We as traders know the importance of being able to find great stocks to trade on a daily basis. How do we accomplish this? We utilize a nifty tool called a scanner. Scanners allow traders to plug in important information based off of the stocks we see in the markets, that we would like to trade. There are many different scanner platforms, software, and paid subscription scanners out there for us to use. Many of these are powerful, and can really give any trader an edge in at least finding the best daily plays consistently. Which one is best for us? Well in my experience most all of these scanners work just fine. I use the scan feature already available in the Think Or Swim platform, and adjust the setting within the software to fit the strategic criteria I see in the market.
How should I go about creating a scanner? Depending on your platform or scanner capabilities, the first step would be to find stocks that you wanted/missed trading on any given day(s). We need to break these stocks down by several factors. What was the volume traded during the period that you wanted to trade the stock at? How many shares are available on the public market (AKA the Float). Any other reason that you can find within the chart or fundamentals that created the movement within the trade, that, is the reason you wish you would have traded it in the first place.
There are honestly many hundreds/thousands of different types of scanners or scanner settings. You could potentially scan for MACD crossovers in any given direction, you even have the ability to scan for specific patterns within charts. For this blog I will be focused mostly on Low Float breakout scanners as that is my MO! Let’s look at some of our options….
TRADEIDEAS. This is a very popular scanner company, that offers powerful tools for all kinds of traders. This scanner is most popularly used by Warrior Trades CEO Ross Cameron. They are probably the most comprehensive, versatile, and technologically driven stock scanner/tools company out there. They have Artificial Intelligence tools for traders also……EX MACHINA anyone lol!! Their scanner plans are on a tier system for traders to gain easy access to their powerful trading tools, lets have a look.
I give them credit, they have some really powerful stuff for traders. The only problem I have is that, most of us small retail investors are trying to trade with small amounts of money to start with, and already have the uphill battle of commissions and staying in the green!! Do we really need to add more to our overhead in order to be a successful trader? I would say it is up to each individual for the extent at which they wish to pay, to have the best tools and software available to them. They have a free section on their website, but I personally tried to navigate it, but ended up again at a paid subscription page. To check out their website click the link www.trade-ideas.com.
Besides paid scanner software, many brokerages have a scanner tool already built within their trading software. Some of the main stream brokerages that offer stock scanners are ETRADE, and TD Ameritrade inside of their Think Or Swim software. Lets compare these two as they are some pretty mainstream brokerages.
E-trade offers some pretty powerful scanners for traders, but again at a cost. I have heard in many chatrooms that E-Trades scanners are very useful and have produced solid trades. They have a few prebuilt scanners available for its members as you can see in the image above. Each one has the same price tag of $200. Woah, that’s a pretty expensive price tag. This type of scanner would be good for a trader who does not want to go through the trouble of finding great stocks, getting the criteria from those to plug into the scanner, and would rather have the broker hook you up with a solid scanner to fit your needs with a fee. If it is worth paying to have someone else to the work than this may be the broker and scanner for you. to read more about E-Trade click the link > www.etrade.com
TD Ameritrade This broker offers free access to scanners but they will be very hands on. I have used this software for many years with their Think Or Swim software. They do not charge an additional fee to utilize this tool, and from my experience does the job, and does it well. This would be for the hands on trader who takes his trading into their own hands. TD Ameritrade offers many different criteria that you can plug into their scanner. Fundamental criteria, technical analysis criteria, patterns, volume, float, etc. This has been my choice for almost the entire duration of my trading career, and have had no trouble finding great stocks by using this scanner. Starting an account with TD Ameritrade is Free, That’s right, you can start an account with them and utilize their software for FREE. They also have a paper trade demo that can be used for free for a small period of time if you would like to try out how things work. If you would like to check them out click the link > www.tdameritrade.com
NOTE: If you would like to see how We at TheFreedomGrind construct our scanners in Think Or Swim, Check out our YouTube Here www.youtube.com/thefreedomgrind.
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