Stocks under $5 for likely day trade today

Screening Filters

1. Price: 0.5 ≤ price ≤ 5

   • Purpose: Restrict results to “cheap” stocks under $5 while avoiding ultra‑illiquid penny names.
   • Rationale: You explicitly asked for stocks under $5. The $0.50 floor reduces micro‑penny names that often have huge spreads and are harder to trade intraday. The $5 cap keeps the focus on low‑priced names that can move a lot in percentage terms, which is attractive for day trading.

2. Monthly Average Dollar Volume: ≥ $1,000,000

   • Purpose: Ensure sufficient liquidity for day trading.
   • Rationale: Dollar volume (price × volume) is a better liquidity gauge than share volume alone. A minimum of $1M average per month helps filter out thinly traded tickers where getting in/out intraday can be difficult or very costly due to wide bid‑ask spreads.

3. Relative Volume (relative_vol): ≥ 1.5

   • Purpose: Focus on stocks trading with unusually high current volume vs. their norm.
   • Rationale: For day trades, you want names that are “in play” today. Relative volume ≥ 1.5 means the stock is trading at least 50% more volume than usual, a strong sign of active interest and intraday opportunities (momentum, breakouts, volatility).

4. Moving Average Relationship: PriceAboveMA20

   • Purpose: Bias the list toward stocks in a short‑term bullish trend.
   • Rationale: Price above the 20‑day moving average indicates the stock is trading stronger than its recent average, which fits your goal of finding candidates more likely to trend up intraday rather than fight a broader downtrend.

5. Price Change %: 3% ≤ daily change ≤ 20%

   • Purpose: Capture stocks already moving meaningfully today, but avoid extreme blow‑offs.
   • Rationale:
     • Minimum 3%: Eliminates flat names with little intraday opportunity.
     • Maximum 20%: Keeps out the most parabolic, potentially exhausted moves where spreads/volatility can become unmanageable, especially for intraday traders.

6. List Exchange: [XNYS, XNAS, XASE]

   • Purpose: Limit results to major U.S. exchanges.
   • Rationale: NYSE, NASDAQ, and NYSE American (AMEX) generally provide tighter spreads, better liquidity, and more reliable data—important for execution quality in day trading. It also filters out many OTC/pink‑sheet names that are more prone to manipulation and poor fills.

Why Results Match Your Request

• All candidates will be under $5, directly matching your price requirement.
• Liquidity and activity filters (monthly dollar volume ≥ $1M, relative volume ≥ 1.5) target stocks that are actively traded and more suitable for intraday entries and exits.
• Momentum bias (PriceAboveMA20 + 3–20% daily gain) focuses on names already showing bullish intraday behavior, aligning with your desire for “suitable” day trades rather than dead or collapsing stocks.
• Limiting to major U.S. exchanges improves the practical tradability and execution quality for a day trader.

Together, these filters narrow the universe to low‑priced, liquid, actively moving, short‑term bullish stocks—i.e., the kind of names most day traders look for when scanning under‑$5 opportunities.