What stock under $5 should I buy today?

First, a quick clarification

No screen can tell you the best stock to buy today or guarantee profits—especially in the under‑$5 space, which is inherently riskier and more volatile.
What these filters do is narrow the universe to stocks under $5 that are:

• tradable (not dead/illiquid)
• on major U.S. exchanges
• showing some fundamental and technical strength

so you’re looking at higher‑probability ideas rather than random penny stocks.

Screening Filters

1. Price: min = 0.5, max = 5

   • Purpose: Focus on low‑priced stocks while avoiding ultra‑thin “lottery ticket” names.
   • Rationale:
     • Your question is “What stock under $5 should I buy today?” so the $5 cap directly reflects your price constraint.
     • The $0.5 minimum avoids extremely low‑priced sub‑$0.50 names, which are often:
       • very illiquid
       • highly manipulated
       • at significant risk of delisting or reverse splits
         This still keeps us in the “penny/low‑priced” territory but filters out the riskiest tail.

2. Market cap: min = 100,000,000 (≥ $100M)

   • Purpose: Avoid the tiniest micro‑caps and shell companies.
   • Rationale:
     • Many sub‑$5 stocks are micro‑caps with weak disclosure and high manipulation risk.
     • A $100M+ market cap generally implies:
       • a more established business
       • better reporting standards
       • less extreme pump‑and‑dump behavior
         This is a safety / quality screen within the penny‑stock universe.

3. Monthly average dollar volume: min = 500,000 (≥ $500K traded per day on average)

   • Purpose: Ensure liquidity so you can realistically enter and exit positions.
   • Rationale:
     • Dollar volume (price × volume) is a better liquidity measure than share volume alone.
     • A $500K+ daily average:
       • reduces the risk of huge spreads and slippage
       • makes it easier to trade without moving the market
         For “what should I buy today,” liquidity is crucial—you want something you can actually transact in at a fair price.

4. Moving average relationship: PriceAboveMA20

   • Purpose: Focus on stocks in a short‑term uptrend or at least trading above their recent 20‑day average price.
   • Rationale:
     • If you’re asking what to buy today, you likely care about near‑term momentum rather than deep value plays.
     • Price above the 20‑day moving average (MA20) is a classic signal that:
       • recent price action is positive
       • sellers are less dominant than they were over the last month
         It tilts the screen toward setups where the trend is working with you, not against you.

5. Region: United States

   • Purpose: Restrict results to U.S.‑listed companies.
   • Rationale:
     • U.S. markets have:
       • stronger disclosure rules
       • generally higher liquidity
       • more consistent trading hours and news flows
     • It also keeps the list in one regulatory/jurisdictional context, which is simpler for a “what to buy today” decision.

6. List exchange: XNYS, XNAS, XASE (NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American)

   • Purpose: Avoid OTC/pink‑sheet names and focus on major, regulated exchanges.
   • Rationale:
     • Many of the most dangerous penny stocks trade OTC with:
       • lax reporting
       • limited liquidity
       • wide spreads and manipulation
     • Restricting to NYSE / Nasdaq / NYSE American:
       • improves data quality and governance standards
       • reduces delisting and fraud risk
         This is a key safeguard when dealing with low‑priced stocks.

7. Quarter revenue YoY growth: min = 5 (≥ +5% year‑over‑year)

   • Purpose: Find companies with actual business growth, not just speculative price spikes.
   • Rationale:
     • A positive year‑over‑year revenue growth (at least 5%) indicates:
       • demand for the company’s products/services is increasing
       • some underlying fundamental support for the stock
     • In the penny‑stock space, many names have collapsing or stagnant revenues; this filter keeps you focused on companies that are at least growing their top line.

Why the Results Match Your Request

• You asked for stocks under $5 → the price filter (≤ $5) directly encodes this, while the ≥ $0.5 floor helps avoid the most speculative extremes.
• You want something to buy today →
  • PriceAboveMA20 ensures a short‑term uptrend or positive technical backdrop.
  • Liquidity (≥ $500K avg dollar volume) ensures you can actually trade it today at reasonable spreads.
• The space is inherently risky, so the screen adds risk controls:
  • Market cap ≥ $100M to avoid the lowest‑quality micro‑caps.
  • Major U.S. exchanges (NYSE/Nasdaq/NYSE American) to avoid opaque OTC names.
  • Revenue growth ≥ 5% to focus on companies with improving fundamentals, not pure hype.

If you’d like, the next step would be to take the shortlisted names from this screen and go one level deeper—looking at charts, news, and basic financials—to pick one or two that best fit your risk tolerance and time horizon.