Build Your Watchlists

A watchlist is your shortlist. Instead of scrolling thousands of stocks, you look at a few you've already chosen, every session, the same way. Here's how I'd set one up in TradingView (affiliate link).

Open the watchlist

On your chart, the watchlist sits in the panel on the right side. Click the watchlist icon at the top of that panel if it's hidden. On the free Basic plan you get one watchlist with up to 30 symbols. That's plenty. A short list is a feature, not a limit.

Split it into four sections

Use the watchlist menu to add sections, so one list works like four:

1. Market. SPY, QQQ and IWM (and NQ1! or ES1! if you trade futures). Everything else gets measured against these.
2. Core. Five to ten big, busy stocks you get to know well, the kind that trade millions of shares a day. Think the largest tech names. Examples, not recommendations.
3. In play today. Three to five names that are moving more than usual this morning, usually on news. You rebuild this section every day with the screener in lesson 6.
4. Strongest and weakest. Names holding up while the market is weak, or falling while it's strong. Lesson 7 shows you how to spot them.

What to show

Make sure the Chg% column is visible. With SPY and QQQ at the top, you can see at a glance which stocks are beating the market today.

What to check on each name before the open

• Why is it moving? News, earnings or an upgrade. No reason is a reason to be careful.
• How far has it gapped? The change from yesterday's close.
• Is volume unusual? More shares than normal means more traders are watching.
• Where are the levels? Yesterday's high and low, and the pre-market high and low. Mark them as you did in lesson 4.

Keep it clean

• Clear the In play section every morning.
• If a core name has been dead quiet for two weeks, swap it out.
• Futures traders: keep it short. NQ1! or MNQ1!, ES1!, and the biggest Nasdaq 100 stocks. They carry a lot of the index's weight, so when they move together, NQ usually feels it.

Your task

Build your watchlist with the four sections and fill in Market and Core. Then go to lesson 6.