Best Stocks For Day Trading
Picking the right stocks to day trade is very important for every trader because it allows you to trade without taking unnecessarily large losses on every trade due to wide spreads, low liquidity and high fees. If you are a scalper, then this is even more important for you.
We only trade markets that have optimal trading conditions because there is no reason to take on unnecessary risk that comes with low volume markets. The key elements that we look for in a healthy market to day trade are as follows: tight spreads, lots of liquidity, low fees and plenty of options contract activity. Make sure to check out our other tutorials if you want to learn more about day trading or how to pick the best stocks to trade.
The list of day trading stocks below tick all of the boxes for optimal trading conditions so let’s get into the good stuff.
1. SPY - S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY is my number one pick for best stock to day trade because it has tons of retail traders and multiple market makers that participate heavily in this market. This means that the spreads are extremely tight so you aren’t paying extra for gaps in price. SPY also has options contracts that expire every day and tons of liquidity for options as well as spot trading. Since they have contracts that expire every day, there are always options contracts that you can trade for cheap.
SPY also has decent volatility for options trading on most days, but it can be a slow mover if you are spot trading due to the percentage movements being smaller than regular stocks that aren’t ETFs. It’s also a great stock to hold long term if you are spot trading and end up making a poor trade. Accumulating the S&P 500 is never a bad idea!
2. QQQ - Invesco QQQ Trust
QQQ is my second best stock pick for intraday trading for various reasons. First, it has lots of participants, so you can always expect tight spreads and lots of liquidity. Nobody likes a wide spread or losing extra money because your order moved the price down in a low liquidity market. The second thing is that QQQ has tons of options activity and options contracts that expire every day as of recently. This means you can get access to super cheap options contracts that are perfect for making quick scalps throughout the trading day.
This market is great for options as well as spot trading and since it is an excellent ETF to own long term, you don’t need to worry about carrying a bag of shares long term because it consists of a large collection of already great performing stocks. No matter what day trading strategy you use, QQQ is a perfect choice if you want the absolute best trading conditions. You can also look at TQQQ and SQQQ as mentioned below if you trade shares and want better percentage gains or just don’t have a large enough count to trade QQQ shares.
3. AAPL - Apple Inc.
Apple is an excellent stock to day trade because it has really tight spreads and lots of other traders. You can always expect good liquidity from Apple since it is a multi-trillion dollar company that is a huge part of the S&P 500 as well as Invesco as mentioned above. You can expect SPY and QQQ to also be affected by the price movement of Apple since it is one of the biggest holdings of those ETFs. There is also a large amount of options contract activity so you can scalp options throughout the day without large gaps in contract prices. Apple is also a good stock to hold long term if you are looking to accumulate good companies.
4. AMZN - Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon is one of my favorite stocks to day trade because its movements are pretty easy to predict when using our Supply and Demand trading indicator. It bounces off of those default levels constantly, providing excellent scalp trade setups day in and day out. You can also expect tight spreads, a good amount of options contract activity and plenty of liquidity if you have deep pockets. Amazon is also a large holding in the S&P 500 and QQQ as well, so look for those ETFs to be affected by the price action of AMZN throughout the day. And Amazon is never a bad stock to hold either, so maybe keep a few shares in your account for long term investing instead of selling all of them!
5. TSLA - Tesla, Inc.
Tesla gets a ton of media coverage because of its founder, Elon Musk and all the wild things he is doing which can make Tesla stock move up or down in large percentages which is excellent for day trading! Tesla also likes to hold its trend so look for an established trend and then short the tops if bearish or long the dips if bullish. There are also a ton of other traders and hedge funds involved in trading Tesla, so the spreads are typically very tight and the opportunities for options trading are prevalent. Long term, Tesla has been on a massive bull run, so it’s important to keep an eye on the higher timeframe charts to ensure you aren’t trying to go short when it is ready to make another leg up.
6. MSFT - Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft is a great stock for day trading however, its stock price is currently in the $400 range, so it’s not as accessible to traders with small accounts. This also makes the options prices higher and keeps it out of reach for many traders, but if you have a decent size account, it can be an excellent choice for day trading because of the tight spreads, predictable price action patterns and plenty of liquidity. It is important to note that Microsoft is a technology company and has been on quite the bull run over the course of its existence, so make sure you take a look at the daily charts before making decisions on day trade setups, because Microsoft is quite bullish in the long term.
7. META - Meta Platforms, Inc. aka Facebook
Facebook recently rebranded to META, so you can look for META as the ticker for the company when setting up your Tradingview charts. I like to trade META options quite a bit, but just like Microsoft, it has a high stock price which makes it out of reach for many traders with small accounts. If you can afford to trade META options contracts though, they are a perfect mix of liquidity, tons of active traders and very tight spreads on shares as well as options and margin trading so it makes for great trading conditions overall. All of the stocks listed so far like to follow each other to an extent, so keep an eye on the major tech stocks as a whole when trading because this can help you spot an overall market trend and stick to that direction for your trades throughout the day.
8. AMD - Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
AMD has been doing very well over the past year because of all of the AI technology that is being constantly released to the public, as well as their normal computer chips that go in countless amounts of home computers every day. They have been an excellent stock to day trade, especially with their recent bull runs and the cost of their stock at the moment is under $200 which makes it accessible for most traders to take a position in. They also have a robust options trading market that provides decently cheap options contracts to scalp or hold throughout the day. Make sure to watch the rest of the computer chip stocks as well for an idea of the overall trend in that market sector so you can follow the trend, which makes for much safer trading.
9. NVDA - Nvidia Corporation
NVDA has been on an absolute tear this past year and has hit all time highs over and over again as it takes over the market with excellent technology that is in extremely high demand across the entire world. Due to their historical rise in price, it has been a very easy stock to day trade as well as swing trading because it just keeps going up. Even when it is not making astronomical gains, NVDA still has plenty of volatility and good spreads which is perfect for day trading. I always preach to wait for volatility and NVIDIA is one that I always keep an eye on throughout the day for it to make a big move that I can take advantage of.
10. BABA - Alibaba Group Holding Limited
BABA is the ticker for the company Alibaba which has made waves over the past 10 years and has become a very popular stock for day traders due to its regular volatility that is perfect for day trades and it also has a very active options contract market that makes it a very solid option for day traders across the globe. The spreads on shares and options aren’t as tight as the stocks mentioned above, but they are still reasonable and that mixed with the volatility and plenty of liquidity makes it a pretty good choice for day trades.
11. TQQQ - Proshares Ultrapro QQQ Trust
TQQQ is a 3x version of Invesco QQQ that we mentioned at the top of this list. It moves the same direction as QQQ does, so make sure to keep an eye on QQQ as well when you are trading, because it can help you catch a reversal before it happens on TQQQ sometimes. Since it is a 3x version of QQQ, you can expect much better percentage gains than its parent ETF that is not all that volatile. This along with the tight spreads that it offers make for a perfect way to trade the major index QQQ with shares that are cheap and also offer nice percentage gains. Just make sure you get out when QQQ is moving down!
12. SQQQ - Proshares Ultrapro Short QQQ Trust
SQQQ is an inverse 3x ETF of QQQ so between SQQQ and TQQQ, there is always an option for day traders that only trade shares to grab some gains because either SQQQ or TQQQ will be going up at all times which provides opportunities for gains without trading options all day every day. Due to its 3x multiple, it also provides nice percentage moves so you can day trade shares without feeling like you spent all day trading just to make .5% which I know makes many traders feel quite disappointed.
Tools That Help You Day Trade Stocks Better
Knowing which stocks to day trade is only the first step of actually trading them. You also need to know when to enter and when to exit the market. This can be very hard to figure out, but lucky for you, we have built some incredible tools for day traders that help you figure out when to open a trade and when to exit. We also have day trading software that show levels where price is likely to reverse so you can combine them and only trade when you have confluence on when to buy and sell. We have tools for every type of trader, including free technical indicators as well as premium trading indicators so make sure to take a look around our site, you may just find your new favorite day trading indicators!
