All RTS products use the same List Filter. Our List Filter is one of our most powerful yet easy to use features. It works for all Hotlist and Scan Modules to narrow the candidates down into a more manageable one, like 3 to 15 stocks.
For example, a day trader only want to trade stocks satisfying the following conditions: daily trading volume larger than 800,000 shares, stock price greater than $30 (considered a high price for this market), a higher closing price than yesterday's high (selecting for upwards-trending stocks), trading volume 200% the average trading volume (selecting for relatively large increases). If this day trader uses a different method to find stocks satisfying these requirements, it will most likely take a very long time to find this information. However, using RTS, it may take only ten to twenty seconds to set these criteria and find the stocks.
Furthermore, it is very easy to make changes to the criteria. If the results seen after filtering are too few in number, one can relax the criteria; if the results seen after filtering are too many in number, one can tighten the criteria. For example, if there are too many results after filtering, one could change the stock price from $15 to $30 or change the daily volume form 200,000 shares to 800,000 shares. Below is a detailed explanation of the various criteria settings and usage instructions.
Table: List Filter
- Average Volume (Avg Vol) Greater/Less Than
"Avg Volume" is the average volume calculated over the previous thirty days. This helps the user focus on stocks with relatively high trading volumes, neglecting the less profitable stocks with lower volumes. This can also be set to a range of volumes, such as "greater than 300,000" but "less than 5,000,000." For most investors, we recommend that this value be held greater than 300,000.
- Vol / Avg Vol Greater Than
"Vol / Avg Vol Greater Than" filters out stocks whose intraday trading volume accumulated from open is larger than the average trading volume of the same interval during the past five days.
It is one of the most powerful and useful filtering options, identifying stocks which undergo large increases in trading volume. When an investor buys or sells a large amount of a certain stock, the stock price will change. If many people all buy a stock, the stock price will rise; if many people sell, the price will fall. Using this filtering option allows users to easily determine if there is a correlation between an upwards trend and an increase in volume. If there is such a correlation, it is most likely that the upwards trend will persist for awhile. we recommend that this filtering option be set between 150% and 200%, representing a 50% to 100% increase over average trading volumes.
- Vol / Avg Vol Less Than
"Vol / Avg Vol less Than" filters out stocks whose intraday trading volume accumulated from open is less than the average trading volume of the same interval during the past five days.
Sudden decreases in trading volume do not necessarily mean that the volume will not increase later, but rather that the stock may rebound at a later time. Also, because the stock's trends are not immediately obvious, overbought or oversold indicators (e.g. Stochastics, RSI, MFI) may be used in conjunction to determine if they are potentially profitable stocks.
- Option
This function is good for trader who like to trader options.
- Open
The "Open" option shows only stocks whose opening price is inside or outside the previous day's range. If "Inside" is selected, only stocks whose opening price is lower than the previous day's daily high and higher than the previous day's daily low will be allowed through the filter. If "Outside" is selected, only stocks whose opening price is higher than the previous day's daily high or lower than the previous day's daily low will be allowed through the filter.
- Gap
The "Gap" option identifies stocks that have experienced a gap (either up or down) on the current day. The size of the gap (in either dollar amount or percentage) can also be used to filter stocks further.
- Price Greater/Less Than
The settings on the "Price Greater/Less Than" option depends largely on the user's preference of stock type and stock price. Since most users would like to have a range of at least $0.25 to $0.50 in price. For most day traders, try price >$20.
- Last-Yesterday Close (Last-Yest. Close)
"Last-Yest. Close" filters out stocks based on the difference between the current price and the previous day's closing price. This filtering option helps the user find potentially-profitable stocks with a large price change from the previous day's close, as well as stocks with small price changes to lower the potential risk. For example, a day trader who wants a price difference of greater than $0.50 should select "GT 0.50 Dollars," while a day trader who wants a price difference less than $1.00 should select "LT 1.0 Dollars."
- Above Previous Daily High By
The "Above Previous Daily High By" filtering option selects only stocks whose current price is greater than the previous day's daily high by a prescribed amount. If set to 0, all stocks whose current price is higher than yesterday's daily high are displayed; if set to .25, all stocks whose current price is $0.25 higher than yesterday's daily high are displayed. If one believes that today's daily high will be higher than the previous day's daily high, this value should be set to -.10 (negative $0.10).
- Below Previous Daily Low By
The "Below Previous Daily Low By" filtering option selects only stocks whose current price is lower than the previous day's daily low by a prescribed amount. If set to 0, all stocks whose current price is lower than yesterday's daily low are displayed; if set to .25, all stocks whose current price is $0.25 lower than yesterday's daily low are displayed. If one believes that today's daily low will be lower than the previous day's daily low, this value should be set to +.10 (positive $0.10).
- First N 5 Minute Bar
The "First N 5 Minute Bar" is another powerful RTS filtering option that can identify stocks that suddenly trend upwards. For example, many traders enter the market immediately when the current price is greater than the current 15-minute high. Such a trader would input "15 minutes" into the above field. Although users can enter a time intervals, intervals of 15, 30 minutes are most typical. In particular, since fluctuations in stock price are largest immediately after the market opens, setting this field to 30 minutes can help identify potentially profitable transaction immediately following the initial unstable period. This feature is also useful during the second half of the trading session. If the stock price during the second half is outside the price range of the first 30 minutes after opening, it is more likely that there will be a new daily high or daily low. This consideration is very important in determining whether or not to enter the market during the second half of the trading session. RTS typically recommends intervals of 15, 30, or 60 minutes, using "Above" when trading call options and using "Below" when selling short.
- High/Low of Last X Days
The "High/Low of Last X Days" filtering option is useful for discovering stocks that have achieved new highs or new lows. For example, to find stocks that have achieved a three-day high, "GT" and "3" should be input in the selected fields. Similarly, "LT" and "5" should be input to find stocks that have achieved a five-day low.
- Moving Average (MA) Scans
There are many ways to use "Moving Average Scan" filtering options. For example, one can use the option to search for stocks whose stock charts exhibit upwards or downwards trends. When a stock's price is grater than its 10, 20, 50, or 200-day moving average, its tendency upwards is clear. This feature helps identify the strongest and weakest stocks in a particular market. Many traders tend to trade stocks which have just past their 50-day moving average. To identify stocks which satisfy this criterion, that trader would check "UP" and “50” in the appropriate fields to find stocks whose previous day's closing price is less than the 50-day moving average and last closing price is greater than the 50-day moving average. Of course, the trader can select a different number of days for the moving average calculating if so desired.
- ADTR-Average day true range:
This setting can let you find stocks that have been very volatile or have rested for the last few days and may be ready for explosive moves. For example, if you want to find stocks that have moved $8 or more in the last 3 days select Range GT (Greater Than) $8 in last 3 days.
