Stock Scanner FAQ: Everything Traders Ask
Below are the questions traders actually ask about stock scanners — pulled from search data and real conversations. No marketing, no fluff.
What is a stock scanner?
A stock scanner watches a universe of tickers in real time and surfaces the ones meeting specific conditions — price moves, volume spikes, indicator crosses, breakouts. It's different from a screener: a screener takes a static snapshot; a scanner watches and alerts.
What's the difference between a stock scanner and a screener?
A scanner runs continuously and pings you when conditions trigger. A screener is on-demand: you build a filter, hit run, and get a snapshot list. If you want to find swing trades over the weekend, you want a screener. If you want to catch a breakout while it's happening, you want a scanner.
Are free stock scanners any good?
Some are. The trap is that most 'free' scanners gate real-time data behind a paid tier — you're scanning 15-minute-delayed quotes, which is useless for intraday. SultraxAI publishes 60-second-refresh data on the free tier; that's rare.
How often should a scanner refresh?
For intraday trading, faster than 1 minute. Anything 5+ minutes means you're seeing moves after they've already happened. For swing trading, end-of-day is fine.
Can I use a stock scanner for crypto?
Most can't. The scanner architecture is built around exchange feeds for equities; crypto often requires separate integrations. SultraxAI is one of the few that scans stocks and crypto in the same dashboard.
Do stock scanner signals actually work?
Most providers don't publish their win rates, which is itself a signal. When you do see published data, expect 50-60% accuracy at short horizons for technical signals. Anything advertised as 80%+ is almost always cherry-picked.
What indicators do scanners use?
The common ones: RSI, MACD, moving averages, volume, ATR, price-relative-to-VWAP. Some platforms add candlestick patterns and chart pattern recognition. The indicator is less important than whether the signal it generates is tracked for accuracy.
Is a stock scanner worth paying for?
If you trade daily and the scanner pays for itself on one trade per month, yes. If you trade once a week, the free tier of a good scanner is enough. The expensive plans rarely justify their cost for retail.
Can I build my own stock scanner?
Yes — Python + a free market data API (yfinance, Polygon free tier) gets you a basic scanner in a weekend. The hard parts are: handling delays, persistence, alerting, and back-testing your signal definitions.
What's the best stock scanner for beginners?
Something with a free tier that includes real-time data and doesn't require building filter conditions from scratch. Pre-built scans (gainers, breakouts, volume movers) are friendlier for getting started than blank-slate filter builders.
Open the SultraxAI scanner (free)