Thanks and I agree that historical performance metrics would be a great indication of returns. What I'd like to do would be to create a system that processes 5

Thanks and I agree that historical performance metrics would be a great indication of returns. What I'd like to do would be to create a system that processes 5 years worth of historical data, gathers all symbols that have had spikes up or down by 10-75%, have good volume and liquidity and are affected by either news or an earnings report. I could then auto-construct the baskets that surround each issue and calculate returns on the long side or short side. I like this system because it executes on 4 critical levels: 1. Works in a good market or in a bad market due to short and long positioning that can be taken whereas most trading systems (and Technical Analysis) only really work in good markets. 2. You don't have to be late in terms of buying into (or shorting) the direct issue. You buy into or short the indirect issues, which enable protection and diversification. 3. Nobody really is doing this today. 4. It's based on information arbitrage and hidden connections, not numbers.