While most people don’t like to see red ink in their investment portfolios, at the same time, that negative print comes from volatility — and volatility in either direction presents opportunities for short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit. Here, the narrative isn’t necessarily about finding a great company on discount. Rather, it’s to scalp some favorable pricing action and get some fast cash in your pocket.

Though some short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit may turn out to be winners over the long haul, the framework we’ll be utilizing is geared specifically for pure speculation and trading. In other words, you don’t want to get too hung up on the fundamentals of the underlying firms.

To paraphrase what Harrison Ford told a young Mark Hamill, this isn’t that type of an investment.

Instead, we’re dealing largely with leveraging mass human emotions to facilitate some money on the go. Therefore, if you have the nerve, here are interesting ideas for short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit.

ToughBuilt Industries (TBLT)

Focusing on what the company calls affordable innovation, toolmaker ToughBuilt Industries (NASDAQ:TBLT) recently generated some interesting noise in the news cycle. In the first half of this year, management stated that sales came in at approximately $7.01 million, a massive percentage gain from the year-ago tally of $5.31 million.

On the day of the aforementioned announcement, TBLT jumped double digits. But after checking into the performance of the equity unit, it’s clear that ToughBuilt remains one of the short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit. Over the trailing month ended Aug. 5, shares have absolutely skyrocketed by almost 225%.

What’s causing this excitement? Speculation regarding a short squeeze may be at play here, with the short percentage of float hitting nearly 40%. To be fair, the short ratio (otherwise known as days to cover) is only 0.06, so the bears have an exit plan if things go seriously awry.

Nevertheless, the bulls seem intent on punishing the pessimists, making TBLT a possibly ideal play for short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit.

Greenwich Lifesciences (GLSI)

Greenwich Lifesciences (NASDAQ:GLSI) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of an immunotherapy treatment to prevent breast cancer recurrences in patients who previously underwent surgery. Unfortunately, the company “enjoys” — if that’s even the right word — a large total addressable market. Per Mordor Intelligence, the therapeutic segment for breast cancer could expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3% between 2022 and 2027.

It’s possible that Greenwich has a longer lifespan of relevance. However, in the context of short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit, the spotlight is on the company’s share statistics, specifically its short percentage of float at 13.4%. Typically, a short percent at 10% or higher signifies substantial bearishness, which then makes underlying securities vulnerable to short-squeeze efforts.

Like ToughBuilt Industries above, GLSI does not feature a high short ratio (only 0.68). Nevertheless, the stock appears to be in the early stages of a run higher. Over the trailing five days ended Aug. 5, it’s up 13%. Definitely keep this on your radar if you like to gamble.

CompoSecure (CMPO)

One of the more interesting ideas among short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit is CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO). The company specializes in payment services, including cryptocurrency and digital asset storage and security solutions. While this discussion isn’t about the fundamentals, CompoSecure’s blockchain-geared business could be relevant for many years to come.

As the Washington Post recently noted with wallet hacks in Solana (SOL-USD) and Nomadland (NOMAD-USD), security in decentralized ecosystems is vital. Therefore, even if you don’t believe that cryptos will necessarily move substantially higher this year, you may want to consider CMPO as one of the short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit. It’s more of an infrastructure play than speculation on pricing dynamics.

But here’s the other factor to keep in mind: The hardcore proponents of cryptos, the folks that hold on for dear life (HODL) are likely to store their positions in secure platforms. Therefore, even the crypto winter could be beneficial for CompoSecure.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE)

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, “Several researchers have described an increase in violent content in movies, despite a national rating system. For example, studies have found that 91% of movies on television contain violence, including extreme violence.”

I know I have a reputation for going way out of left field sometimes, but you might be wondering, why mention this? That’s because it’s the key selling point for the media firm Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (NASDAQ:CSSE). As you might guess from the brand name, Chicken Soup specializes in wholesome content that the entire family can enjoy.

Of course, with the love for gratuitous material in today’s shock-and-awe entertainment sector, many critics may feel that CSSE is an anachronistic investment. However, the contrarians beg to differ. Currently, they’re attempting to spark a short squeeze and they’re winning. Over the trailing month, CSSE is up over 45%. Still, with momentum red hot, you still might be able to scalp a quick profit here.

Sundial Growers (SNDL)

To be upfront about this, I’m not very confident that cannabis firm Sundial Growers (NASDAQ:SNDL) has the right stuff to be a proper investment. On a year-to-date basis, SNDL stock is down 59%. Over the trailing year, it has hemorrhaged almost 69%. Say what you will about deep discounts, in many cases, companies that lose that much market value over a short period have fundamental vulnerabilities that you shouldn’t dismiss offhand.

Nevertheless, SNDL could be one of the short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit. First, enthusiasm has been steadily brewing over the trailing five days, with shares up over 13%. As with the other names on this list, Sundial could be a target for a short-squeeze attempt. Its short percent of float is just a hair under double digits.

Second, investors have become generally enthused about cannabis stocks. Competitor Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) recently posted surprisingly robust sales results. In addition, Switzerland just legalized medical marijuana, theoretically expanding the total addressable market for the green stuff.

FAT Brands (FAT)

A popular fast-food company best known for its Fatburger chain, FAT Brands (NASDAQ:FAT) is in the middle of attempting to regain its composure. While on a YTD basis, shares are down almost 12%, over the trailing month, FAT stock is up nearly 25%.

Narrative-wise, the pivot in the consumer economy from the acquisition of physical goods to experience-based services and events may be a sustaining positive catalyst for FAT Brands. With coronavirus-related mitigation measures relaxed, more people have acclimated to the new normal. Eager to try out new things or simply get back to normal activities, FAT could be a beneficiary of pent-up demand.

In addition, FAT is one of the short-term stocks to buy for a quick profit on the back of a tremendously high short ratio of just under 23 days. In other words, based on current volume trends, it will take bears a little more than three weeks to cover their negative trades. That might tempt a short-squeeze attempt.

Revlon (REV)

For the last pick on this list of quick-scalping trades, I want to be crystal clear: you do not want to touch embattled Revlon (NYSE:REV) if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into! If you have some fantastical notion that the cosmetics firm will breeze through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, you’re going to want to rethink your thesis.

However, if you understand that we’re talking about short-term stocks to trade for a quick profit exclusively, then maybe REV might be something to look at. Despite the very realistic proposition of participants losing it all, Revlon shares have performed surprisingly well. Over the trailing five days, the security has almost doubled.

Now, the impetus of course is the short percent of float, which is staggering at 59% (as of July 15, 2022). Still, you want to keep in mind that the short ratio is 0.11, meaning that if you do score some quick profits here, you’ll want to lock in your gains immediately.

On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.