Page 442 - THE MARKET WHISPERER

438 PART 12 - Choosing a Winner Stock

As you see, the window is divided into columns, each of which shows a
list of stocks with the relevant criteria:

(1) NASD Gain – 20 strongest NASDAQ stocks
(2) NASD Loss – 20 weakest NASDAQ stocks
(3) NYSE Gain – 20 strongest on the New York Stock Exchange
(4) NYSE Loss – 20 weakest on the New York Stock Exchange

Every few seconds, the scanner executes a data update, so that any
particular stock may be replaced by any other. Displayed data can also be
filtered to suit your individual requirements. If your trading platform does
not display these details, you can find the information gratis on a number
of financial sites constantly updated in real time, such as searching Google
for stock gainers and losers, and choosing the site you find most comfortable
to use.

Using Special Stock Screening Platforms

Most traders who use special stock screening platforms are assisted by
programs geared to locating them at the end of the trading day. Very few
use them for intraday searches.

A wide range of stock screening platforms are available. Some are
Internet freebies and others can be purchased for anything from hundreds
to thousands of dollars along with a monthly fee. Paid programs are
generally geared toward professional traders.

Two useful sites are www.stockfetcher.com and www.finviz.com, and
both provide free basic services and paid advanced services.

How Does the Scanner Work?
A stock scanner for the end of the trading day is based on an analysis

of trading data for the entire stock market. This data includes the opening
and closing prices of every stock, its low and high, and its volume.

To locate suitable stocks, you need to conduct a search. First, you must
define the program’s scan parameters. For example: if you want to trade
only in stocks with high volumes, activate a filter that displays stocks with
average daily volumes over the past month of more than one million shares.
An additional filter may display stocks whose volumes increased over the
number of days that you specify. You can set the program to focus only on
stocks that on the previous day showed double their average daily volume
over the past month. An additional filter could be applied for identifying