Ok y'all, the thread title is Stock Screeners and we've been talking about scanners. I know that they're prolly one and the same but I want to make a distinction between a scanner/screener that:

1. allows you to select a series of predefined indicators and fundamentals criterion
2. scans a universe of stocks at the moment you hit the OK button and returns a static list of results

and a scanner/screener that:

1. allows you to create/code your own custom criterion (strategy/setup involving multiple time frame conditions)
2. is real-time and perpetually streaming an ever changing list of results
3. can be applied to a universe of stocks such as the S&P 500
4. can be instantly linked to your charting package

Ameritrade StrategyDesk has such an alerts/screener but I am finding that it is not nearly as responsive as I need it to be. It misses many very good signals that my backtester catches. Is there a good alternative out there that is reliable amd responsive?

Take a look at the book "One good trade" by Mike Bellafiore. they are trading "Stocks in Play" every day. The stock screener would be too much an hindsight filter because extreme volatility or taperolling is from what is already done.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, It sounds like you don't see much merit in screeners. I'll have to read the book you suggested to more fully understand your take on screeners.

My screens search for stocks that are showing conditions that, given the correct trigger, will have a high probability for success. My conditions have been thoroughly backtested and have proven to be profitable when paired with the appropriate trigger condition. I know my method is robust.

The trouble I have is in finding a screener (tied to an alert system) that can find those INITIAL conditions as they happen in real time. This is what a screener does! Afterall, what would be the point of a screener if there was no merit in finding stocks with conditions ideal for trading?

I have had success with Ameritrades Strategydesk with this strategy on longer time frames but it is not quick enough to flag those conditions on the shorter time frames that I want to trade. It does all the work for you and would literally be the PERFECT solution if only it were more responsive.

Tradestation screener may have a faster screen but you can't apply more than one time frame to a single stock Sorting is very limited. You have to separate different time frames in different tabs and then copy and paste results from longer time frame into another tab with shorter time frames. It's a disaster!

Multicharts seems to handle it's screener in the same way as tradestation (still researching but not hopeful) there doesn't seem to be anyway to filter based on more than one time frame. example: hourly SMA moving up and 10 minute Stochastic below 20. Sorting is severely limited.

Ninja trader is exactly what I am looking for. It basically works the same as Ameritrades StrategyDesk screener except that you it makes you do a lot more work to get it to display/filter in the same way StrategyDesk does. Only one serious problem....it can't handle the workload and brings the system to a crawl and becomes utterly unusable. Plus, if you don't have programming experience you have to spend several days learning C#just to accomplish basic things.

Worden TC2000 is almost there! Offering a very fast scanner that allows you to create your own custom conditions. it has the advantage of doing all the work on it's servers and then sends the data to your machine for further sorting. Sounds great! Only two major flaws. 1. It's exponential calculations don't use enough data and so don't reflect what your chart shows. Therefore you get erroneous results! 2. you have to manually hit the re-scan and -resort buttons over and over and over again. It does NOT stream results in real time. It sends a static list which you then sort according to conditions you code. - it's very disappointing that such a powerful software would leave out auto-sorting! 3. It has no alerts attached to the conditions. You cannot fire an audible alert based on the conditions. You literally have to sit at your computer all day long hitting the rescan button and watching a 4x4 section of your monitor in the hopes that a conditions will fire. 4. You can't have multiple strategies running at the same time like you can with NT and Ameritrade StrategyDesk. 5. It is not very flexible for multiple monitors and you can't trade from the platform. It's strictly a charting package with a focus on screening stocks

So......does anyone out there know of any solution to my problem??

For months I've been wanting to get back to swinging stocks on the side. So now I am getting serious about it again, and have funded an MB Trading equities account just for this purpose. Still sticking with futures as my primary goal, but swinging stocks holds a special place in my heart as I've been doing it for almost 15 years.

Most recently, up until about two or three years ago, I was using Worden StockFinder to screen. But now I am looking for something a bit simpler, and less time consuming. So I've been looking for some good screeners.

I found this one so far that looks interesting:

FINVIZ.com - Stock Screener

Take note of all the signals and patterns it detects, it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. Has anyone used it? Or does anyone have any better recommendations?

Mike

StockCharts.com has some decent scans

Stock Scan: Predefined Scans - Charting Tools - StockCharts.com

I think swing trading with options is even better: as the trade goes against you, delta helps limit your losses, while if you get a runner, delta approaches ~1.0 and you get some juicy leverage in your favor. Of course, you're having to deal with theta decay but if you buy 30-45 days from expiration you shouldn't have too much to worry about as price will get you out of the trade pretty soon if it's not going to be a winner.

If you are scanning for stocks approaching trendline supports or resistances, check out Chart Pattern Recognition Forex and Stock Screener Finds Chart Patterns Fast.