4 Big Stocks to Trade (or Not)

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.

>>5 Big Stocks to Trade for Big Gains

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.

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These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. That's especially true now that earnings season is officially underway. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

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

Sirius XM Radio

Nearest Resistance: $4.20

Nearest Support: $3.80

Catalyst: Earnings

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Shares of satellite radio stock Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) are trading more than 1.5% lower this afternoon, following the firm's mixed third-quarter earnings release this morning. SIRI added more than a half-million subscribers in the quarter, boosting its total subscriber count to 25.6 million listeners, a record high. Net income fell more or less in line with analysts' estimates, but 2014 guidance fell short, which is why shares are showing traders a modest decline.

From a technical standpoint, SIRI still looks bullish. Shares are pulling back down to trendline support at the 50-day moving average, a level that's acted as a floor for shares since the middle of the summer. For investors in search of a good entry opportunity, it doesn't get much better than this.

Symantec

Nearest Resistance: $24.25

Nearest Support: $21.50

Catalyst: Earnings

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Symantec (SYMC) is another earnings-driven stock that's getting pushed lower in today's session on earnings news. The big difference is that this stock is down double-digits on the heels of its earnings call. Symantec actually beat EPS estimates by 6 cents, earning 50 cents per share for the quarter -- but poor guidance for the quarter ahead is the reason for SYMC's 11.6% selloff this afternoon.

The technical picture for SYMC doesn't look great, but it could certainly be worse. Shares are catching a bid at the $21.50 support level that shares bottomed at earlier this summer. Still, the uptrend that started in November is definitively broken right now, so technically, it makes sense to exit Symantec while most of your capital is still intact.

Lloyds Banking Group

Nearest Resistance: N/A

Nearest Support: $5

Catalyst: Technical Setup

>>4 Financial Stocks Rising on Big Volume

London-based Lloyds Banking Group (LYG) is up almost 3% this afternoon on big volume following some huge orders that hit the financial services giant's shares overnight. With earnings not due to be reported until next week, LYG is a technical setup pure and simple. And today's price action is shoving this stock to new highs above the key $5 level that just got taken out this month.

Making new highs is significant from an investor psychology standpoint because it means that everyone who has bought shares in the last year is sitting on gains. As a result, the "back to even" mentality is less of a concern than it would be for a name with a higher proportion of shareholders sitting on losses. Now's not a bad time to come into LYG, but I'd recommend keeping a tight stop in place.

Cemex

Nearest Resistance: $11

Nearest Support: $10.50

Catalyst: Earnings

>>5 Rocket Stocks to Buy Now

A 16th straight quarterly loss at Mexican cement giant Cemex (CX) isn't enough to scare investors away from shares this morning -- Cemex is up more than 3% this afternoon after the loss was reported to shareholders. The buying pressure is coming as a result of better than expected results from CX's U.S. business; Cemex is proof that when Wall Street isn't expecting much, "less worse" results can help buoy shares.

Technically, CX is in no-man's land right now, in between resistance at $11 and a strong support level at $10.50. Buyers should wait for $11 to get taken out before taking a position in this stock.

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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>>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

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At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

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