As a day trader by profession, we are always on the hunt for the next “NBT” (next best trade). If the opportunity is there, we want to be able to find it quickly and capitalize on the move. By using a reliable & best stock screener, we can often find these moves right before, or quickly after, they start to happen. Volume, technical patterns, and market capitalization are just a few settings that a stock screener offers that we can use to our advantage to filter stocks that meet our criteria to trade. However, some stock screeners are much more advanced than others, and not recommended for beginners. Therefore, in this blog, we will focus on different stock screeners available to retail traders, starting with screeners suited best for beginners, intermediate, and advanced traders.
Let’s Start With,
Screeners for Beginners
Barchart.com
Barchart.com’s stock screener is one of the most basic screeners available to the public, and also one of the easiest to use. You can screen stocks based on “main view” (which includes daily volume, high of the day, low of the day, and last price the stock traded at), exchange, technical, fundamentals, performance, and custom, however, custom screener settings are only available to users who have a free membership with Barchart.com.
Barchart.com also offers ETF, options, futures, and currency screeners. In particular, the free options screener is particularly useful, as it will show unusual options volume, IV rank and IV percentile, highest implied volatility, options volume leaders, changes in open interest, etc. We can also view various types of top option spreads and strategies currently open on the market right now, including covered calls and naked puts.
Screenshot of Barchart.com’s Unusual Options Volume screener.
Screeners for Intermediate Traders
Tradingview
Tradingview’s free stock screener is by far one the best free screeners out there, and for good reason. It’s easy to use, it offers an abundance of filter settings, and can be used for various types of trading (scalping, day trading and swing trading). The variety of filter options that Tradingview offers, given that it is completely free, is unmatched. Here at TradePro Academy, we use Tradingview’s Extended Hours Volume Scanner to see where the volume is pre-market. From there, we like to use it to build our Options Live Room watchlist based off of pre-market movers with high volume. Additionally, Tradingview also offers a forex screener and a crypto screener.
Screenshot of Tradingview’s Stock Screener
Finviz
Finviz.com has an awesome screener that is a bit more advanced than both the Tradingview and Barchart.com screeners. The free screener that Finviz offers is particularly useful when it comes to finding swing trades, as market data is not updated in real-time. However, with the Finviz screener, you have a set of unique preset filters available to you; market cap, short float, shares outstanding, relative volume, average volume, etc. are all available to you under the descriptive tab. Other tabs that are available are the Fundamental tab, the Technical tab, and the “All tab”, which offers a combination of all filters available on each previous tab. Finviz’s stock screener is TradePro Academy’s screener of choice when it comes to compiling stock picks for our weekly swing list which is sent out every Sunday evening.
Screenshot of Finviz’s Stock Screener
Screeners for Advanced Traders
Trade-Ideas
Trade-Ideas probably has the best screener available to the public. It’s an expensive platform, but the price is well justified, especially if you’re a day trader like myself. Trade-Ideas offers a great selection of preset, real-time scanners, including a short squeeze scanner, social sentiment scanner, gap scanner, swing ideas, and volume scanner, to name a few. Trade-Ideas also gives you the option to customize and create your own scanners based on the criteria you are looking for in a stock. Trade-Ideas also offers 3 different A.I. scanners: Holly Grail, Holly 2.0, and Neo A.I. To have access to Trade-Ideas’s A.I. scanners, it is an additional cost. At TradePro Academy, we personally do not use the A.I. scanners Trade-Ideas offers, however, we do occasionally use Trade-Ideas’s scanners during our Options Live Room.
Screenshot of Trade-Ideas’s Short Squeeze Scanner
Not Apart of our Options Community Yet?
That’s okay! TradePro Academy offers free access to our Public Chat channel on our Echofin server. Visit community.tradeproacademy.com to gain access to daily options and futures analysis, levels, and our top picks of the day using some of the screeners mentioned in this article!
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The information contained in this post is solely for educational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. The risk of trading in securities markets can be substantial. You should carefully consider if engaging in such activity is suitable for your own financial situation. TRADEPRO AcademyTM is not responsible for any liabilities arising as a result of your market involvement or individual trade activities.
