A stock scanner is a tool that will systematically put up on the screen exactly what you ask for at any given moment. This can be anything from a price spike in the last 1 minute or 5 minutes or the crossing of a moving average, or a new high for the day in price action. You input the criteria and the scanner shows you the results. In order to program the stock scanner to show you what you are looking for you need some experience. You can learn quite easily how to input specific criteria into a stock scanner. The hard part is knowing what inputs are useful and can work well in all market environments.
It is important to differentiate between a stock scan and a charting software package. You must realize and understand that looking at charts is always about history. The event on the chart has already happened. A stock scanner is a visual aid to show you exactly what is happening now, in real time, in the present moment. Now dont get me wrong, I look at charts as much as the next guy but in trying to explain the stock scanner concept to people unfamiliar with the markets, it’s best to preface the scenerio by comparing the two visual aids.
You can plug in all your technical indicators onto a chart and see what has happened and you can plug in all your technical indicators onto a stock scanner and see what is happening now. Obviously, if the scanner is static and not moving there is no new information. The other key difference which must be pointed out is that it doesnt matter if you are looking at 2 minute charts, 5 minute charts, 15 min or hourly, ts always about history and a past event. The same can be said about a stock scanner even though its real time, hat you see on the screen has already occurred. Now, if you are using real time data and a stock is breaking out to a new high, the stock scanner with real time data is moving as the stock goes higher. The big difference between a charting software package and a real timealert stock scanner is that a chart is limited by the ticker symbol you are urrently viewing, now with a stock scanner searching for stocks going p more than 50 cents in 1 minute, or moving up more than one dollar rom the close, you will see these names on your screen in front of you. herefore, a stock scanner can search for the needle in the haystack. he stock scanner give the user the ability to see what names are moving now.
There are programs out there where you can specify certain parameters on the charts o pop up when they occur, but with this method you are assuming you know which names to select ahead of time. In using the stock scanner, you dont need to know ahead of time time which names to focus on, but you do need to know
the exact criteria you want to see unfold. Day trading stocks using a stock scanner is a really smart way to identify movement in either direction. If you are a visua person, then you can supplement your scanning tool with a real time charting program. This allows the user to put a chart up of the stocks that one is observing using the scanner. This is the preferred method of choice for the visually based stock day trader. You can view the charts with all your criteria such as bollinger bands, moving averages or stochastics and the stock scanner will keep repeating the ticker symbol as the name is moving up or down in price. You can set up one monitor for the charting program and one for the stock scanner. You might be able to just split screen one monitor but this makes the viewing more difficult and leaves little room for level 2 or other things you may use such as news from Briefing.com.
