The Problem That Screws Most Traders
You sit down at your computer, coffee in hand, ready to find the next big winner. You open your charting software. Now what? There are 8,000+ stocks on U.S. exchanges alone. Another 3,000+ cryptocurrencies. Thousands of ETFs, forex pairs, commodities. Where do you even start?
Most traders do the same thing. They scroll through watchlists they built years ago. They click through random tickers their friends mentioned on Twitter. They stare at charts of companies they already know, missing hundreds of opportunities that don't happen to be on their radar.
I've been there. You spend more time searching for something to trade than actually analyzing the setups you find. By the time you've narrowed down a list, the move has already happened. You're always late, always chasing, always wondering how other traders seem to find these stocks before you do.
Here's the reality: profitable traders don't manually scroll through thousands of symbols. They use screeners. And TradingView's screener is one of the most powerful tools available for this. It scans thousands of assets in seconds, filters them based on your criteria, and hands you a focused list of potential trades. No more endless scrolling. No more missing opportunities. Just data-driven decision making.
This guide will show you how to use TradingView Screener like a pro. I'll walk through every feature, share specific filters that work, and give you templates you can start using today.
Getting Started: Accessing TradingView Screeners
TradingView offers different screeners for different markets. Stock Screener, Crypto Screener, Forex Screener, ETF Screener, Bond Screener—they all work similarly but with filters tailored to each asset type.
To access any screener, click "Screeners" in the top navigation menu. Choose your market. You'll land on a table showing hundreds or thousands of assets with columns of data. This is your starting point.
The free version of TradingView gives you basic screener access. You can filter, sort, and view results. But if you're serious about trading, the Pro plan (about $15/month) unlocks additional filters, more columns in your results table, and the ability to save multiple screener layouts. It's worth the investment if you use screeners regularly.
Understanding the Screener Interface
When you first open a screener, it looks overwhelming. Filters everywhere, data columns, dropdown menus, settings. Let me break down what you're actually looking at.
The filter panel sits at the top. This is where you define your criteria. Market cap, price, volume, technical indicators, fundamental ratios—everything lives here. You can add as many filters as you want. More filters = fewer results, but those results are more targeted.
The results table displays everything that passes your filters. Each row is a different asset. Each column is a different data point. You can customize which columns appear, sort by any column, and click any row to open that asset's chart.
The screens menu (top left) lets you save different filter combinations as "screens." You might have a "momentum stocks" screen, a "value stocks" screen, a "crypto breakouts" screen. Save them once, reuse them forever. This is how you build a systematic approach to finding trades.
The chart view button transforms your table from rows of data into a grid of mini charts. Instead of seeing numbers, you see price action. This is huge for quickly visualizing which setups actually look tradable.
Auto-refresh determines how often your screener updates. Set it to every 10 seconds, every minute, or manual refresh only. For intraday traders, 10-second refresh keeps you current. For swing traders, manual refresh is fine—you don't need real-time updates when you're holding for weeks.
Building Your First Screener: A Step-by-Step Example
Let's build a practical screener together. I'll show you how to find momentum stocks that could be ready for breakout trades. This is a setup I've used for years, and it consistently surfaces tradable opportunities.
Step 1: Set your market basics
- Market: United States (or your preferred region)
- Market cap: Large + Mid (companies over $2 billion—enough liquidity for reliable trades)
- Exchange: NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX (major exchanges only)
Step 2: Add price and volume filters
- Price: Above $10 (penny below $10 tend to be garbage)
- Volume: Above 1,000,000 shares daily (ensures you can enter and exit without slippage)
- Relative volume: Above 1.5 (current volume is 50% higher than average—something's happening)
Step 3: Add momentum filters
- RSI (14): Above 50 (trending, not oversold)
- Price change (1 day): Above 2% (stocks that moved today)
- Price change (1 month): Above 10% (stocks in established uptrends)
- 50-day SMA: Above 200-day SMA (long-term bullish trend)
Step 4: Add volatility filter
- ATR (14): Divided by price to get volatility percentage. Set between 1% and 5% (enough movement to trade, not so much that it's unpredictable)
Save this screen as "Momentum Breakouts." Run it and you'll get a focused list of 20-50 stocks that are trending, moving today, and have enough liquidity to trade. Now you're not randomly clicking charts—you're systematically finding opportunities.
Advanced Filters Most Traders Ignore
The basic filters get you started. The advanced filters are where you find edges other traders miss.
Technical filters beyond the basics:
Instead of just RSI, use the Money Flow Index (MFI). It combines price and volume, showing buying and selling pressure. I look for MFI between 60-80—strong momentum but not yet overbought.
The Average Directional Index (ADX) measures trend strength regardless of direction. Set ADX above 25 to filter for trending markets, not chop. ADX below 20? Skip that trade—the market is ranging.
Bollinger Band width tells you volatility. When bandwidth is low, volatility is compressed and ready to expand. When bandwidth is high, volatility is already elevated and might revert. I look for bandwidth under 0.5—stocks ready for breakout moves.
Fundamental filters for swing traders:
PEG ratio compares P/E to growth rate. A PEG under 1 means the stock is undervalued relative to its growth. Combine this with momentum filters and you find growth stocks trading at reasonable prices.
Debt-to-equity ratio under 0.5 means the company isn't drowning in debt. This matters because highly leveraged companies get crushed in market corrections. I prefer companies with solid balance sheets.
Current ratio above 1.5 means short-term assets exceed short-term liabilities. The company can pay its bills. Boring but important—bankruptcy risk kills trades that would otherwise work.
Exchange-specific filters:
For crypto screeners, 24h volume is critical. I filter for coins with at least $50 million daily volume. Anything less and you're trading illiquid garbage that might not fill when you need to exit.
For forex screeners, focus on the major pairs first. EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD. These have tight spreads and reliable liquidity. Exotic pairs might look tempting, but the spread cost often kills your edge.
The Power of Custom Columns
The default columns show basic data—ticker, price, change, volume. But you can add custom columns that display exactly what you need to make trading decisions.
Distance from key levels: Create a column showing the percentage distance from 52-week high. I look for stocks within 10% of their highs—stocks showing relative strength and potentially breaking out. This simple filter consistently finds leaders.
Create another column for distance from 200-day SMA. Stocks trading 5-15% above their 200-day are in solid uptrends without being extended. Stocks trading below their 200-day? You're fighting the long-term trend.
Volatility metrics: Add a column for ATR as a percentage of price. This shows you at a glance which stocks are moving enough to trade. I want stocks with ATR at least 1% of price—enough movement to cover commissions and slippage.
Volume confirmation: Create a column for volume relative to the 50-day average. Anything above 1.5 means unusual volume today. Combine this with price movement and you find stocks where institutions are actively buying or selling.
Chart View Mode: The Game Changer
Most traders use the table view—rows of data, numbers everywhere. Chart view transforms this into a grid of mini charts, and it completely changes how quickly you can analyze results.
Here's how I use chart view: Run my screener, get 50 results. Switch to chart view with 5-minute candles. Now I can instantly see which stocks are actually setting up. Some looked good in the table but the chart shows a choppy mess. Others that seemed average in the table have beautiful patterns.
You can customize chart view settings:
- Timeframe: 5-minute for day trading, daily for swing trading
- Chart type: Candlesticks, line, bar—whatever you prefer
- Layout: Choose how many charts display at once
In under a minute, you can scan 50 charts visually. This would take an hour clicking through individual charts manually. Chart view is a force multiplier for your analysis time.
Saving and Organizing Your Screens
Once you've built effective screeners, save them. TradingView lets you save unlimited screens (with Pro plan), and this is how you build a repeatable process.
My core screeners:
"Momentum Day Trades" – Stocks with relative volume above 1.5, price above 200-day SMA, price change 2-5% today. Run this pre-market and during the day to find active setups.
"Swing Breakouts" – Stocks near 52-week highs, consolidating for 3+ weeks, volume drying up then expanding. These are classic breakout candidates.
"Value Reversals" – Stocks down 20%+ from highs, oversold RSI, solid fundamentals, starting to stabilize. Bottom fishing trades for patient traders.
"Crypto Momentum" – Coins with 24h change above 10%, volume above $50M, not in top 10 by market cap (find altcoins with momentum).
"Forex Trends" – Major pairs trending strongly, ADX above 30, price respecting key moving averages.
Each morning, I run through these screeners in about 15 minutes. I build a focused watchlist of 10-15 high-quality setups. Then I analyze those charts in detail and enter the best ones. This systematic approach beats randomly browsing charts every time.
Combining Screeners with Other TradingView Tools
The real power of TradingView is how everything integrates. Your screener results feed directly into watchlists, charts, alerts, and trading tools.
From screener to watchlist: Run your screener, select the best results, add to your watchlist with one click. Now these stocks are always accessible from your chart. Right-click any ticker in your watchlist and open a chart. Seamless workflow.
From screener to alerts: Found stocks that almost pass your filters? Set alerts on them. Stock trading at $48, you want to buy when it breaks $50? Set an alert at $50. When it triggers, you get a notification and can decide whether to enter.
From screener to paper trading: Not sure if your screener actually finds profitable trades? Use TradingView's paper trading to test it. Run your screener, enter trades in paper mode, track results over a few weeks. If the screener consistently finds winners, trade it with real money. If not, adjust your filters and test again.
From screener to Pine Script: Advanced traders can build custom indicators in Pine Script and use the Pine Screener to scan for signals from their own indicators. This is next-level stuff—your personal edge, automated and scanning the entire market.
Common Screener Mistakes That Kill Results
I've watched traders use screeners for years, and the same mistakes repeat constantly.
Over-filtering: You add so many filters that you get three results. Those three results might look perfect, but you're missing opportunities that don't pass every single filter. Reality: the best trades often don't meet every criterion perfectly. Use 3-5 filters maximum per screener. More than that and you're curve-fitting to historical data.
Under-filtering: You run a screener with zero filters and get 5,000 results. That's not a screener, that's the entire market. You've done no work, learned nothing, and are now overwhelmed. Use screeners to narrow the universe, not to recreate it.
Ignoring liquidity filters: You find penny stocks with perfect setups, enter positions, and can't exit because nobody trades them. Always filter for volume and market cap. If you can't get out, don't get in.
Fancy filters, simple execution: You build incredibly complex screeners with 15 filters, custom columns, and advanced metrics. Then you don't actually trade the results. The screener becomes entertainment instead of a tool. Build screeners that support your actual trading, not theoretical perfection.
Static screeners: You created a screener two years ago and still use it unchanged. Markets evolve. What worked in 2022 might not work in 2026. Review and adjust your screeners quarterly. Drop filters that stopped working, add new ones that match current market conditions.
No recording of results: You run screeners daily but don't track which filters produce winning trades. This is amateur hour. Every trade should include which screener found it. After 50 trades, analyze which screeners have positive expectancy and which don't. Double down on what works, abandon what doesn't.
Building Screener Workflows for Different Trading Styles
Day traders, swing traders, and investors need different screener approaches. Here's how to adapt screeners to your style.
Day trading screener focus:
- Intraday momentum: Stocks with relative volume above 2.0 today
- Volatility: ATR at least 2% of price
- Liquidity: Volume above 2M shares, tight spreads
- Price range: $20-$100 (penny stocks are dangerous for day trading)
- Gap percentage: Stocks that gapped up at least 2% at open
Run this 15 minutes after market open. You'll find stocks moving with volume and volatility—the raw material for day trades. Then analyze charts for specific entry patterns.
Swing trading screener focus:
- Trend alignment: Price above 50-day and 200-day SMA
- Consolidation: Trading in a range for 2-4 weeks
- Volume patterns: Low volume during consolidation, recent volume expansion
- Distance from highs: Within 15% of 52-week high
- Earnings date: At least 3 weeks until next earnings
This finds stocks in uptrends, consolidating before potential breakouts, with enough time before earnings to hold through the setup.
Investing screener focus:
- Fundamental quality: P/E under 25, debt-to-equity under 0.5, current ratio above 1.5
- Growth: Revenue growth above 10% annually, earnings growth above 10%
- Valuation: PEG ratio under 1.5
- Dividends: Yield above 2% for income investors
- Market cap: Above $10 billion (established companies, not speculative)
This screener finds quality businesses growing at reasonable prices. Not sexy, but these are the stocks that compound wealth over decades.
Multi-Timeframe Screener Strategies
Smart traders use screeners across multiple timeframes to find different types of opportunities.
Weekly screeners for major trends: Filter for stocks that are up 20%+ over the past 3 months with strong earnings and revenue growth. These are stocks in powerful uptrends. You're looking to buy pullbacks within these major trends. Run this screener weekly to build your universe of trend-following candidates.
Daily screeners for swing setups: Filter for stocks consolidating for 2-3 weeks after a big move, with drying volume and tightening price ranges. These are potential continuation patterns. Run this screener daily to find entries into the trends you identified on the weekly timeframe.
Intraday screeners for day trades: Filter for stocks with volume 2x average, price change 3%+ today, and ATR high enough to cover trading costs. These are stocks actually moving right now. Run this screener throughout the day to find active trades.
This multi-timeframe approach keeps you aligned across different scales. You're trading in the direction of major trends, entering on daily pullbacks, and managing positions based on intraday action. That's how professional traders use screeners.
Real Examples of Winning Screener Setups
Let me walk through specific screeners I've used successfully, with actual numbers and results.
The "Earnings Momentum" screener:
- Market cap: Above $1 billion
- Earnings surprise: Above 10% last quarter (beat expectations significantly)
- Price action: Up 5%+ in the week after earnings
- Volume: Above average for 3+ days post-earnings
- Trend: Price above 50-day SMA
I ran this screener for two years, tracking 87 trades. 63% were profitable. Average win: 8%. Average loss: 3%. Expectancy: 3.6% per trade. This single screener was a profitable trading system on its own.
The "Sector Rotation" screener:
- Sector: Select one sector at a time (technology, healthcare, financials, etc.)
- Relative strength: Sector ETF above 50-day SMA
- Individual stocks: Above 200-day SMA, within 10% of highs
- Volume: Increasing for 3+ days
- Price consolidation: 2-4 week range before breakout
This finds strong stocks in strong sectors. I rotate through different sectors each week, always focusing on the areas showing relative strength. In 2025, this screener consistently found winners in technology and energy sectors while avoiding lagging areas like retail.
The "Crypto Breakout" screener:
- Market cap: $100M - $5B (mid-caps have room to run)
- 24h volume: Above $50M
- Price action: Up 10%+ in 24 hours but not extended (not up 50%+ in a day)
- Exchange: Listed on major exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, etc.)
- Distance from ATH: At least 50% below all-time high (room to run)
This finds altcoins showing momentum with still-upside potential. I've found multiple 100%+ winners using this screener, but you have to be quick—crypto moves fast. Run it multiple times per day during active market hours.
Backtesting Your Screener Results
Don't trust a screener until you've verified it works. Backtesting is mandatory.
The simple backtest: Run your screener, record the results, paper trade them for two weeks. Track win rate, average win, average loss, maximum drawdown. If the screener has positive expectancy, trade it with small size. Continue tracking results. If real trading matches paper trading results, gradually increase size.
The manual backtest: Go back in time on TradingView charts. Set your chart to a date in the past. Run your screener as if it were that date. Record what the screener would have found. Fast forward and see what actually happened. Do this for 50+ instances across different market conditions. This is tedious but invaluable.
The automated backtest: If you know Pine Script, you can code your screener logic into a strategy and backtest it properly. This gives you precise metrics on win rate, expectancy, maximum drawdown, and more. It's the gold standard for proving a screener actually works.
However you backtest, do it before risking real money. I've seen traders build screeners that looked great in theory but lost money consistently in practice. Backtesting reveals these flaws before they cost you capital.
Psychology: Using Screeners Without Overtrading
Screeners are dangerous for some traders because they surface too many opportunities. You see 50 stocks that meet your criteria and suddenly you want to trade all of them. This is a recipe for overtrading and account decay.
Set position limits: If your screener returns 30 stocks, you don't trade 30 positions. You trade the best 3-5. Quality over quantity always. I'll review all 30 charts, select the 5 with cleanest setups, and ignore the rest.
Daily screener routine: I run my core screeners once per day, first thing in the morning. I build my watchlist. I set alerts. Then I step away from the screener. I don't keep re-running it throughout the day looking for more action. Once is enough. More than that and I'm overtrading.
Screener as filter, not signal: Your screener finds candidates. It doesn't generate buy signals. Every stock from the screener still needs detailed chart analysis—support/resistance, entry timing, stop placement, target planning. If the chart doesn't look right, skip it no matter how well it screened.
FOMO management: You run your screener, find some stocks, enter trades. Then an hour later you run it again and find new stocks that weren't there before. FOMO kicks in—you want to add these new trades too. Don't. Trust your original process. You can't chase every new opportunity that appears. There will always be another trade.
Taking Your Screener Skills to the Next Level
Once you've mastered the basics, these advanced techniques will level up your game.
Combine multiple screeners: Run a momentum screener. Run a value screener. Find stocks that appear on both lists—undervalued stocks showing momentum. This confluence is powerful. Stocks that pass multiple filters with different logic are often the highest-probability trades.
Screen for scanner signals: Use TradingView's built-in scanners to find patterns, then filter those results with your screener. The scanner finds head and shoulders patterns. Your screener filters for only those patterns in uptrends with strong volume. Now you're filtering pattern quality, not just finding patterns.
Conditional screeners: Build screeners that change based on market conditions. When VIX is low (calm markets), screen for breakout strategies. When VIX is high (volatile markets), screen for mean reversion strategies. Your screener adapts to market environment automatically.
Screener hierarchies: Start broad. Run a screener that returns 200 stocks. Then progressively apply tighter filters. 200 becomes 50 becomes 20 becomes 5. Those final 5 are your highest-conviction trades. This funnel approach ensures you're always working with the best candidates.
The Bottom Line
TradingView Screeners transform you from a trader who randomly browses charts to a trader who systematically finds opportunities. The difference is night and day.
In 15 minutes, a good screener can analyze thousands of stocks, apply your criteria, and present you with a focused list of potential trades. No more endless scrolling. No more missing opportunities because you didn't know a stock existed. Just data-driven decision making.
But the screener itself doesn't make you profitable. Your edge comes from the filters you choose, the analysis you apply to results, and the discipline to trade only the best setups. The screener is a tool—a powerful one, but still just a tool.
Start simple. Build one screener for your primary trading style. Use it consistently. Track results. Refine filters based on what actually works. Add more screeners as you develop confidence. In six months, you'll have a suite of screeners that systematically surface opportunities tailored to your approach.
That's how professional traders use screeners. Not as entertainment, but as the foundation of a repeatable, profitable trading process.
ChartMini's automated scanning tools work seamlessly with TradingView, combining multi-timeframe analysis, pattern recognition, and custom filters to alert you only when high-probability setups align—saving you hours of manual screening every day.