Interesting.
What would you say is a good daily ATR to spread ratio?
To be honest, with my style, I would be looking to trade support and resistance only so might be more suited to daily charts rather than multiple trades a day on a 15min. WOuldn't most give live price feed anyway?
Now...the volume leaders on the Yahoo page don't seem to be sorted - I assume the volume is relative to that stock and is a ratio leader?
IMHO...
First question: It depends on your trading style and stake (bet per point). What I think is a good ATR for my trading style might be very different to what you consider 'good' (I take it when you consider ATR you are using it to estimate profit potential as well as calculate risk, and perhaps choose entry/exit levels?) I don't have an opinion on what a 'good' ATR is compared to the spread (just experience and common sense) but it's a personal choice. As with everything else to do with trading it's a bit like saying what is the correct speed to drive on a highway with no speed limit? Assuming you know HOW to drive, there's no right or wrong speed, only a safe speed, economical speed, high-risk performance speed, etc. And I think this applies to most strategies, indicators, portfolios, etc etc.
Question 2: I probably didn't explain what I meant properly but yes, if you have an account with an SB (not demo) then the prices are live (but you'll know this as you've been trading the currencies on an SB platform already?). SB charts don't show volume (as you know) so if volume is an important consideration in your stock picks, the best thing is to check a stock's volume on a financial web site (assuming you don't have access to other live streams). Alternatively, to get an idea, you can simply drill down to smaller time frames on it's SB chart. If you dont see much action on a 15 min (or 5 min) chart then chances are it's not a high volume stock. This doesn't mean it's not tradeable - that's obviously up to you - but you'd have to look at trading over longer time periods or otherwise be very familiar with the company you're planning to trade (fundamentals).
But that starts to take us into an area I'm not qualified to go. Stock trading/investing is a big subject (as I'm sure you know) and there are a lot of details to consider/sort through to find what suits your style and financial goals. I couldn't share everything I've learned without writing a book - and then I'd want you to buy it!
But to be honest, I'm not an expert and I don't pretend to be (I don't even know the half of it yet). I'm just passing on some of the things I've learned that I thought would be specifically helpful to you. What I've said about the spreadbetting is from my own experience but I also ask that you treat it as my opinion only until you can verify it for yourself.
Question 3: I don't know how Yahoo! sort their stocks on that page but have noticed it's sometimes in volume order and at other times it's not. It's often simply alphabetical (based on the ticker). But they don't list that many volume leaders after the close every day so it's easy to go through them. Of course, you could consider stocks that trade on much smaller volume or you may even decide that volume isn't worth considering at all (although most educators place an importance on volume that is secondary only to price itself, so I wouldn't be too hasty to dismiss it). Reuters gives volume on some UK markets and on their site you can click to sort volume in asc/desc order (FTSE All Share Index is one I normally look at).
Anyway, hope this helps