How to Trade the Market's Most-Active Stocks




BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

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From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

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Boston Scientific

Nearest Resistance: $12.60

Nearest Support: $12

Catalyst: Q3 Earnings

Medical device maker Boston Scientific (BAX) is making bullish moves today, up more than 4% following the firm's third-quarter earnings release. BSX reported profits of 20 cents for the quarter, coming right in line with the estimate that analysts were looking for.

So, after selling off for the last few months now, Boston Scientific is gapping higher today. It's a little premature to call the uptrend over in BSX, but the early indications look good. As long as it holds above the 50-day moving average, impatient investors should delay selling BSX.

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Alibaba

Nearest Resistance: $93.25

Nearest Support: $85

Catalyst: Yahoo Sympathy Move

Recent IPO Alibaba (BABA) has been one of the most heavily traded issues since shares went public last month. And today, they're seeing bigger-than-normal volume following earnings from Yahoo! (YHOO). Since Yahoo! still holds a significant stake in BABA, anytime the search site has a newsworthy session, so does Alibaba.
More important for the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, shares are testing their prior high water mark at $93.25 this afternoon. A breakout above that level means that a retest of day-one highs just shy of $100 looks incredibly likely. Wait for a close above $93.25 before piling into BABA shares.

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Illumina

Nearest Resistance: N/A

Nearest Support: $185

Catalyst: Q3 Earnings

Illumina (ILMN) is up more than 5% this afternoon, boosted in the second session after the firm released its third-quarter numbers to Wall Street. Ilumina earned 77 cents per share for the quarter, beating the 55.8-cent best guess that analysts were looking for.

That, in turn, is spurring a breakout in shares of this life science tool maker above long-term resistance at $185. That big breakout is a buy signal in shares of ILMN this afternoon.

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Cliffs Natural Resources

Nearest Resistance: $9.50

Nearest Support: $7.50

Catalyst: Analyst Note

Long-suffering shareholders of Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) are getting a reprieve this afternoon, thanks to a double-digit pop in shares following a note from Credit Suisse. The analyst note pointed to bullish factors in CLF ahead of the firm's October 27 earnings call, including extremely high short interest. That excess of shorts is helping to cause a squeeze in shares today.

Technically speaking, $9.50 is the breakout level to watch today. If shares can manage to close above that level, then CLF looks buyable in the short-term. If you decide to jump in on the move, then I'd recommend keeping a tight stop in place.

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To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

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At the time of publication, author was long AAPL.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji