I've found that there is nothing more powerful than identifying the leading stocks in any market. That was true when I was trading 10-minute charts as a market maker, and it's true now when I hold stocks for months as a position trader. When you catch hold of a leader, you gain a huge advantage as you have both the most upside and the least downside. In my opinion, that is the heart of what a leading stock is. It is a very important distinction because most people (used to be me, too) think that you need to simply look for the stocks moving the fastest to the upside. That's incorrect because those stocks also fall the quickest and have immense downside and volatility. I always try to look for leading stocks with the lens of "Who is going up the most but just won't give it back?" In fact, that is what makes getting into a leader so difficult and why most people miss them. They are under such incredible demand that they never give anyone slightly timid an opportunity to get in. This is why William O'Neil and others such as Livermore were legends, though I feel they are often misunderstood. They presented the topic differently, but at the heart, they gave a similar message. Both made incredible amounts of money, and it was always when they had big size in a leader. The rest was noise. I've had a similar experience. I look back at where my profits came from, and the answer with a clear eye is it was from fully exploiting leaders with size. Yes, other times I made money, but I also lost money often, resulting in the bulk of gains coming from leaders in bull markets mixed with risk management. So, to catch a monster, you need to identify a monster. My primary criterion is the stocks that go up the most but give back the least. The answers to my last post below have many additional helpful criteria, such as liquidity, theme, fundamental growth, and more. After banging my head against the market for 20 years, this simple concept is now what screams out as most important to me, so this is a very serious question, in my opinion. $NVDA was the clear leader of 2023 and is a perfect example of the power of the "leader" concept. Every cycle has many. This is my view, and I'd love to hear more about your thoughts and other criteria you use as I always want to improve on my process, and often, we get blinded by our own thoughts. @mwebster1971 @duckman1717 @Upticken @jfahmy