Ideal Long/Short Candidate

Ideal Trend Continuation Candidate:

1. The stock must be up or down 2% or more from the previous day's close on volume that is projected to be more than 3X the stock's average 50-day volume with at least 500K shares traded by 9:50am EST. 
2. There must be a clear set-up/justification from the daily chart for why you would want to be long or short the stock (break away gap, 2nd day play, flag break out, range break out, parabolic long/short etc.).
3. Ideally for longs, the stock's float should be less than 500 million. Higher floats, up to 1 billion for short candidates, on the other hand, is not really an issue. 
4. High short float % (in excess of 5) is great for longs and even shorts but be wary of excessively high short float % (greater than 20) for short candidates. High institutional ownership is also good.
5. The stock should have announced significant news on the day or previous day and/or be running as part of a group of hot stocks. Both combined is ideal!