What is Stock screener?
Skriner
In short
A tool that filters thousands of stocks by criteria such as price, volume, sector or indicators.
A stock screener is a tool that filters thousands of stocks by criteria you set and shows only the ones that match. Several thousand stocks trade on US exchanges — there is no way to go through them all by hand.
Typical filters
- Price and liquidity: price above $5 or $10, average daily volume above 1 million shares.
- Market cap and sector.
- Technical: price above the 50-day average, relative volume above 2, a new 52-week high.
- Fundamental: P/E, revenue growth, debt levels.
- Halal criteria: the financial ratios used in halal screening.
How it is used
A screener gives you a list of candidates, not trade ideas. The usual workflow: the screener returns a few dozen stocks, you go through their charts, add the best ones to a watchlist, and build an entry plan. limitup has a screener as well — details on its halal filter are on the methodology page.
Limitations
- Filters are based on past data, and the data can be delayed.
- Too many filters return nothing; too few return hundreds of stocks.
- A screener doesn't know the news or the context around a company: you have to check every result yourself.
Example
Illustrative case, a daily scan for swing trades:
- Price > $10 — removes small and penny stocks.
- Average daily volume > 1 million shares — enough liquidity.
- Price above the 50-day average — uptrends only.
- Relative volume > 2 — at least twice the usual trading today.
Out of roughly 5,000 stocks, say 18 remain after these four filters. Going through their charts, the trader finds a clear level and a nearby stop on 4 of them. Those 4 go on the watchlist; the other 14 are "interesting, but not now".
Mistakes and tips
Don't treat screener results as a buy list — check each stock's chart and news.
Always include a liquidity filter: thinly traded stocks have wide spreads and heavy slippage.
Save one set of filters and run it consistently — changing criteria every day makes results impossible to compare.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a stock screener used for?
- To quickly find the few dozen stocks out of thousands that fit your strategy. It saves time, but it doesn't replace analysis.
- What filters should a beginner use in a stock screener?
- Start simple: a minimum price, a minimum average volume and a trend filter (such as price above the 50-day average). Then add criteria that fit your strategy.
Try the theory without risk
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