $5–$80 range typically:
- Has tighter spreads,
- Offers enough volatility,
- Allows more flexible position sizing for short timeframes.
Weekly Average Dollar Volume ≥ $1,500,000
- Purpose: Ensure high enough dollar liquidity for quick entries and exits with minimal slippage.
- Rationale:
- Scalping depends on:
- Fast execution,
- Ability to move size without moving the market too much.
- Dollar volume (price × volume) is more meaningful than share volume alone for scalpers: a stock trading $1.5M+ per week has:
- Reasonable turnover,
- Deeper books and more active market participants.
- This reduces the risk of getting stuck in a position or having to cross a huge spread to exit.
Relative Volume (Rel Vol) ≥ 1.5
- Purpose: Find stocks trading at least 1.5× their normal volume — i.e., names “in play” today.
- Rationale:
- High relative volume is a classic signal for intraday traders and scalpers:
- More traders are watching and trading the stock,
- Price action tends to be more directional and responsive to short-term setups,
- Spreads often tighten as more orders hit the book.
- Rel Vol ≥ 1.5 filters for names where:
- Something is happening (news, catalysts, momentum),
- The increased attention boosts both liquidity and volatility, which is ideal for scalping opportunities.
5-Minute Price Change % ≥ 0.8%
- Purpose: Isolate stocks already showing short-term momentum and intraday movement.
- Rationale:
- Scalpers need movement — a stock that barely moves can’t yield meaningful profits after fees and spreads.
- A ≥0.8% move in just 5 minutes flags:
- Active intraday volatility,
- Potential continuation or mean-reversion setups that scalpers can trade around.
- This avoids dead, range-bound names and moves you toward stocks where there’s enough near-term action to justify rapid trades.
Why Results Match Your “High-Profit Potential Scalping” Goal
This list is generated based on data from one or more third party data providers. It is provided for informational purposes only by Intellectia.AI, and is not investment advice or a recommendation. Intellectia does not make any warranty or guarantee relating to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any third-party information, and the provision of this information does not constitute a recommendation.