How to Use a Watchlist to Greatly Improve Your Trading Performance

by Roger Scott | Feb 17, 2025

If you want to trade successfully, you need a watchlist. A good watchlist keeps you focused on high-probability setups instead of chasing random stocks that pop up on your screen.

It helps you stay disciplined, react faster and make smarter decisions when the market moves.

Yet, too many traders either don’t use a watchlist or don’t know how to build one. Instead, they scan the market in real time, looking for something — anything — to trade. That’s how you end up making impulsive, emotional trades that cost you money.

A watchlist eliminates that problem.

Where Do You Get Trade Ideas?

Traders waste time every day asking the same question: What should I trade? If you don’t already have a list of stocks to watch, you’re scrambling before the market opens.

By the time you find something, the move is already happening — and you’re late.

If you catch my morning “Premarket Must Watch” livestream, I solve that problem for you. Every morning, I provide a free list of stocks that meet my criteria. I don’t just hand out random tickers — these are stocks that are breaking key levels, making 20- or 52-week highs, or setting up for a high-probability trade.

If you don’t want to build your own watchlist, you can just use mine. But if you prefer to create your own, start by focusing on stocks that are moving with strong relative strength.

Look for those breaking out of consolidations or coming off major support levels.

How to Use a Watchlist for Swing Trades

Once you have your list, it’s not enough to just stare at it. You need a plan.

The best way to use a watchlist is to cross-check it with momentum late in the day. I’ve said this many times — institutions tend to buy their positions in the last hour of trading. That’s when you see the real strength emerge.

Here’s what you do:

Get my watchlist in the morning. I give you a list of stocks that meet my criteria, and I update it in the afternoon during my “VIP Trade Room.” You get this information well before you need to act.
Check the ProTrader Dashboard. If one of the stocks from the watchlist is also appearing on my scanner as a high-momentum play in the last 30 to 60 minutes of the trading day, that’s a strong confirmation.
Look for stocks making new highs or showing relative strength. If something is breaking out at the end of the day — and it was already on my watchlist — you’ve got a trade setup.

It’s that simple.

Why This Works

If you see a stock making new highs in the last hour, institutions are probably buying. That means it has the best chance of continuing higher the next day.

If you see a stock on the sell list making fresh lows late in the day, it’s likely to drop further the next morning.

The key is knowing which stocks to focus on. You don’t need to scan thousands of names — you just need to focus on a handful of high-probability setups.

How to Avoid Common Watchlist Mistakes

Most traders mess this up by overcomplicating it. They see a watchlist and immediately start filtering it through extra criteria that don’t matter.

Some of the biggest mistakes include:

Looking at volume. If a stock is on my list, it already has enough volume. Stop trying to filter it further.
Executing trades the next day instead of at the close. The reason you’re watching the last hour of trading is to see where the big money is flowing. If you wait until the next morning, you’re too late.
Overanalyzing charts. If you’ve got a stock from my list and it’s moving with momentum late in the day, that’s enough confirmation. You don’t need to run extra indicators or second-guess the setup.

Watchlists Eliminate Emotion From Trading

The biggest advantage of using a watchlist is that it removes the emotional decision-making that wrecks most traders. If you already know what to watch, you’re not chasing headlines or getting sucked into market noise.

A watchlist forces you to stay focused. It gives you a structured plan. And when you combine it with the ProTrader Dashboard, it becomes a powerful tool for finding high-probability trades.

The bottom line? Whether you use my watchlist or build your own, you need one. If you’re still scanning randomly for trades every morning, you’re already behind.

Roger Scott
Roger Scott Trading

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