Scanner 101
Available on: Web · iOS · Android
On this page
The scanner checks every stock in your universe against your filters and lists the ones that match right now. Alerts watch a scan for you and tell you when a stock starts matching. The scanner answers the question once, when you click Scan.
How a scan works
A scan runs in three steps:
- Universe. The scan starts from the securities your universe settings allow: exchanges, security types, countries and themes. See Universe.
- Filters. Each filter tests one fact about a stock, such as RSI(14)<30 or Market cap≥2B. Filters sit in groups: All that match keeps stocks that pass every filter, Any that match keeps stocks that pass at least one, and Exclude matching drops stocks that pass. See Building scans.
- Sort. The matches come back ranked on the field you chose, such as market cap or % change.
The results are a snapshot of that moment. Prices in the rows keep updating, but the list of matches stays put until you scan again.
Tour
Filters at the top, results underneath. Everything that changes the scan sits on the right of the toolbar.
- View picker (top left): List, Charts or Overview.
- Actions…: a search box for scanner commands. Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) to open it.
- Scan name: the saved scan or preset you have open, such as Low RSI.
- Filters: the menu for groups, presets, saving, loading, sharing and export.
- Scan: runs the scan.
- Gear icon: the universe and sort settings.
- Filter groups: your filters. Use + on a group to add a filter.
- Results: the match line, then the grid. See Results & columns.
- Click Filters, then Filter presets, and pick one. Or click Filters, then Add group, then All that match, and use + in the group to add a filter.
- Click Scan.
The Scan button stays gray until the scan has at least one filter.
What a result row means
A row is a stock that passed every rule in your scan at the moment it ran. It shows the stock's symbol and the facts you picked as columns: price, % change, market cap, relative strength and more. Price, % change, size and volume update live. The rest come from the scan.
Click a symbol (web) or tap a row (mobile) to open the stock's page and chart.
Filter types
If a scan holds a filter your plan can't run, that row is locked, and hovering it tells you why. A locked row that's switched off stays in the scan and runs once you upgrade. A locked row that's still switched on stops the scan with a Scan error. See Locked filters.
Plans and limits
- The Free count resets at midnight UTC, which is the evening in US time zones. A scan counts once it finishes, even with no matches. Loading a preset's latest results or a saved scan's last run doesn't count.
- On web, Free plans see scans remaining today at the bottom of the Filters menu.
- Super and Super Pro can also scan the market as it stood on a past date. See Time Machine.
Rescan after every change
Changing a filter, the universe or the sort does nothing to the results on screen. Until you click Scan, the grid still shows the last run, marked Stale. Reading those rows as the answer to your new filters is the most common scanner mistake.