Assessing Returns for Stocks In Watchlists A watchlist is a collection of stocks that can help you identify stock market trends by revealing securities driving those trends. In addition, you can also think of a collection of watchlists as sets of stocks designed to reflect changing growth rates in complementary market areas. It is not unusual for traders to take advantage of multiple contrasting watchlists. A watchlist does not necessarily contain your current portfolio of holdings. Instead, you can use a set of watchlists to identify stocks that are currently good candidates for either adding or removing positions from your current holdings. Trading decisions about when to buy, hold, or sell securities can be based on watchlists as well as technical and fundamental indicators along with trading narratives. Watchlists can be especially important for swing traders who hold positions over several weeks or months, and then exit positions within days w...