Top 7 things to look for in a Stock Scanner.
When Mometic first launched MOMO Realtime Stock Discovery & Alerts in 2015 we were amoung a handful of scanners available. We were different in that we were 100% app based. Fast forward 6 years and things have changed - a lot!
All said, there are a few things in my honest opinion I want from a Stock Scanner. That said its no coincidence MOMO Pro turned out the way it did, but we will keep it the topic at hand.
#1 Breakout Visibility - This could mean a lot of different things. But if you look at numbers and symbols all day, you want things to jump out at you on the screen and not be listed in a subtle manner.
#2 Ability to support "trading lifecycle" - In a busy trading day, you want to be able to identify and save symbols on a watchlist in a single click. Whether or not you trade it, is something different - but having a place to pin the symbol to "keep an eye on" is almost as useful as finding a stock before it gets lost to distraction
#3 Realtime Performance - Trading based on old data is one thing, but questioning accuracy of charts and whether it is lagging or not is an entirely bigger problem. Not only are you susceptible to chasing breakouts, but it unneccesarily stresses your abilities. This also applies to trade alerts. I've heard of some stock screeeners which send alerts as late as 1 hour after an event. Obviously unacceptable at any level.
#4 No advertisements - Ad supported sites have their place, but seems very difficult to actively trade with ads popping up and flashing at any given moment. Screen realestate is a premium and trading setups don't have the room for ads.
#5 Mobile and Desktop Support - Given it is 2021, this is suprisingly hard to find. We think it is a must have for anyone. Our customer traffic is roughly 45% mobile. In premarket hours or afterhours when away from desk - being able to check my phone is invaluable for alerts and other events, particularly during earnings season.
#6 Ease of Use - Let's face it, software is different nowadays and not always for the better. User experience and design mean a lot to use because we take a lot of pride in how things look. If you are having to constantly reference Youtube videos or struggling to remember every last little icon being displayed, chances are your scanner is probably suffering from feature bloat. A clean, predictable experience is best when having to make fast decisions with a lot of data.
#7 Integrated Stock News - We didn't realize the impact of this. Customers suggested and now we are in firm agreement. Syncing news with stock movement lets users simply see if a newsworthy event is cause for a breakout. It helps to quickly uncover the potential strength of the movement vs. having to search all news to find something relevant. Having fast news is equally important. Personal experience shows many of the top brokerage platforms still have lagging news by serveral minutes (ToS and E*trade).
Happy Trading!
From the Team @ Mometic