Which stock should I buy today?

Screening Filters

1. moving_average_relationship = PriceAboveMA20

   • Purpose: Find stocks whose current price is above their 20‑day moving average.
   • Rationale: For a “what should I buy today?” question—especially for swing trading—you typically want names already in a short‑term uptrend rather than falling knives. Price above the 20‑day MA is a basic trend filter that favors stocks with positive recent momentum and avoids those in immediate technical weakness.

2. is_index_component = GSPC, NDX

   • Purpose: Limit results to stocks that are members of the S&P 500 (GSPC) or Nasdaq‑100 (NDX).
   • Rationale: You’re asking for a stock to buy now, which implies preference for liquid, widely followed names where execution and information are better. S&P 500 and Nasdaq‑100 constituents tend to be:
     • Larger, more established companies
     • Highly liquid (tighter spreads, easier to get in/out for swing trades)
     • Better covered by analysts and institutions
       This reduces the risk of obscure, thinly traded names that can be hard to trade actively.

3. region = United States

   • Purpose: Restrict the universe to U.S. companies.
   • Rationale: Your question is explicitly about a U.S. stock. This aligns the results with U.S. accounting standards, market hours, and regulatory environment, which also matches the MSFT example you discussed previously.

4. list_exchange = XNYS, XNAS, XASE

   • Purpose: Include only stocks listed on major U.S. exchanges: NYSE, Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
   • Rationale: This further filters out OTC or lightly regulated listings, focusing on:
     • Better disclosure and governance standards
     • Higher average liquidity
     • Lower operational risk for active trading
       For “buy today” decisions, this matters because poor liquidity can make entries/exits costly.

5. quarter_eps_yoy_growth (min = 15%)

   • Purpose: Require at least 15% year‑over‑year EPS growth in the most recent reported quarter.
   • Rationale: You’re not just asking for any stock—you’re implicitly looking for quality names with improving fundamentals. Positive, double‑digit EPS growth:
     • Signals business momentum
     • Supports the sustainability of the stock’s uptrend
     • Reduces the odds that you’re buying into a purely speculative spike
       This ties to the kind of financial strength seen in MSFT’s example (strong EPS and revenue growth).

6. one_month_rise_prob (min = 55%)

   • Purpose: Select stocks that, based on historical pattern statistics, have at least a 55% probability of rising over the next month.
   • Rationale: Since the question is “Which stock should I buy today?” and your prior context involves swing trading, this filter directly targets names with a historical edge over a typical swing window (weeks, not years).
   • It doesn’t guarantee gains, but it tilts the list toward setups where:
     • Past similar conditions more often led to positive 1‑month returns
     • The short‑term probability profile is favorable for a swing trader

7. analyst_consensus = Strong Buy, Moderate Buy

   • Purpose: Keep only stocks with a positive analyst consensus rating.
   • Rationale: When you want actionable ideas today, it helps to have institutional support:
     • “Strong Buy” / “Moderate Buy” means most covering analysts see upside
     • Often coincides with positive news flow, earnings revisions, and institutional inflows
       This aligns your pick with Wall Street rather than fighting broad professional opinion.

Why Results Match Your Question

• You asked: “Which US stock should I buy today?”

  • The region and exchange filters ensure you get U.S.‑listed, mainstream names that are practical to trade immediately.
  • The index membership filter keeps you within large, liquid, institutionally followed stocks—appropriate when acting quickly.

• You have an implied short‑to‑medium‑term, swing‑oriented, impatient profile (from your MSFT context):

  • PriceAboveMA20 and one_month_rise_prob ≥ 55% explicitly target stocks already in short‑term uptrends with a favorable probabilistic edge over about a month.
  • EPS growth ≥ 15% and bullish analyst consensus ensure that the technical strength is supported by solid fundamentals and positive professional sentiment, which is important when you don’t want to wait for a “perfect” entry.

Overall, these filters work together to surface U.S., highly liquid, fundamentally strong stocks, already in a short‑term uptrend, with a statistically better‑than‑coin‑flip chance of rising over the next month and backed by bullish analyst views—a logical universe to answer, in a practical way, “What should I buy today?” for a swing‑trading style.