Hundreds of Stocks Up More Than 20%

Big tech stocks have had tremendous rallies, but none of them are in the top 10 performers over the last few months or 52 weeks.

By Donald E. L. Johnson

Cautious Speculator

• There is a myth that only 20 stocks participated in the recent stock market rally.

• Momentum speculators who traded small caps and weekly monthly leaders over the last 52 weeks did well.

• This shows how technical analysis can help investors pick winners.

Hundreds of stocks are up more than 20% in the last one, three, six and twelve months, according to Barchart.com’s percentage performance screener.

These are the 10 top performers over the last month.

Eight of the 10 top performers year to date are penny stocks. They’re trading at prices under $10. A low price is not a cheap price.

During the last 52 weeks, these 10 stocks have been good “momentum” plays.

These are the New York Stock Exchange one-year leaders.

And these are Nasdaq’s one-year percentage change leaders.

Past performance is not a predictive metric, but a lot of successful speculators trade the winners, not the losers.

For options traders, the lesson may be that some stocks are “too good” to trade covered calls on because covered calls limit potential gains. High risk trades work for disciplined traders who cut losses short and let profits run.

Not too many people do that, but there are a lot more individual and family office investors who are good stock pickers and traders than the mutual funds and exchange traded funds industries want us to believe.

Lots of luck also helps.

LINKs:

Home Page. See my more than 100 articles on options trading, stocks and watch lists. If you read several of these articles, you’ll learn how my strategies are meant to work. No guarantees. Links to useful web sites are on the lower right corner of the home page. Scroll down.

Follow @realDonJohnson on twitter.com and FaceBook.com.

Selling in The Money Covered Calls Can Yield Big Annual Returns on Risk. By Donald E. L. Johnson

20 Ideas for Adjusting Your Stock and Bond Portfolio, by Christina Lourosa-Ricardo.

How to Beat Inflation Tax, Bear Market Tax With Dividend Stocks, Covered Calls, Cash Secured Puts, by Donald E. L. Johnson.

Wars Breed Inflation, Rising Interest Rates, Market Turmoil, By Donald E. L. Johnson.

Ways to use StockRover.com to analyze stocks

Calls vs Puts Options: What’s the Difference?

How to trade the wheel.

A video on how to place options trades on TDAmeritrade.com’s Think or Swim trading platform.

Beware. Like all investing, trading stocks and options is risky. I’m an active private speculator who trades covered calls and sells puts on stocks for my accounts. I am not a professional analyst nor a financial advisor. I don't take and won't take responsibility for how other people trade. This article is for educational purposes only. It is not advice. The data presented looked accurate at publication time except for intra-day fluctuations, but I can’t guarantee the accuracy. Traders should do their due diligence. I reserve the right to trade any of the listed stocks and options at any time. I receive no compensation for producing this content nor for any links.