I find my picks a number of ways:
1. The most common one is to realize sector trends or sectors that are in play due to recent events, like the mortgage lenders, homebuilders, gasoline refiners, etc. Then I research them for ones that I think are going to have an amplified move relative to their peers, up or down based on various facts and fundamentals. Then after I have a list of stocks, I will use charts to plan an entry and exit.
2. A less used strategy is to use stockcharts.com member-only stock screener.
3. My third strategy which is hard to describe is that I keep a log of about 300 stocks that I actively monitor and try to "feel their behavior" and learn how they trade. These are typically cyclical stocks like the offshore drillers and oil stocks.
