How I find small caps before they run

My small cap scanning routine takes 30 minutes per night. Here's exactly what I do: **Step 1: Float filter** I only look at stocks with float under 50M shares. Smaller floats = bigger moves on news. **Step 2: Volume filter** Today's volume must be at least 2x the 20-day average. Low volume small caps are death traps. **Step 3: News check** Every name on my list, I look up the catalyst. Earnings? FDA approval? Contract win? Pure technical break? News-driven moves last longer. **Step 4: Chart filter** I want to see a clean breakout from a multi-week base. Choppy charts get filtered out. **Step 5: Risk check** Where's the stop? If I can't define a clean stop within 5% of entry, I pass. This filter takes me from 200 names per night down to maybe 5-8 quality setups. Quality over quantity.