What penny stocks are people buying

Screening Filters

1. Price: 0.10–5 USD

   • Purpose: Capture “penny stocks” while excluding sub‑penny / nearly worthless tickers.
   • Rationale:
     • In U.S. markets, “penny stock” is commonly defined as a stock trading under $5, so a max of $5 aligns directly with the user’s request.
     • A minimum of $0.10 avoids ultra‑illiquid, distressed, or manipulated sub‑penny names that often don’t have real investor interest. This keeps the list focused on tradeable, more legitimate penny stocks.

2. Market Cap: 50M–2B USD

   • Purpose: Focus on smaller companies typical of penny stocks, but with enough size to attract real investor participation.
   • Rationale:
     • A minimum of $50M market cap filters out many “shells,” bankrupt, or extremely speculative entities that trade by appointment and are not broadly bought by investors.
     • A maximum of $2B keeps the universe in the small‑cap / lower mid‑cap range, consistent with the idea of penny stocks rather than large, mature companies whose stock price is low for unusual reasons (e.g., reverse splits, special situations).

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

   • Purpose: Ensure the stocks are actively traded and reasonably liquid.
   • Rationale:
     • “Popular” and “currently being bought” implies that meaningful amounts of capital are flowing into these names.
     • Using dollar volume rather than just share volume helps capture real trading interest (e.g., 10M shares at $0.10 is very different from 10M shares at $5).
     • A threshold of at least $1M per month screens out illiquid, rarely traded stocks that investors are not broadly buying.

4. Relative Volume (relative_vol): ≥ 1.5

   • Purpose: Find stocks where current trading activity is significantly above normal, suggesting increased investor attention.
   • Rationale:
     • Relative volume compares today’s (or recent) volume to the stock’s average volume.
     • A value of 1.5+ means the stock is trading at least 50% more volume than usual, which often indicates fresh buying interest, news, or momentum.
     • This helps distinguish “currently hot” penny stocks from those that are just generally liquid but not seeing unusual current demand.

5. Price Change % (price_change_pct): ≥ +3% (recent period)

   • Purpose: Highlight penny stocks moving up, consistent with being actively bought rather than sold.
   • Rationale:
     • A positive price change of at least +3% over the selected period (typically intraday or daily) is a simple way to capture bullish price action.
     • If investors are aggressively buying a stock, price is usually rising alongside volume.
     • This filter helps avoid names that are active because of panic selling and focuses on those where buying pressure dominates.

Why Results Match the User’s Request

• The price filter directly targets penny stocks (under $5), which is the core of the query.
• The market cap range keeps the list in the small-company universe typical of penny stocks, while avoiding many dead or purely speculative shells.
• The dollar volume and relative volume filters work together to capture popular, actively traded names—stocks that investors are currently engaging with in meaningful size and at higher-than-normal levels.
• The positive price change filter ensures the focus is on stocks that investors are buying more than selling, reflected by upward price momentum.

Taken together, these filters are designed not just to find penny stocks, but specifically those that are currently popular and under active accumulation by investors.