Sometimes you are only as good as the stocks you are trading. While having the skills to mange risk and maneuver in and out of positions are of great value, stock selection is definitely one of the keys to success for any trader. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, and many traders get distracted by thoughts of turkey and wine, volume in the overall market tends to dry up. This is why it is even more important to be in the most in-play stocks. One stock in particular that was high on our radar this week was Origin Agritech, ticker SEED.

Over the weekend, the company received approval from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to produce a new type of genetically modified corn. Doesn’t sound too appetizing to me, but apparently they love the stuff in China, and on Monday the stock doubled.  As you can see from the chart below, SEED gapped up from $5 to $7, and was trading up to $8.50 on tremendous volume by 10:30am when it caught an upgrade from an analyst who gave it a very aggressive $15 price target. When a small-cap name like this gets on a lot of people’s radars, and some big funds start putting money behind it, they can really take the stock for a ride

A lot of the high-flyers that day traders are used to making tons of money in have tightened up significantly in the past few months as the volatility has died down. As you can see from the charts and from Steve’s blog earlier today, SEED has offered excellent risk/reward trades on both the long and the short side for the past three days.

In order to make money in a slower market, it is important to be in the most in-play stocks. All it might take is one stock like SEED to make your week or even your month, which is why preparing every morning, ripping through news and charts, and scanning your filters to find these plays is so important.

So hopefully some traders can take their SEED money and buy a nice turkey this Thanksgiving, and maybe even have a side of this new genetically modified Chinese corn to go with it. I think I am going to stick with the stuffing.

Happy Thanksgiving, and best of luck with your trading.  Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.