What is a good swing trade to place today?
A good swing trade is not a ticker someone shouted — it is a setup that passes the same seven checks every session. Trend on your side, a trigger written before the open, a stop at a real level, a target worth at least 1.5x your risk, and an invalidation you will actually honor. Below is the exact checklist LisaQuant Desk runs after every close.
The seven-point checklist
The trend is on your side
The name closes above its 200-day simple moving average and the 50-day is rising. Fighting the primary trend is the fastest way to turn a good setup into a stop-out.
The trigger is already written down
A close above the 20-day high, or a 2-period RSI reading under 5 inside an uptrend. If you cannot state the exact event that starts the trade before the open, it is not a trade — it is a guess.
Liquidity is not an issue
S&P 500 large caps and liquid ETFs only: 20-day average dollar volume above $20M and a penny-wide spread, so the fill you model is the fill you get.
The stop is a real level, not a percentage
Use the 10-day low or 2x ATR(14) below entry. That distance is 1R. Everything else — size, target, expectancy — is derived from it.
The target pays at least 1.5R
A setup where the nearest logical resistance sits under 1.5R is a bad trade even if it wins. Skip it and wait for the next scan.
Position size is arithmetic
Risk 0.5%–1% of equity per idea. Shares = (account x risk %) / per-share risk. On a $50,000 account risking 1% with $5 of stop distance, that is 100 shares. No discretion involved.
You know what kills the trade
Write the invalidation next to the entry: a daily close back below the breakout level, or an earnings date inside the expected hold. If it triggers, you are out — no renegotiating.
What a qualified trade looks like
- Setup:
- 20-day closing breakout, price above the 200-day
- Entry:
- $100.00 on the close above the 20-day high
- Stop:
- $95.00 — the 10-day low (1R = $5.00)
- Target:
- $110.00 (2R), or trail the 10-day low
- Size:
- 100 shares on a $50,000 account at 1% risk
- Invalidation:
- Daily close back under $95, or earnings inside the hold
Every number above is known before the order goes in. That is the difference between a good swing trade and an expensive opinion.
Let the desk do the scanning
Algo Lisa sweeps S&P 500 large caps and liquid ETFs after every close, applies this checklist, and announces each qualified trigger with entry, stop, target in R, and invalidation.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good swing trade to place today?
A good swing trade today is a liquid large cap or ETF trading above its 200-day moving average that has just fired a pre-defined trigger — such as a 20-day closing breakout or a 2-period RSI washout — with a stop at a real technical level, a target of at least 1.5R, and a written invalidation. If any of those five pieces is missing, it is not a good trade regardless of how the chart looks.
How many swing trades should I place in a day?
Few. The desk caps the nightly candidate list so that total open risk stays bounded — typically no more than a handful of new ideas, and never enough concurrent positions to risk more than a small percentage of equity at once. Volume of trades is not edge; expectancy over a sample is.
Should I place swing trades at the open or the close?
Swing setups built on daily bars are confirmed at the close and executed on the next session, usually at or near the open with a resting stop. Chasing an intraday move before the daily bar confirms is a different strategy with different statistics.
What makes a swing trade a bad idea today?
No trend filter, an earnings report inside the expected hold, a stop so wide the target cannot pay 1.5R, thin liquidity, or a setup you found after the move already ran. Any one of those is enough to pass.
Does LisaQuant Desk publish today's swing candidates?
Yes. The nightly scan runs after the close across S&P 500 large caps and liquid ETFs, and every qualified trigger becomes an alert with entry, stop, target in R, and invalidation, plus a recorded announcement that pins to the trade room with live P&L.