When deciding whether or not to purchase a stock or an option, a trader must carefully consider all the information available. Extreme Charts, a charting program available through BetterTrades, allows traders to do this with its versatile platform.

Extreme Charts makes stock examination possible with its multiple screens and variety of options. And with Extreme Charts, this stock examination takes only a minute. A user can potentially fly through a list of 30 stocks in a few minutes.

The user should get a screen of a specific stock and use a basic template to view its price pattern and volume of shares traded. If the stock fits in with the desired strategy, the user can go to the next template and check the stock against other indicators. Flipping through three or four templates takes almost no time.

A trader is able to look though many watch lists in a short amount of time. Perhaps you have a watch list for channeling stocks, another for bullish stocks, and another for bearish stocks. Extreme Charts allows you to make a cursory stock examination. Remember: it's a good idea to be picky. So throw out marginal candidates and stick with the best candidates.

Once your stock examination has narrowed the field of candidates, you might want to take a few minutes to look over the fundamentals, just to make sure you aren't trading a dead stock. Compare the stock to others in the sector: Are they moving the same way or acting in a contrarian manner? Compare the stock against the direction of the Dow Jones or S&P 500 and see if they're moving in lockstep.

Once you've narrowed your candidates, double check to make sure you haven't missed anything. Write down your reasons for making the trade; doing so will cement the reason in your brain. Just make sure you take stock examination seriously. If you don't, you might end up with a hole in your trading account.