Choosing The Perfect Online Stock Screener
 

Kenneth J. Dickson

Utilizing A Stock Screener

Online stock screeners are a great place to start when researching stocks. You should use this tool as well as a few other free ones that I will go over in a second.

There are two different types of stock screeners. These go with the two different types of stock analysis. Technical and fundamental.

As I always say, I am a technical investor. So, I use and recommend using a technical online stock screener.

However, these are more advanced and you may want to start with a...

Fundamental Stock Screener

You can also use a fundamental stock screener.

This is of course a tool used by fundamental investors.

There are many more fundamental stock screeners available than there are technical stock screeners.

While technical analysis focuses on stock price and volume, the fundamental screeners let you search for stocks with attributes such as price per value ratio, industry, or market capitalization. As well as the hundreds of other things you can search for. This is a more passive approach to investing, one that many Americans have chosen to use.

If you are more of a fundamental investor, which many investors are, you have a vast array of options as far as an online stock screener. I recommend finding a great one and sticking with it. I have heard good things about the screener at MSN Money.

Technical Screeners

When looking at a technical screener, you must come to the perfect middle ground with the tightness of your search. The more general your search, the more stocks you will get back. When you go tighter you will get less results. But these results may be exactly what you are looking for.

I have found a great technical stock screener. I have not found anything else that even compares. Best of all, it's free. For custom searches, you will have to pay for a membership, though. Without further ado... my choice.

My favorite scans to look up are ADX, MACD, and RSI. I look at these results. Then plug each stock into a stock chart.

You may not understand exactly what those searches pull up. I just wanted to get across to you that you can get started today for free. I know I'm leading you to a lot of external pages. But one more to check out. After you you find your perfect stock, buy that stock with pretend money with paper trading.

Try This Strategy For Yourself

Well, that's the basic strategy I used when getting started. From there, you may want to sign up for a membership to get custom stock scans. And eventually trade with real money.

I feel like I have explained the basics of stock screeners to you, as well as how to use a few other useful tools. Remember, practice, practice, practice and eventually you will be able to spot price patterns immediately and trade with much more confidence.

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