Is MOMO Pro a Good Scanner/Screener for Beginners?
Oddly, this question hasn't come up before or perhaps frequently enough to notice. Last week, we were checking our search analytics and saw this very question asked a couple times, so I thought I would take a moment to address.
MOMO Pro was initially purpose-built for traders looking to supplement their toolset with realtime visibility of the entire market by way of focusing on stock breakouts (new highs / new lows). MOMO Pro has since significantly evolved to provide more comprehensive capabilities to highlight trade opportunities and the insight for those moves, but the underlying purpose has not changed.
To answer the question - when evaluating a Scanner and/or Screener for my trading needs... I like to keep it simple, and I think we've reflected that in MOMO Pro.
As a beginner, there are numerous things to watch and learn and... similar to learning golf; if you focus on too many elements you will quickly find yourself frustrated and get the “yips”. Also, like golf... there are many, many promises of simplicity and tools to provide great success with simple "systems" to unsuspecting newcomers.
So while evaluating MOMO Pro whether independently or versus another option, consider the following:
Mentions of AI, Machine Learning, or Deep Learning.
There are numerous apps out there jumping on the bandwagon with mention of using artificial intelligence within their tools. And while its possible, all the ones I've seen are just businesses with "AI" slapped on the name somewhere. True AI tools would document the methodology, provide statistical success rates, as well as exits (and even time horizons). Further they would communicate the training models they use and share some idea on the algos implemented. I have done deep research on this topic and many have not shown greater than 50% success which is obviously a concern. There are a couple that can perform higher, but the businesses I've seen still are not disclosing confidence, entries and exits in earnest let alone in a manner that would meet a quants, econometrics, or data scientist's approval.
Extensive training and onboarding.
New traders are eager to learn and want to consume everything. The training and marketed success that seems most polished usually wins beginners over. We (Mometic) could and should do better, but others have used this as a way to whitewash the complexities of trading and their platforms and they may not best suited for a beginner if at all. We really want MOMO to stand on its own, but recognize we can document and help more up front (on the to-do list).
Too many negative (and positive) reviews.
Wherever there is conflict, users are likely to report it somewhere. What I have seen is that Trust Pilot and others are very business friendly and enable businesses to bury negative reviews. The negative reviews tend to tell a story. What I've seen is the inability to cancel or include additional services without the user's consent. Nobody needs this frustration, especially if just trying to get started. We provide a self-managed dashboard to control your account whenever you need.
Alignment to trading style
We built MOMO to find realtime breakouts and use for momentum trading. Now this is nebulous, but we think we offer the tooling to find trades ripping or getting ready to break and then provide a way to validate move and track. This means we are not trading based on P/E or earnings and likely neither are you as most use this for investing longer term (we do peek at these for swings though but that is more as part of our DD. We also look at charts).
Works across your device needs
Many scanners/screeners are unable or barely usable on different devices. And while many of us have a desktop trading environment; there are times to check on other devices (e.g. at work on vacation, etc). Not having this flexibility is a non-starter.
Minimum requirements
I think there are a few min needs. e.g. highs of day (HOD), Alerts, News, Quotes and Unusual Volume. Almost forgot!! -- Full pre/post market hours and real-time access. Do we offer more than that - yes, but those are the bare min scanner requirements.
No Ads
This goes without saying. I've seen a few tools which have pop-ups and other distractions. This makes the job at hand already more complicated. Likely some free or delayed option or such which does more harm than good in the long run.
When MOMO may not be good for beginners:
Focus on trading handful of exclusive stocks
In the past I have seen traders who say they only want to trade 5 stocks or less and are adamant they don't want to trade anything else. MOMO isn't best used here and really no scanner would be of value.
"Investing"
I consider anything where you are concerned about tax ramifications to be more on the investment side of the world. Perhaps not completely accurate, but if you are looking to dollar cost avg or buy and hold for a longer term MOMO Pro isn't designed for you. I will say MOMO Pro has exposed me to numerous businesses I hadn't known before and getting in earlier is obviously great; but MOMO Pro isn't purpose built for investors.
MOMO Pro was not originally intended for "beginners"; or experts for that matter - it was designed for traders with specific needs. These traders were historically more experienced and wanted to be able to parse the market moves and assess the implications as quickly as possible with minimum distractions. But now, many are much more savvy with software, data analytics, and trading so the functionality is definitely being embraced by larger audiences.
I believe MOMO Pro is rather easy to incorporate into a beginner trader's workflow without causing a lot of confusion. And while we don't have big "BUY" buttons or suggest we have AI; we have a product which does exactly what it was built for - to provide market awareness and hone in on opportunities which are showing or likely to show a momentum breakout.
Don't have MOMO Pro yet? Start here!
Team @ Mometic