In order to find stocks to trade I look at three different lists, which I call the Unusual Suspects, the Notable New Highs, and the Usual Suspects (or Tradeable Stocks). The Unusual Suspects are stocks that are both unusually active and volatile, the Notable New Highs are stocks that are both active and making new highs, and the Usual Suspects are stocks that aren’t unusually active, but are always liquid and have a nice range.

If you monitor the lists intraday you can find good trading candidates. Google is a Usual Suspect and is making new highs every day so there’s no excuse not to be watching it for low-risk spots to enter. Anyone who studies the Stocks to Watch lists can form his own list of Usual Suspects. (Hint: make sure your Usual Suspects list includes AAPL, GOOG, RIMM, and WFMI.)

When a stock is making new highs there are no natural sellers and the path of least resistance is up. Traders looking to get long GOOG above the 11AM narrow range bar on the 15-min. chart were only risking around a dollar, which ain’t much with a $368 stock.