Steal This Options Trader’s Step-by-Step Morning Routine to Find Winning Trades

Successful options traders don’t rely on guesswork — they rely on routines. In this article, we’ll walk through a daily screener strategy that surfaces high-potential trades, filters for liquidity, and confirms momentum with options flow and charts.

This process comes straight from one of our most popular YouTube videos featuring columnist Gavin McMaster, where he shows exactly how to put these steps into practice.

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Step 1: Start With a Screener

Each morning begins with a 20-day moving average screener, filtered for:

1. Call volume above 2,000 (liquidity)
2. Market cap above $40B (focus on reliable, tradeable stocks)
3. Buy & Sell Signals (to see both breakouts and breakdowns)

This gives an instant read on market strength. Lots of buy signals = bullish structure. A flood of sell signals = potential weakness ahead.

Step 2: Sort by Call Volume

Next, sort by options call volume. This highlights the most actively traded names with tight bid-ask spreads — meaning popular stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Amazon (AMZN), and Walmart (WMT) often make the list.

Step 3: Confirm With Options Flow

Don’t stop at the signal. Check options flow sentiment and delta imbalance. 

In this clip:

• Tesla → Buy signal on the chart, but negative flow made it less appealing.
• Walmart → Bullish breakout with positive flow, making it a stronger candidate.

Step 4: Analyze the Chart

Check technicals before pulling the trigger, looking for green flags like:

• Break above 20-day and 50-day moving averages
• Bullish candlestick structure
• Accumulation/Distribution line trending upward to confirm buying pressure

These technical confirmations can turn a trade idea into a high-probability setup.

Final Thoughts

By stacking signals — screener > options flow > chart confirmation — you build conviction in your trades. Walmart in this example checked every box, making it a solid bullish candidate.

This is a repeatable routine you can apply daily to keep your trades disciplined and data-driven.

Watch this quick clip from our YouTube here:

Next, watch the full lesson from Gavin McMaster here.

To keep exploring more options tools & insights from Barchart, check out our education center.