When the stock market experiences a shake-up, long-term positions tend to stay put, and at this time many people start thinking about whether to switch to short-term trading. Honestly, short-term trading looks simple, but in reality, it requires high discipline, quick reactions, and risk control. But if you really want to learn how to pick stocks for short-term trading, the first step is to understand what kind of targets are worth engaging with.

The logic of short-term trading is actually very straightforward: rapid capital turnover and making profits from price fluctuations. So when choosing stocks, there's no need to worry about whether the fundamentals are good or not; even the best companies can experience price gains followed by pullbacks or long-term consolidation. At this point, stock selection for short-term trading becomes a technical issue. We need to rely on technical analysis to identify resistance and support levels for range trading, or catch a clear trend to go long or short all the way.

A qualified short-term target usually has three characteristics. First, it must have a theme; when the market is highly volatile or the company releases news, such as earnings reports or major announcements, these tend to attract investors to buy and sell. Second, trading volume must be sufficient; the worst case is being able to buy but not sell. Targets with high trading volume have small bid-ask spreads, so your entry and exit won't impact the stock price trend, and the price reacts quickly. Third, the stock's price volatility should be large; some stocks, even with themes and trading volume, have small fluctuations, making them more suitable for long-term investment.

Pay special attention to earnings reports before and after they are released. When a company announces its earnings, it will provide expectations for the next quarter. Whether the actual results meet, exceed, or fall short of expectations will directly reflect on the stock price. Usually, the stock price will gap up or down to reflect this information, so many short-term traders like to position themselves around earnings report times.

Now I will categorize the most active short-term targets in the market. The AI and semiconductor sectors are currently the clearest main capital flows; as long as the AI story continues, semiconductor stocks will be traded repeatedly. Core targets like NVDA, AMD, INTC, and SMCI are worth watching. NVDA, as the leader in GPUs, experiences large fluctuations around earnings reports and has a clear trend, making it suitable for trend-following or dip-buying strategies. SMCI is a key supplier for AI servers, often showing volatility exceeding NVDA, with daily fluctuations reaching over 12%.

For high-volatility thematic stocks, if you can tolerate larger swings, there are actually many opportunities. These stocks often experience explosive gap-ups, with relatively clean technical signals, but their liquidity is not as good as leading stocks, so you need to watch out for slippage when entering or exiting. Set stop-losses and treat them as trading tools rather than beliefs.

If you don't want to trade Bitcoin directly but want to participate in cryptocurrency volatility, crypto concept stocks are the most direct alternative options. Stocks like Coinbase and MicroStrategy tend to rise when Bitcoin rises and fall when Bitcoin falls, making them very suitable for short-term trend-following. Whenever there are major regulatory news or macro events, these stocks often show smooth one-sided trends. Be aware that their volatility is usually even larger than Bitcoin's because they add stock market premiums and sentiment.

Popular leading stocks are not driven by fundamentals but by popularity. Retail investor capital tends to concentrate there, making sharp rises and falls more common. Tesla is always a hot short-term stock, and Palantir is one of the favorite stocks among retail investors, with clear support and resistance levels. The advantage of these stocks is that they won't suddenly lose attention; they have sufficient daily liquidity and discussion, and their technical signals are relatively reliable.

Event-driven stocks may not move much normally, but once earnings or major news are released, they can instantly become the focus of the market. For example, Oracle's implied volatility tends to spike before and after earnings reports, often jumping more than 5% in a single day. Besides earnings, major contracts, new product launches, and regulatory rulings are also triggers. These stocks are suitable for positioning before earnings to increase volatility or following the trend after the direction is confirmed.

The most important aspects of short-term trading are trading discipline and transaction costs. U.S. stocks have high trading volume and no transaction fees, making them especially suitable for short-term trading. Moreover, U.S. stocks allow multiple trades of the same stock within a day, providing greater flexibility. If you want to do short-term trading, it’s recommended to start by observing stocks with high trading volume, then select those with large fluctuations. This will be much easier. Also, practice good risk management, use small capital to test your strategies, and get familiar with the volatility rhythm of these targets before considering increasing your investment.