LogoLogo
Return to StockChartsCharts & ToolsArticlesChartSchoolYour Dashboard
  • Support Center
  • Finding Your Way Around
    • Intro to StockCharts
    • Navigating the Website
    • Logging In for the First Time
    • Members Dashboard
  • data and ticker symbols
    • Data Availability
      • Markets We Cover
      • Real-Time Data
        • BATS Real-Time Data
      • Extended Hours Data
      • Data Bar Periods
      • Price Data Adjustments
      • Historical Data
        • How Do I Download Data to Excel?
        • StockCharts Historical Sector Data
    • Ticker Symbols
      • Ticker Symbol Conventions
      • How to Find a Ticker Symbol
      • Using the Index Catalog
      • Ratio and Difference Symbols
      • Pseudo-Symbols
      • User-Defined Indexes
  • Charts & Tools
    • SharpCharts
      • SharpCharts Workbench
        • Creating and Viewing SharpCharts
        • Printing and Sharing SharpCharts
        • Editing SharpCharts
          • Using the SharpCharts Interactive Date Slider
          • Charting Market Breadth Indicators
          • SharpCharts Parameter Reference
        • Saving SharpCharts
        • Additional SharpCharts Workbench Tools
          • Viewing ChartLists on the SharpCharts Workbench
          • Viewing Alerts on the SharpCharts Workbench
          • Viewing Options Data on the SharpCharts Workbench
      • ChartStyles & StyleButtons
        • Working with ChartStyles and StyleButtons
        • Using the ChartStyle Library
        • Tool-Specific ChartStyles
      • ChartNotes
        • Annotating SharpCharts with ChartNotes
        • ChartNotes Annotation Tool Reference
          • Line Tools
          • Text Annotation Tools
          • Shape Tools
          • Line Study Tools
      • ChartLists
        • Summary View
        • ChartList View
        • ChartBook View
        • Performance View
        • Correlation View
        • Edit View
        • ChartList Reports
        • ChartPacks
      • Classic SharpCharts Workbench
      • StockCharts Mobile App
    • StockChartsACP
      • Creating ACP Charts
      • Multi-Chart Layouts in StockChartsACP
      • Viewing ACP Charts
      • Printing and Sharing ACP Charts
      • Editing ACP Charts
      • Applying Chart Templates to ACP Charts
      • Annotating ACP Charts
        • StockChartsACP Line Tools
        • StockChartsACP Text Annotation Tools
        • StockChartACP Shape Tools
        • StockChartsACP Line Study Tools
      • Working with Saved ACP Charts
      • StockChartsACP Plug-Ins
        • Chaikin Power Gauge Plug-In
        • GoNoGo Charts Plug-In
        • Larry Williams Stock Trading Starter Pack Plug-In
        • MarketGauge Plug-Ins
        • Simpler Trading Moxie Indicator Plug-In
        • Trading Simplified by Dave Landry
        • Trend Investor Pro Indicator Edge
    • Other Charting Tools
      • P&F Charts
      • GalleryView
      • Seasonality Charts
      • CandleGlance Charts
      • MarketCarpets
      • Interactive PerfCharts
      • RRG Charts
      • Dynamic Yield Curve
    • Research Tools
      • Symbol Summary
      • Options Summary
        • OptionsPlay Explorer
      • OptionsPlay Strategy Center
      • Market Summary
      • Sector Summary
      • Industry Summary
      • Index Members
      • StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) Reports
      • Earnings Calendar
      • Cryptocurrency Summary
    • Reports and Galleries
      • The Ticker Cloud
      • Historical Chart Gallery
      • Predefined Scan Results
        • Customizing Predefined Scans
      • Predefined Technical Alerts
      • DecisionPoint Chart Gallery
      • Public ChartLists
        • Becoming a Public ChartList Author
      • SharpCharts Voyeur
  • Scanning & Alerts
    • Technical Scans
      • Scanning for Stocks: The Basics
      • Advanced Scan Workbench
      • Standard Scan Workbench
      • Working With Scan Results
    • Scan Writing Resource Center
      • Planning Scans
      • Writing Scans
      • Scanning Tutorials
        • Scan Workbench Tutorial
        • Scan Results Tutorial 1
        • Scan Results Tutorial 2
        • Writing Scans Tutorial 1
        • Writing Scans Tutorial 2
        • Creating Scan Templates Tutorial
        • Troubleshooting Scans Tutorial 1
        • Troubleshooting Scans Tutorial 2
        • Troubleshooting Scans Tutorial 3
      • Scanning Case Studies
        • Scanning for Crossovers
        • Scanning for "Near Crosses"
        • Scanning for Divergences
        • Scanning for Relative Strength
        • Scanning for Consolidation and Breakouts
        • Scanning for Selling Climaxes
        • Scanning for SCTRs
        • Scanning Ichimoku Clouds
        • Scanning for P&F Chart Patterns
        • Scanning Your ChartLists
        • Scanning for an Overlay of an Indicator
        • Writing Min/Max Scans
        • Writing Percent Change Scans
        • Scanning Over a Range of Dates
        • Writing Scans With OR Clauses
      • Troubleshooting Scans
        • Troubleshooting Equality Scans
      • Getting Help With Scans
      • Scan Syntax Reference
        • Scan Syntax: Ticker Properties
        • Scan Syntax: Price, Volume, and SCTRs
        • Scan Syntax: Technical Indicators
        • Scan Syntax: Technical Functions
        • Scan Syntax: Predefined Patterns
        • Scan Syntax: Groups
      • Advanced Scan Library
        • Sample Scans
        • Predefined Scans
        • Published Scans
        • User-Contributed Scans
        • Gord Greer's Scan Building Blocks
    • Technical Alerts
      • Technical Alert Workbench
      • Your Alerts
  • Your Account
    • Subscribing to StockCharts
    • Service Levels & Data Plans
    • Login & Passwords
    • Your Account Settings
    • Managing Your Subscription
      • Cancelling Your Account
    • StockCharts Add-Ons
      • OptionsPlay Add-On
  • Learning More
    • Market Commentary
      • Blogs
      • ChartWatchers Newsletter
      • StockCharts TV
    • Educational Resources
    • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
    • Step-By-Step Instructions
      • SharpCharts How-Tos
        • SharpCharts Workbench How-Tos
          • How to Print a SharpChart
          • How to Share a SharpChart on Social Media
          • How to Email a SharpChart
          • How to Insert a SharpChart in a Document or Presentation
          • How to View Indicator and Overlay Values for Specific Days
          • How to Save a SharpChart
        • SharpChart Editing How-Tos
          • How To Use The Interactive Date Slider
          • How to Display More than One Symbol on a SharpChart
          • How to Create Overlaid Charts
          • How to Add an Overlay to an Indicator
          • How to Add a Moving Average to the Volume Bars on a Chart
        • ChartNotes How-Tos
          • How to Pin an Annotation on a SharpChart
          • How to Save a Chart from a Blog Article with the Author's Annotations
        • ChartList How-Tos
          • How to Use the ChartList Summary
          • How to Search for a Saved Chart in Your ChartLists
          • How to Share a ChartList with Another Member
        • ChartList Editing How-Tos
          • How to Create a New ChartList
          • How to Add Predefined Symbol Groups to a New ChartList
          • How to Add Predefined Groups into an Existing ChartList
          • How to Upload Symbols to a ChartList from a Spreadsheet
          • How to Rearrange Charts in a ChartList
          • How to Delete a Saved Chart from a ChartList
      • StockChartsACP How-Tos
        • Setting Period, Type And, Range
        • Chart Attributes
          • Part One
          • Part Two
        • Sharing And Printing
        • Saving Charts
          • Saving A New Chart
          • Saving An Existing Chart As New
        • Chart Templates
          • Applying Predefined Chart Templates
          • Saving A New Chart Template
        • Using ChartLists
          • Creating A New ChartList
        • Chart Layouts
          • Accessing Chart Layouts
          • Creating A New Custom Layout
        • Additional Tools
          • Accessing Research Tools
    • Troubleshooting
      • Unable to Log In
      • Website Slow or Down
        • Using OpenDNS
      • Website Functionality Issues
    • Customer Support
    • Policies & Limitations
      • Terms of Service
      • Privacy Statement
      • No Service Level Guarantees
      • Data Policies
      • Usage Limitations
      • Reprint Permission Policies
      • Billing Policies
      • Membership Policies
      • Public ChartList Policies
      • Customer Support Policies
Powered by GitBook
LogoLogo

ON STOCKCHARTS

  • Charts & Tools
  • Articles
  • StockCharts TV
  • ChartSchool

MEMBERS

  • Your Dashboard
  • Your ChartLists
  • Advanced Scans
  • Technical Alerts

HELP

  • Support Center
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us
  • Pricing

COMPANY

  • About Us
  • What's New
  • Careers
  • StockCharts Store

© StockCharts.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On this page
  • Defining the Universe
  • Refining with Technical Conditions
  • Watching for a Signal
  • Choosing Conditions and Signals
  • Additional Resources

Was this helpful?

Export as PDF
  1. Scanning & Alerts
  2. Scan Writing Resource Center

Planning Scans

PreviousScan Writing Resource CenterNextWriting Scans

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

Before you write a scan to find stocks in our scan engine, you must decide what kind of stocks you are looking for. Taking the time to plan your scan will pay off in more targeted and actionable scan results.

A robust scan has three main parts:

  • Defining the universe. Which group of stocks or ETFs are you willing to invest in? This comprises your “universe” of securities.

  • Refining the universe with technical conditions. What technical indicator setup would interest you in watching a particular stock?

  • Watching for a signal. What change in indicator values would make you want to buy that stock today?

Defining the Universe

If you're only interested in S&P 500 stocks, mutual funds, or London stocks, then there's no sense in searching the tens of thousands of stocks in our scan engine. Instead, limit your universe to only the groups of stocks that you would potentially invest in.

Using our scan engine syntax, you can restrict your search criteria to certain types of securities (e.g., stocks, ETFs, mutual funds), certain exchanges or countries, members of specific index groups (e.g., Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Nasdaq 100), certain sectors or industries and more. You can also define your universe using basic price and volume information, such as Canadian stocks that averaged at least $10 in price and 40,000 in volume over the last 60 trading days.

Placing these kinds of universe-defining statements at the beginning of your scan not only limits the results to a more manageable size, but has the added benefit of speeding up your scan. If your scan only searches the 400 stocks in the S&P 400, it will run much faster than if it is searching the thousands of stocks in our database.

Cool Tip. If you use the same universe-defining criteria in scan after scan, put those criteria in a saved scan so you can quickly call them up each time you create a new scan. See our article in the Support Center for step-by-step instructions.

Refining with Technical Conditions

In addition to specifying the general group of stocks to search, you can add technical requirements that further limit your universe.

For example, if you are looking for stocks where the bigger trend is up, you want your scan only to find stocks that are in a longer-term uptrend. You could require price to be above the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and/or the 50-day SMA to be above the 200-day SMA, conditions usually true when a stock is in an uptrend.

You may also want to add conditions to ensure the stock hasn't already made its big move. For example, you could add a technical condition limiting your results to stocks where the PPO is less than 1%. Higher PPO values usually indicate that a big move has already taken place and it is no longer a good time to buy.

Watching for a Signal

Once you've defined your universe of stocks and the technical conditions that must be present, you may still be left with many stocks in your scan results. More importantly, these stocks may have met your criteria for weeks or months. How do you know you want to invest in a stock right now? That's where signals come in.

A signal indicates something that is happening today (not yesterday or last week or last month) that tells you now is the right time to buy. Unlike other scan criteria, which just checks whether the stock met the requirements or not, the signal adds a time component, in order to check whether the stock just started meeting the criteria today.

This is usually accomplished with crossover scan criteria, such as MACD crossing above zero or price crossing above its 50-day SMA. A stock doesn't cross over a threshold over the course of weeks or months; it crosses over on a certain day, signaling that it is time to buy.

Choosing Conditions and Signals

How do you decide which conditions and signals to use in your scan? Our recommendation is to study charts for stocks that you wish you'd invested in.

To start with, identify the timeframe where you would like to have purchased a particular stock. Next, look at several indicators for the stock to see what the indicator values were doing during that buy timeframe. If an indicator behaves consistently across your charts during that timeframe, then that may make a good technical condition to refine your universe. For example, if most of your charts show the PMO rising during their buy timeframe, you may want to add that condition to your scan.

Next, look for crossover signals that happen during the buy timeframe on your charts. If an indicator consistently crosses a certain threshold during that timeframe, then that crossover is a potential signal. Building on our example above, if the PMO crosses its signal line during the buy timeframe on many of your charts, you may want to use that as the signal for your scan.

A final note about choosing conditions and signals: beware of multicollinearity. If you scan for multiple indicators that all measure momentum, it may skew your perception of how strong the momentum really is for the stocks in your results. It's better to use no more than one indicator per category in your scan.

Additional Resources

Reference Guides

Articles

Videos

Learn More.

Now that you know what you want to include in your scan, learn how to build your scan in the .

Scan Templates
Advanced Scan Workbench
Scan Syntax Reference
Create Scan Templates
Multicollinearity