Everything in this track has been technique. None of it helps if your process for finding candidates is scrolling until something looks interesting — which is how most people actually do it, and why their results are inconsistent even when their analysis is sound.
A good doctor does not diagnose whoever they pass in the corridor. There is intake, history, examination, then a decision — the same sequence every time, which is what makes the outcome repeatable.
A watchlist is intake. Scanning is history. The trade plan is the examination. Without the sequence you are diagnosing whichever stock happened to appear on your screen this morning.
Narrowing the universe
Roughly 2,000 companies trade actively in India. You cannot follow them all, and you do not need to — the first filters are mechanical and remove most of the list without any judgement.
- 1Liquidity first
A minimum daily traded value — enough that your position size is a small fraction of it. This single filter removes the majority of names and every stock where your own order would move the price.
- 2Price and volatility floor
Exclude names too cheap or too quiet for your costs to make sense. A stock whose daily range barely covers the round trip cannot pay you.
- 3Exclude what you will not trade
Circuit-limited stocks, recent listings without history, names under regulatory surveillance. Decide once, not case by case.
- 4Keep a stable core list
Roughly 100–200 names you follow continuously. Familiarity with how a stock behaves is itself an edge, and it only accumulates if the list stays stable.
The weekly routine
| When | What | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend | Review the core list, note setups forming, check the macro backdrop | 60–90 min |
| Weekend | Write trade plans for 3–8 candidates: entry, stop, size, invalidation | 30 min |
| Each morning | Check overnight news and events on your planned names | 10 min |
| During the day | Execute plans as triggers hit. No new decisions | — |
| Each evening | Journal what was taken, skipped and why | 10 min |
| Monthly | Review by setup and regime; adjust the list | 60 min |
A written plan converts an idea into a decision with defined risk. Do this before the market opens, not while a candle is forming.
What a plan contains
- Trigger: close above ₹482 on above-average volume
- Stop: ₹461, below the swing low
- Size: 1% risk → 476 shares
- Invalid if: it gaps above ₹500 — reward is gone
- Event check: results in nine days
- “Watching this one, looks good”
- “Will buy if it breaks out”
- “Stop somewhere below support”
- “Decide size when I enter”
- No idea when results are due
Why should trade plans be written at the weekend rather than during market hours?
Maa itwaar ko poore hafte ka raashan list bana ke jaati hain — isliye bazaar mein faltu cheez nahi aati. Bina list ke jaoge toh jo dikha woh utha loge. Trading bhi wahi: weekend pe list aur plan banao, hafte mein sirf execute karo. Market khuli ho tab socho toh bhaav aapse sochwaata hai.
- Filter the universe mechanically first — liquidity removes most of it without judgement.
- Keep a stable core list; familiarity with how a stock behaves is itself an edge.
- Make decisions at the weekend and execute during the week.
- A plan has a trigger, a stop, a size, an invalidation and an event check.
- Write the price at which the trade stops being worth taking, to avoid chasing gaps.
Mark it done to track your progress through the curriculum.
Common questions
Short, direct answers to what people ask about this topic.
- liquidity filter meaning in stock screening
- A liquidity filter is a minimum daily traded value or volume set on a screener so that only stocks you can enter and exit at a fair price survive the first cut. It is usually applied first because it is purely mechanical, needs no opinion, and removes the large majority of the listed universe in one step — including every name where your own order would move the price.
- the first filter applied when narrowing a stock universe for trading is usually
- Liquidity. Screening on a minimum daily traded value cuts the roughly two thousand actively traded Indian companies down to a workable list before a single chart is opened, and it requires no judgement. Price and volatility floors come next, followed by the exclusions decided once rather than case by case — recent listings without history, circuit-limited names, and stocks under exchange surveillance.
- how many stocks should be on a trading watchlist
- A core list of roughly one hundred to two hundred names is a common working size — small enough to review in one weekend sitting, large enough that setups appear regularly. The more important property is that it changes slowly. Familiarity with how a particular stock behaves, which ones gap and which trend cleanly, only accumulates through repetition, and a list rebuilt every week never earns it.
- what should a written trade plan contain
- Five things, all written before the market opens: the trigger that starts the trade, the stop level, the position size that follows from the risk you have accepted, the price at which the setup stops being worth taking, and a check for upcoming events such as results. The last two are the ones most often left out. Anything vaguer — “will buy if it breaks out” — is an intention, not a plan.
- when is results season in India
- Indian listed companies report quarterly, so results cluster in January, April, July and October, following the December, March, June and September quarter ends. Exact dates differ by company and are announced to the exchanges in advance, so the reliable method is to check that company’s own board-meeting intimation on the NSE or BSE website before planning around it.