What should I buy in the pre market?

Screening Filters

1. Market Cap ≥ $2,000,000,000 (Large/Mid Cap Focus)

   • Purpose: Limit results to established, sizable companies.
   • Rationale: When asking “What should I buy in the pre-market?”, the priority is usually to avoid thin, highly speculative names that can move wildly on little volume. A $2B+ market cap filter steers you toward more stable, institutionally followed companies where price moves are more likely driven by meaningful news (earnings, guidance, sector events) rather than pure speculation.

2. Price between $5 and $200

   • Purpose: Exclude ultra-low-priced penny stocks and extremely high-priced shares.
   • Rationale:
     • Below $5 you often get higher volatility, poorer liquidity, and more manipulation risk—especially dangerous in pre-market.
     • Above $200, position sizing and intraday trading can become less flexible for many retail traders.
       This band focuses on “tradable” names where you can size positions more easily and spreads tend to be more reasonable.

3. Average Volume ≥ 100,000

   • Purpose: Ensure reasonable liquidity.
   • Rationale: In pre-market, liquidity is already thinner than regular hours. By requiring at least 100k volume (typically based on regular-session volume), the screener favors stocks that usually trade enough to keep bid–ask spreads tighter and make entries/exits more feasible, which is critical if you’re considering buying before the open.

4. Pre-Market Price Change ≥ +3.0001%

   • Purpose: Highlight significant positive pre-market movers.
   • Rationale: Your question is about what to buy in the pre-market, which usually implies you want stocks already reacting to fresh information (earnings beats, upgrades, guidance changes, major news). A ≥3% pre-market move filters for names where there is clear, notable interest and momentum, instead of random noise or flat trading.

5. Exchange: XNYS, XNAS, XASE (NYSE, NASDAQ, NYSE American)

   • Purpose: Restrict to major U.S. exchanges.
   • Rationale: These venues list the most liquid and regulated U.S. stocks. For pre-market trading, this helps:
     • Avoid OTC and very illiquid markets.
     • Ensure more reliable trading infrastructure and better transparency around news and filings.

6. Index Component: S&P 500 (GSPC), Dow (DJI), or Nasdaq 100 (NDX)

   • Purpose: Focus on top-tier, widely followed companies.
   • Rationale: Constituents of these indices are generally:
     • Large, well-covered companies with robust liquidity.
     • Central to institutional flows and ETF rebalancing.
       In pre-market, index names typically have tighter spreads, more predictable behavior, and their moves are often tied to widely known news—making it easier for you to understand why they’re moving before you decide whether to participate.

Why Results Match Your Question

• They are actively moving in the pre-market (≥3% price change), which is what you care about when deciding what to buy before the open.
• They are liquid, established, index-level names (large/mid cap, index components, major exchanges, min volume), which helps reduce some of the unique risks of pre-market trading.
• They have tradable price levels ($5–$200), making it more practical for typical account sizes to enter and manage positions.

In short, these filters aim to surface pre-market leaders among large, liquid U.S. stocks—names where there is meaningful pre-market action and where trading them is more feasible and somewhat less hazardous than chasing illiquid small caps.