Create Scan Templates

When you launch the Advanced Scan Workbench, this is the default scan criteria entered in the Scan Criteria box:

[type is stock] and [sma(20,volume) > 40000]

This is a pretty broad guideline, one that may include stocks that you would not normally be interested in, such as relatively thinly traded stocks, penny stocks, foreign stocks, and/or ETFs. Most people use a set of universe-defining criteria on almost all scans. Yours may be something like this:

[type is stock]
and [[exchange is NYSE] or [exchange is NASDAQ] or [exchange is AMEX]]
and [close > 10]
and [daily sma(50,volume) > 200000]

That would take a long time to type in for each and every scan you create. However, there is a workaround that can make it faster and easier to add your default universe-defining criteria to any new scan. Just follow the instructions below to create your own scan “template.”

Creating a Scan Template

Step 1.

Go to the Advanced Scan Workbench and start a new scan.

Step 2.

Replace the default scan criteria with the universe-defining ones you want to use in most scans.

Step 3.

Save the scan. We recommend starting the scan name with a zero (0) so that it appears near the top of your list of scans.

That's all you need to do to create your scan template.

Using Your Scan Template

Once you've created the template, it's simple to use it to create a new scan. Just follow these steps.

Step 1.

Go to the Advanced Scan Workbench and open the scan template.

Note: You can also load the saved scan directly from Your Dashboard by choosing the scan from the Select Your Scan dropdown menu and clicking the Edit Scan button.

Step 2.

Click the Save As button.

Step 3.

Save your scan with a name that indicates what it will be used for.

Step 4.

Add any additional scan criteria you want. Remember to save the scan when you're done adding criteria.

Adding More Templates

Did you know you can add more than one template? Perhaps, in addition to the stock scan template created above, you'd like to create one with your standard criteria for scanning ETFs. To do so, just add that criteria to a new scan and save it with a descriptive name, such as “001 ETF Scan Template.”

You can now use this new template for creating ETF scans while still having your template for creating stock scans.