Glossary

The words you meet in scanr, each in a sentence or two. Where a term has its own page, the definition links to it.

Notation

The docs write rules and studies the same way on every page.

• Filter rules appear as chips: RSI(14)<30 or Market cap≥2B. A chip reads as field, operator, value. The field is the filter's name as the scanner shows it, with its settings in parentheses.
• A chip can compare two fields: SMA(50)crosses aboveSMA(200).
• Studies appear in shorthand: SMA(c, 50) is a simple moving average of the close over 50 bars. The letters inside are inputs (c close, h high, l low, v volume) and the words or numbers after them are the study's settings. The Study reference lists every study in this form.
• Numbers use the units the app shows: 10M is ten million, 2B two billion, 30% thirty percent.

A

All group

See filter group.

Any group

See filter group.

As-of date

The past date a Time Machine scan reads the market at. The results header says As of and the date.

ATR

Average true range: how far a stock moves in a typical bar, overnight gaps included, averaged over 14 bars by default. Traders use it to size stops and to compare volatility across stocks.

B

Bar

One period of trading: its open, high, low, close and volume. The timeframe sets how long a bar lasts. On a chart, each bar is drawn as a candle.

Breadth

How many stocks take part in a move, counting each stock once whatever its size. An index can rise on a few large companies while most stocks fall, and breadth shows you that. The Market State card reads breadth. See Market breadth and regime metrics.

C

Candlestick pattern

A shape of one to a few bars, such as a hammer or an engulfing bar, that traders read as a sign of a turn or a pause. In the scanner it is a filter with no value: the stock either shows the pattern or it doesn't. See Candlestick patterns.

Chart pattern

A larger price structure built over many bars, such as a bull flag or an ascending triangle.

Cohort

A group of stocks picked by a fixed rule, such as the 500 most-traded US stocks. Each Market State number describes one cohort.

D

Delayed data

Prices that reach you 15 minutes late. Free plans scan, chart and sort on delayed prices. Super and Super Pro get them live. See Data delays and market hours.

Distribution slider

The histogram under a numeric filter. It shows where the stocks in your universe sit today, so you can set a threshold that keeps as many matches as you want.

Drawdown

The fall from a peak to the low that follows it, as a percentage. Performance metrics use the worst drawdown during each trade.

E

EPS

Earnings per share: a company's net income divided by its shares, as reported each quarter (10-Q) and each year (10-K).

ETF

Exchange-traded fund: a basket of securities that trades like a single stock. Adding ETFs to a scan's universe needs a paid plan.

Exclude group

See filter group.

F

Filter

One test a stock must pass, such as a price level, a reported figure or a study value. A scan returns the stocks that pass.

Filter group

A set of filters combined one way. An All group keeps the stocks that pass every filter in it, an Any group keeps the stocks that pass at least one, and an Exclude group removes its matches from the result. Groups can hold other groups, and each group can have its own Time Machine date. See Building scans.

Float

The shares the public can trade: shares outstanding minus those held by insiders and other locked-up holders. A small float can move fast on heavy volume. The scanner calls it Share float.

Fundamental

A figure from a company's financial reports: the income statement, balance sheet or cash flow statement, or a ratio built from them. The Fundamental metrics reference lists every one.

G

Gap

The jump from one session's close to the next session's open, as a percentage of the close. Positive is a gap up, negative a gap down.

Group strength

The regime extension of a stock's main sector or thematic ETF, read on the ETF's own price. It tells you whether the group around the stock is strong. Filtering on it needs Super. Its value in result columns and on charts needs Super Pro.

H

Horizon

The holding period a performance number assumes: buy when the scan found the stock, sell this long after. Horizons run from 1 day to 1 year, plus year to date. See Time horizons.

I

Input

The data a study runs on, such as the close or the volume. Study inputs lists them all.

Insider transaction

A purchase or sale of a company's shares by its officers, directors or large holders, reported to the SEC on Form 4. Insider filters are Super Pro.

M

Market cap

Share price times shares outstanding: what the market says the company is worth.

Market State

A dashboard card that describes what kind of market you are in, for one cohort: how many stocks are joining in, whether volume agrees, how concentrated the moves are and how much stocks move together. It uses end-of-day data. Every plan sees the participation numbers. The rest are Super Pro. See Market State.

Moving average

The average closing price over the last N bars, recalculated each bar. A simple moving average (SMA) weights every bar the same. An exponential moving average (EMA) weights recent bars more.

O

OTC

Over the counter: stocks that trade outside the major exchanges, often small and thinly traded. Adding OTC stocks to a scan's universe needs a paid plan.

P

P/E ratio

Share price divided by earnings per share over the last twelve months. It tells you roughly how much you pay for each dollar of profit.

Percentile

Where a value ranks in a group, from 1 to 99. A stock at the 90th percentile beats 90% of the group.

Preset

A ready-made scan. Load it, then change any filter. Loading a preset replaces the filters you had. See Presets.

R

Regime

How a stock is trending: how clean the trend is, how far price has stretched from its adaptive mean, and how it compares with its peers. scanr measures it in volatility units, so values compare across stocks. Regime indicators are Super Pro. See Indicator filters.

Relative strength

A stock's recent performance ranked against the whole market, its sector or its industry, as a percentile from 1 to 99. Higher is stronger. Often shortened to RS. Not the same as RSI.

Relative volume

How unusual a bar's volume is for the stock. scanr's Relative volume study counts how many standard deviations the volume sits above or below its average over the last 60 bars, so 0 is normal and 2 is well above normal.

Restated price

See Time Machine.

RS

See relative strength.

RSI

Relative Strength Index: a momentum oscillator from 0 to 100 that compares recent gains with recent losses, over 14 bars by default. Readings above 70 often mean overbought and below 30 oversold.

S

Saved scan

A scan you named and saved, so you can rerun it and follow its results. See Saved scans and scan history.

Scan

A search of the market. scanr checks every stock in your universe against your filters and returns the ones that match.

Session

One trading day. Settings counted in sessions skip weekends and market holidays.

Sharpe ratio

Return divided by its volatility. A higher Sharpe ratio means more return for each unit of risk. See Performance metrics.

Short interest

The shares sold short and not yet bought back. High short interest against a small float can fuel a squeeze when the price rises. Short filters are Super Pro.

Study

A calculation on price or volume history, such as a moving average or RSI. The Study reference lists every study with its settings.

T

Theme

A group of stocks that move together, found from how their prices correlate and regrouped every week. Limiting a scan's universe to themes needs Super or Super Pro. See Scanning by theme.

Time Machine

Runs a scan against the market as it stood on a past date. Restated prices, the default, use today's split basis, so they match the chart you see now. As traded uses the prices the market printed that day. Time Machine needs a paid plan. See Time Machine.

Timeframe

How long one bar lasts: 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week and so on. See Chart timeframes.

U

Universe

The stocks a scan searches before any filter runs, set by exchange, security type, country and theme. Picking several values in one setting widens the universe. Each extra setting narrows it. See Universe.

W

Watchlist

A list of tickers you follow, with their prices and the columns you pick. See Watchlists.

Win rate

The share of a scan's trades that ended in profit over the horizon.

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