Using Filters

For a quick review of stocks making a new appearance on today's watchlist, filter for "New" stocks. This will give you the opportunity to review and/or perform due diligence only on those stocks which you have not previously considered. If you would like to view stocks which appeared on yesterday's list, filter for "Old" stocks. For a review of the methodology used for selecting stocks for inclusion on daily watchlists, follow this link.

Stocks on BreakoutWatch^SM are limited to those trading at least $6. If you prefer to stay with higher priced stocks, limit the view to stocks with a minimum of $10-$15.

Average Daily Volume (Avg. Vol.)

Stocks on BreakoutWatch^SM are limited to those trading at least 30,000 shares average daily volume. If you prefer stocks with higher liquidity then we suggest using 100,000 shares average daily volume.

Stocks must have an RS>=80 in order to make it to BreakoutWatch^SM.

Breakout Price (B/O Price or Pivot)

We suggest you filter on either Last Close or B/O Price but not both.

Breakout Volume (B/O Volume)

We suggest you filter on either Avg. Vol. or B/O Volume but not both.

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with the best combination of both technical and fundamental scores, filter for stocks in the green zone. Stocks in the yellow zone have either good fundamentals or good technicals, but not both. Stocks in the red zone have the poorest combination of fundamentals and technicals. Stocks in the grey zone are stocks such as Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) that do not have a fundamental component score. For a review of the methodology used for CEZones, follow this link.

Fundamental and Technical Indicators

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with a preferred combination of technical and fundamental scores, use the CECell designation which is more specific than the colored CEZone mentioned above. For a review of the methodology used for CECells, follow this link.

Technical Score (CET^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with better technical scores, limit your view to those in the upper half of possible scores (>=3.5 of 7 possible) or in the upper quartile (>=5.25).

Fundamental Score (CEF^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with better fundamental scores, limit your view to those in the upper half of possible scores (>=5.5 of 11 possible) or in the upper quartile (>=8.25).

CANTATA Evaluator Score (CE^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with better CE scores, limit your view to those in the upper half of possible scores (>=9 of 18 possible) or in the upper quartile (>= 13.5). Note that this does not ensure that stocks will have the best combination of fundamental (CEF) and technical (CET) scores. For a review of the methodology used for CE scores, follow this link.

If you would like to limit your view to stocks closer to their 52 week high, select stocks with lower percentages. Selecting stocks within 15% of the high is our suggestion.

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with the strongest U/D ratios, filter for ratios in our green U/D zone, that is, >=1.

Industry Indicators

If you wish to limit your view to stocks in the top half of all industries, filter for values <= 95. For industries in the top quartile, filter for values <=48. We suggest that you do not use more than one or two of the industry filters at one time. For a review of the methodology used for Industry Ranks, follow this link.

Rank change over the previous 3 weeks gives an indication of the direction of the industry's ranking action. Ranks can be quite volatile, so be cautious about making this filter overly restrictive. We suggest that you do not use more than one or two of the industry filters at one time.

If you wish to limit your view to stocks in industries who's underlying technical health is in the upper half of possible scores, filter for values >=50. Because scores report the underlying technical health of the industry without force ordering a resultant rank, values will tend to be less volatile than Industry Rank. We suggest that you do not use more than one or two of the industry filters at one time. For a review of the methodology used for Industry Scores, follow this link.

Score change over the previous 3 weeks gives an indication of the direction of the industry's underlying technical health. Use this as a general indication as to whether the industry is rising or falling in health. Scores range from 0 to 100, so if, for example, you wanted to restrict your view to stocks in industries where the score has not fallen more than 10% of the maximum possible, filter for values >= (-10). We suggest that you do not use more than one or two of the industry filters at one time.

Cup with Handle (CwH) Criteria

Right Cup Quality (RCQ^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with the strongest pattern of accumulation on the right side of the cup, filter for values >=1. For a review of the Methodolgy used for measuring Right Cup Quality, follow this link.

Handle Quality (HQ^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with the strongest handles, filter for values >=0. For a review of the Methodolgy used for measuring Handle Quality, follow this link.

Chart Quality (CQ^SM)

If you would like to limit your view to stocks with the strongest overall combination of accumulation on the right side of the cup and handle quality, filter for values >=1. For a review of the Methodolgy used for measuring Chart Quality, follow this link.

Stocks cannot appear on BreakoutWatch^SM unless they have spent at least 30 days in the cup, as shorter than this does not constitute a valid cup with handle base. In general, the longer the base, the stronger the move. However, this does not imply that shorter bases of valid minimum length are necessarily riskier.

Stocks on BreakoutWatch^SM are limited to those with cups that have fallen no more than 60%. This is acceptable in weak markets. If you would like to restrict your view to stocks with corrections that are less severe, filter for values <= 33% in stronger markets.

Pivot % Off Left Cup

If you would like to restrict your view to stocks with pivots closer to the left side of the cup, filter for lower percentages. Usually, pivots from 5-15% off the left cup are less risky, though pivots formed in the upper half of the base are considered valid.

Stocks may appear on the watchlist with as little as 2 days in the handle. This allows you to jump start your due diligence before the stock potentially breaks out. Although a common recommendation is that handles hould be at least 5 days long, we have not found that to this is critical.

In stronger markets, handles should be no more than 10-20% deep, though in weaker markets, depths up to 30% are considered valid. To restrict your view to stocks with shallower handles, filter for values with lower percentages.

PVI (Price Volume Indicator

Our research has found that stocks are more likely to breakout if the price and volume moved up on the day before breakout. See our Newsletter Archive for a discussion of this metric.

Our research has found that stocks are more likely to breakout if the volume is above the average daily volume on the day before breakout. See our Newsletter Archive for a discussion of this metric.