Perform the due diligence. Then wait for the news. Care and Feeding Active traders ideally should assemble half a dozen or more watch lists and be thoroughly acquainted with the companies in each. Each list could cover a different sector or indicator. That way, whatever news happens to rock the market on a particular day, you'll be up and ready to catch the resulting momentum.
Successful traders go the extra mile.
They invest hours each day grooming their watch lists, carefully adding stocks, deleting others. I know stay up late each night pouring over the previous day's charts for each of the companies on their watch lists. Doing this day after day, they get to know the charts by heart. And that's the point at which they're able to trade almost instinctively. Hey, nobody said this job was easy.