Stock Research Checklist
A stock market research checklist for reviewing ideas before they become trades.
A checklist does not make a market idea safe, but it can slow the process down enough to catch stale data, vague catalysts, crowded assumptions, and missing risk notes.
The Core Questions
Start with five questions: what changed, what evidence supports it, what evidence argues against it, what would invalidate the idea, and what needs to happen next? If the answer is only that a stock is moving, the research is not finished.
Stock Analysis Desk treats the checklist as a way to separate observation from decision. A ticker can be interesting, worth watching, or worth avoiding without becoming an action item.
Data Quality Checks
Verify timestamp freshness, whether the market is open, whether recent candles are delayed, and whether any source is missing or stale. A checklist should make weak data obvious before the idea reaches a paper call.
For news-driven setups, record the source, headline time, expected catalyst window, and whether the move already happened before the review started.
Outcome Review
After the idea plays out, compare the original reason with the actual movement. A good review asks whether the thesis was clear, whether the data was fresh, whether the risk was defined, and whether the outcome teaches anything repeatable.