Many people ask me about the secret to stock selection: is it about figuring out the direction before the market opens, or making quick decisions after the opening? My answer is straightforward: I almost never lock in a certain direction or individual stocks before the market opens, nor do I heavily allocate based on subjective confidence in a particular sector.

What’s the prep work before the market opens? Simply put, it’s drafting a rough outline, not a final plan. I review overnight news, the external market fluctuations, scan yesterday’s limit-up stocks and market sentiment temperature, and do a rough classification of potential hot spots for the day—identifying which sectors are worth watching and which stocks to avoid. I set a framework for trading, but I never make rigid judgments about the market.

Why? Because A-shares are too volatile in the short term. The main trend you’re confident in overnight might fall apart at the open; sectors you look down on might become the darling of funds at the open. Your conclusions last night could be proven wrong within ten minutes of the market opening.

**Pre-judging the direction is the easiest trap for short-term trading.**

The first trap: pre-judgment is inherently subjective self-deception. If you stubbornly believe in a certain direction, and the market opens poorly, most won’t cut losses immediately. Instead, they boost their confidence, add positions, and hold on, only to get slammed by the market later. The second trap: short-term market momentum is driven by real capital, not by imagination. Going against the market trend to pre-judge is essentially a tug-of-war with the market, and the odds of winning are painfully slim.

I’ve seen too many people stay up late reviewing stocks and main themes they’re bullish on, only to see the market crush their expectations at open. The truth is, they value their own ideas more than the market’s actual movement, forgetting the core of trading—**follow the market, don’t try to make the market follow you.**

**All my core operations are completed after the market opens. 90% of my trading decisions are made within the first half-hour to an hour of trading. I’ve stuck to this rhythm for over ten years, never changing it.**

Why? Because the real truth of the market is revealed after the open. The actual intentions of funds, where the real opportunities are—market volume, sector linkage, the speed at which stocks hit the limit—these tell you everything. Our job is to interpret these signals and follow them with conviction, free of subjective interference.

Some think my opening stock picks are just blindly following the trend—buying on limit-up, chasing after rises. That’s wrong. I have strict rules, standards, and priorities. I’ve used this approach for over a decade, unchanged.

**Step 1: Immediately filter the direction after the closing of the auction.**

I only look at real auction signals—how much the stock opens above the previous close, whether there’s effective trading volume, how the buy orders are stacking. More importantly, I observe sector linkage. If at least three stocks in a sector are rising strongly simultaneously and funds are actively entering, that’s a true sector effect. That’s my core criterion for stock selection. Stocks with no sector support that hit the limit-up? I don’t touch them. No matter how good the stock, if there’s no follow-through the next day, it won’t have premium.

**Step 2: The golden time after 9:30.**

My principle is simple: only aim for the first limit-up in the morning, and abandon any stocks that hit the limit in the afternoon. Why? Because early morning limit-ups are when funds are most active. The earlier the limit-up, the more thorough the turnover, the more solid the order book, and the higher the quality of the stock. The lower the chance of a failed break, and the more confidence in premium the next day.

In this period, I only select the main themes that the market truly identifies, focusing on the top targets within those themes. The stocks’ market cap shouldn’t be too extreme, they should be active, and selling pressure manageable. I prioritize re-approaching the limit-up rather than quick hits. Why? Because the process of re-approaching the limit-up involves significant chip turnover—profit-taking in the stock, complete release of selling pressure, and the certainty of a second attempt at the limit is a hundred times higher than a quick, no-sellout attempt.

**Step 3: The final moment at the limit-up.**

Do I sweep the order book or place orders in advance? It all depends on the market signals. If the order book is rapidly expanding and sector linkage is strong, I use a shortcut key to sweep immediately. If the order book is decent and there’s strong follow-through, I patiently queue. If after hitting the limit, large sell orders suddenly appear and the order book quickly runs away, I might still like the stock but will decisively give up.

Throughout this process, there’s no hesitation, no second-guessing. If the market gives an opportunity, I take it; if not, I stay on the sidelines, following the real-time trend.

**What does short-term trading rely on?** Not prediction ability, but discipline in following. Not catching every opportunity, but capturing those with high certainty.

I never expect to always predict the right direction. I only aim to understand the signals after each market open and follow through accordingly. From 80,000 to over a hundred million, it’s never about pre-market precision or heavy pre-positioning. It’s about deeply understanding the market after years of experience, and the core truth I’ve learned:

**Short-term trading is a game of strategy; the market is always right. True profit doesn’t come from pre-market predictions but from following the market after the open.**

The best stock selection strategy, in essence, is simple: let go of subjective obsession, respect the market trend, don’t pre-define the direction, and focus on firm follow-through after the market opens. Trade what the market chooses, follow where it goes. The greatest principle is simplicity—nothing more.