what is a watchlist 
a watchlist is a set of securities that an investor monitors for potential trading or investing opportunities many brokerage and financial platforms allow for easy construction and viewing of watchlists a well organized watchlist can help identify trading opportunities track portfolio performance or monitor hot or popular stocks understanding watchlistsa watchlist is basically what it sounds like a list of stocks that an investor watches with an eye toward taking advantage of prices if they fall enough to create an interesting undervalued situation this takes the closely followed list a step further these are names that an investor would be prepared to buy and own at the right price or with the right catalyst a sign that growth has reignited for instance an investor or trader may create a watchlist of several dozens or even hundreds of trading instruments to make more informed investment decisions a watchlist can help an investor track companies and stay abreast of financial or other news that could impact these instruments typically the investor monitors the list waiting for certain criteria to be met such as trading over a certain volume breaking out of a 52 week range or moving above its 200 day moving average before placing trade orders types of watchlistsmost trading platforms allow users to create their own watchlists for the securities that they are interested in fidelity one of the leading online trading platforms allows users to create up to fifteen different watchlists with 50 symbols each users can also configure their lists to alert them of any new trading signals such as sudden price changes a well organized investor could use this functionality to create separate watchlists for stocks bonds mutual funds or any other tradable assets watchlists are also used in cryptocurrency trading where sharp price swings can sometimes offer brief opportunities for high profits in addition to trading metrics a watchlist for cryptocurrencies might track tokens with an upcoming fork or mainnet launch 