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Best Stock Picking Services for Swing Traders [2023]
This guide compares the best stock picking and trade alert services for swing traders.
Connor Kimball
Head of Operations
The Best Swing Traders Have Help
The world’s top stock traders don’t live in a bubble. Rather than relying completely on their own research and stock picks, they build a short list of market analysts and stock picking services to complement their own research and stock picks.
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The best stock picking service for you will depend on your trading style, which type of markets you like to play in, how active you are, etc.
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Here at Carnivore Trading, we believe nothing is more exciting and profitable than active swing trading. Nothing against day trading penny stocks or conservative investors like Warren Buffet, it’s just not our cup of tea. We like quality stocks with market caps over $300 million, and we LOVE strategies that emphasize short-term and long-term trades. So if we seem biased at any point, now you know where it comes from.
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Speaking of bias, doesn’t Carnivore Trading provide a swing trade alert service? Yes, but we’re not here to bash any other services (unless it’s run by Jim Cramer). Just kidding (not really).
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In all seriousness, we know we’re not the best option for every trader. No stock picking service is. We want you to find the best service for you, even if that’s with another someone else.
Table of Contents
Swing Trade Services Compared
The best stock picking service for you will depend on your trading style, which type of markets you like to play in, how active you are, etc. And of course, you need a service that can actually perform. Beware of services that are not transparent about their past performance and don’t offer free trials before you sign up.
Most stock alert services are surprisingly vague about their past performance, so assembling accurate data to compare is tough! This list will be updated with new stock picking websites and their latest performance data every month.
Carnivore Trading
Three Wall Street veterans providing real-time trade alerts, daily market analysis, macroeconomic analysis, and weekly calls open to all subscribers.
As of Nov 2023, Carnivore Trading was up 330% in 2023.
IBD Swing Trader
Investor Business Daily's Swing Trader provides stock picks based on the CAN SLIM method.
Swing Trader underperformed the S&P annually 3 times between 2017 - 2022.
Mindful Trader
Mindful Trader (Eric Ferguson) provides swing trade alerts based his own algorithm-based trading strategies (stocks, options, and futures).
As of Nov 2023, Mindful Trader's main account was down -21% over 6 months.
Trade Ideas
Not a stock picking service per se, Trade Ideas is an AI-based stock screening tool for advanced traders.
CNBC Investing Club (Cramer)
CNBC Investing Club is where Jim Cramer teaches us all what not to do in any stock market.
Stock Advisor (Motley Fool)
Stock Advisor is Motley Fool's service for stock research and recommendations for new and experienced investors.
Carnivore Trading
This Service is Best for...
- Active Swing Trading
- Expert Stock Market Discussion
- Entertainment
| Name | Carnivore Trading |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Location | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Trades | Stocks, some options. |
| Trader(s) | Dutch Masters, Jason Adams, Trader Z |
| Starting Price | $250 / month |
Founded in late 2020, Carnivore Trading is a swing trade alert service run by the charismatic trio of Dutch Masters, Jason Adams, and Trader Z. Carnivore provides:
What separates Carnivore Trading from other stock picking services? Besides their amazing performance in 2021 and 2022, every trade includes the price target, timeframe, and sometimes a resolution date. They also provide a massive amount of research and analysis to go with their daily trades, published in the “World Famous Market Wrap.” Check out a sample here.
Pricing
A subscription to Carnivore Trading costs $250/month. Annual plans are $2,500, or about $208 per month. This is comparable to other trade alert services that are as active as Carnivore, but still more expensive than most services covered in this article.
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So, does Carnivore Trading’s performance justify their cost?
Performance
While 2022 was the worst stock market since 2008, it was an exceptional year at Carnivore Trading with a 321% return. Our average monthly return was 13.81%, and we delivered positive returns in 10/12 months.
While 2022 was the worst stock market since 2008, it was an exceptional year at Carnivore Trading with a 321% return. Our average monthly return was 13.81%, and we delivered positive returns in 10/12 months.
| Month | Start Value | End Value | Net Gain/Loss | % Gain/Loss MoM | YTD Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | $242,773 | $286,995 | $44,222 | 18.22% | 18.22% |
| February | $286,995 | $380,189 | $93,194 | 32.47% | 56.60% |
| March | $380,189 | $456,793 | $76,604 | 20.15% | 88.16% |
| April | $456,793 | $555,531 | $98,738 | 21.62% | 128.83% |
| May | $555,531 | $406,107 | -$149,424 | -26.90% | 67.28% |
| June | $406,107 | $542,792 | $136,685 | 33.66% | 123.58% |
| July | $542,792 | $601,598 | $58,806 | 10.83% | 147.80% |
| August | $601,598 | $755,613 | $154,015 | 25.60% | 211.24% |
| September | $755,613 | $768,969 | $13,356 | 1.77% | 216.74% |
| October | $768,969 | $954,747 | $185,778 | 24.16% | 293.27% |
| November | $954,747 | $924,948 | -$29,799 | -3.12% | 280.99% |
| December | $924,948 | $1,022,819 | $97,871 | 10.58% | 321.31% |
Above is Carnivore's 2022 performance for more on current performance and disclaimers, visit the performance page
CNBC Investing Club (Jim Cramer)
This Service is Great for...
- Losing stock picks
| Name | Investing Club |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Location | New Jersey |
| Trades | Stocks, some options. |
| Trader(s) | Jim Cramer, Jeff Marks, and Zev Fima |
| Starting Price | $49.99 / month |
| Free Trial? | No |
Jim Cramer’s charitable trust portfolio was created in August 2005 with a stated mandate to donate any resulting dividends and distributions to nonprofit organizations.
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Investment Club subscribers receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade, which usually translates to 3-5 trade alerts per week.Subscribers also get access to a monthly virtual meeting, daily videos and analysis, and a dedicated email newsletter.
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Jim’s team includes:
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- Jeff Marks assists in all portfolio management duties, including market strategy and investment analysis. Jeff received a B.S. in Finance at Pennsylvania State.
- Zev Fima helps with research and management of the Investing Club portfolio, as well as creating content for subscribers.
- Jeff Nash is Managing Editor of the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer.
What Does CNBC Investment Club Cost?
Investment Club subscriptions are $49.99/month. Annual plans are $399/year, or $33/month.
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In addition to 3-5 trade alerts per week, subscribers get access to a monthly virtual meeting, daily videos and analysis, and a dedicated email newsletter.
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Do Jim Cramer’s stock picks justify the cost of Investing Club?
Performance
So, how do Jim Cramer’s stock picks perform? Not as well as other services on this list, unfortunately.
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Cramer’s portfolio does about as good or bad as the S&P 500 every year, with a few exceptions. In the last 21 years, Investing Club’s annual return has only outperformed the S&P 500 12 times.
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In addition, the Investment Club portfolio has never delivered a positive annual return unless the S&P did the same. Finally, whenever the S&P has a bad year, Cramer has a worse year.
| Year | Investing Club Performance | S&P Performance |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 16.67% | 15.89% |
| 2013 | 25.78% | 32.04% |
| 2014 | 1.33% | 13.52% |
| 2015 | -2.33% | 1.37% |
| 2016 | 4.86% | 11.76% |
| 2017 | 12.66% | 21.60% |
| 2018 | -9.86% | -4.23% |
| 2019 | 30.39% | 31.19% |
| 2020 | 24.95% | 18.05% |
| 2021 | 27.85% | 28.56% |
| 2022 | -22.83% | -19.44% |
So, is Jim Cramer’s Investment Club worth it? Based on performance, Investment Club is not worth the price. Historically, traders lose less on bad years and make similar or greater returns on good years by investing in the S&P 500.
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But at only $49.99/month, some readers may enjoy keeping a subscription for occasional stock picks and market commentary. And of course, it’s a charitable cause.
IBD Swing Trader
| Name | IBD Swing Trader |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Location | California, United States |
| Types of Trades | Stocks |
| Trader(s) | Swing Trader Team |
| Starting Price | $69.99/month |
| Free Trial | No |
Starting in 2016, Swing Trader is a service offered by Investors Business Daily (IBD). IBD Swing Trader is built around the CANSLIM strategy, which looks for stocks with seven key characteristics:
- Current quarterly earnings are higher by 20% or more year-over-year
- Annual earnings are higher by 20% over the past 3-5 years
- New products or management are driving headlines and price growth
- Supply of the stock is diminishing due to investor demand or buyback programs
- Laggard stocks within an industry are preferred over leading stocks
- Institutional investors have strong positions in the stock
- Market direction overall is bullish (CANSLIM stocks tend to outperform in bullish markets)
IBD Swing Trader usually holds trades for 5-10 days. They target 5%-10% gains per trade and usually set a stop loss at 3%-5% below the entry point.
What Does IBD SwingTrader Cost?
IBD Swing Trader subscriptions are $69/month. Annual plans are $699/year, or about $58/month.
Does IBD Swing Trader’s performance justify their subscription cost?
Performance
For anyone interested in Swing Trader’s winning trade percentage, those numbers are available as well.
| Year | IBD Swing Trader Performance | S&P Performance |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.29% (360 trades) | 45.43% |
| 2018 | 1.13% (490 trades) | 55.86% |
| 2019 | 0.149% (133 trades) | 45.04% |
| 2020 | 0.439% (74 trades) | 43.24% |
| 2021 | 0.629% (79 trades) | 57.50% |
So, is IBD Swing Trader worth the cost? Due of their mixed results since 2017, probably not. Their good years aren’t strong enough to outweigh their bad years. In addition, they had more bad years (3) than good years (2) in their first 5 years in business.
Mindful Trader
| Name | Mindful Trader |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Location | California, United States |
| Types of Trades | Stocks, options, and futures |
| Trader(s) | Eric Ferguson |
| Starting Price | $47/month |
| Free Trial | No |
Mindful Trader uses a custom swing trading strategy that has been developed and optimized by Eric Ferguson using backtests. This strategy is based on pullbacks during an uptrend. In particular, Ferguson uses Keltner Channels to identify stocks that experience a brief pullback below a moving average before resuming climbing.
Ferguson trades both stocks and options using this strategy. Options trades focus on in-the-money call options that expire in 3-9 days.
Ferguson also trades futures for the S&P 500. He uses seven different backtested strategies for futures trading, each of which is explained in detail for traders who want to copy Ferguson’s strategies.
Mindful Trader recommends committing 1% of your account value per stock trade and 4% of your account value per options or futures trade. The platform offers a calculator to help you determine position sizes for each trade based on your current account value and available margin.
What Does Mindful Trader Cost?
Mindful Trader costs $47 per month. One product, one price, no upsells or discounts. It’s that simple.
A subscription to Mindful Trader includes access to Eric’s Watch List and 1-3 stock picks per day, on average. At such a low price point, even a moderately strong performance compared to the S&P 500 means Mindful Trader pays for itself. So, how have their stock picks performed lately?
Performance
Eric Ferguson does a solid job of documenting and sharing the results of his trades. According to his 20 year backtest, his trading system would have delivered a median annual return of 181% since 2000.
Unfortunately, those returns are hypothetical, and his actual results since launching Mindful Trader in 2020 have been between -8.9% and -14.4%. When looking at the performance of his extra options account, his return has been -72.9% (at the time of this writing in February 2023).
In December 2022, Mindful Trader stopped sharing his lifetime results in favor of a 6 month view.
So, is Mindful Trader worth the cost? Based on lifetime results, no. However, we’re talking about a very low cost subscription, and past results are not guarantees of future performance. So if you want to learn another trader’s system and enjoy Eric’s commentary, why not spend the $47.
Trade Ideas
| Name | Trade Ideas |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Location | California, United States |
| Types of Trades | Stocks |
| Trader(s) | None, AI based stock screening |
| Starting Price | $118/month |
| Free Trial | No |
Trade Ideas is a stock market software that offers real-time trade alerts, artificial intelligence analysis, and other advanced features for active traders.
Unlike other services featured in this article, Trade Ideas’ stock picks are solely AI based. In other words, individual decision-making is ruled out in favor of pre-configured scanner settings.
Pricing
Trade Ideas offers two pricing plans, Standard and Premium. A Standard subscription costs $118 per month, and Premium plans cost $228 per month.
Annual plans are priced at $999 for Standard and $1,999 for Premium.
Performance
In the two year period between January 2020 and January 2022, Trade Ideas “Moderate Risk Mode” AI grew a $50,000 portfolio to $84,756. That is a 69.51% return in a two year period.
By comparison, allocating that $50,000 entirely to the S&P 500 would have yielded a return of $25,815, or a 53.63% return in the same two year period.
As of February 2023, Trade Ideas has not updated their performance results since January 2022, as of February 2023.
Finding the Best Stock Picking Service & Tools for You
What’s the best swing trade alert service for you? The most effective trade alerts for you will be one that meets these basic criteria:
If you are new or inexperienced in trading, getting comfortable with a trade simulator is a good place to start. Don’t rush to pick a service and start trading money when you’re new or playing with a small amount of money. The stock market, and all the beautiful opportunities it offers for savvy traders, will still be here tomorrow.
We hope to see you when you when you’re ready to start swing trading like a champion.
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