Over the years, Stock screeners have proven to be a good solution in providing investors with a list of viable stocks to buy. However, a lot of them hide behind high fees or subscription amounts.
This is why I have put together a list of the best free stock screener you can use to aid you in making the right investment choice.
Successful traders depend on a few necessary tools for effective trading. One of these key tools is a precise and well-detailed Stock screener that allows traders to discover potential trades by picking stocks based on preferred criteria.
These stock screeners provide a series of filters that help you restrict your search to what truly matters. The stronger the screening filters, the more favorable the screener will be in helping you pick the exact stock you want.
Fortunately, there are some free stock screeners as well as the paid version. These screeners have become the best free stock screeners available for the average trader.
Thus, in this article, I will show you some of the best free stock screeners that you can rely on.
Table of contents
What Is A Stock Screener?
A stock screener is a tool used by investors and traders to filter stocks based on the criteria set by users.
Stock screeners can either be free or cost a certain amount on certain websites and trading platforms. They allow users to select trading instruments that are in line with a set of criteria. For example, they let users screen stocks based on market visualization, stock price, dividend yield, average five-year return on investment (ROI), and others.
Some stock screeners allow users to screen based on technical indicator data- which is the mathematical calculations based on the price, volume, or open interest of a security or contract used by traders who follow technical analysis.
How Does Stock Screener Work?
Active stock traders may use screening tools to find stocks with high potential- poised to perform well over time.
Users can enter a varying number of criteria for the stocks. As more filters are added, the stocks displayed become fewer.
Generally, Stock screeners allow investors and traders to analyze hundreds of stocks in a short period of time, making it possible to remove those stocks that don’t meet the user’s requirements and focus on the instruments that are within the specified metrics.
What Are The Best Free Stock Screeners?
Here are the best free stock screener available.
- FinViz
- Trade-Ideas
- Trading View
- Zacks
- Stock Rover
- Stock fetcher
- TD Ameritrade
- TC2000
- Cartmill
- Yahoo finance
- Market switch
- Atom finance
- Motley fool CAPS Stock Screener
1. FinViz
Finviz is one of the best free stock screeners that is known for its easy-to-use and engaging interface, especially for new traders and investors.
This free stock screener has a wide range of screening filters that are sorted according to clearly defined sub tables- fundamental and technical data which is helpful for day traders who do not have a set of preferred parameters.
You can also click on any stock ticker to see a chart pop up instantly. However, Advanced investors and traders may not find their screening filters flexible enough. This is because of its inability to select multiple options within the same field simultaneously. For example, you can’t select two economic sectors — you can either select one or all but not a specific few.
There is also a delay in updating the data, and no filter option to view only ETF or stock results. If you want real-time data, you can upgrade to Finviz Elite. It gives you access to its full features and costs $39.50 per month or $299.50 per year.
2. Trade Ideas
Trade ideas is another one of the best free stock screeners in the USA. Its software helps traders find the best setups in the market and which stock has potential.
The platform is exceptionally fast, with its data centers strategically located near major stock exchanges. It also provides a wealth of preset scans, which you can customize and combine with your own unique criteria. And if it’s your first time, Trade-Ideas provides the education, practice, and support you need to become a successful self-directed investor.
A unique feature of this platform is its Artificial intelligence tool named Holly. Holly uses technical, fundamental, and social data to scan thousands of trading opportunities and alert you when it finds one with strong upside potential. This helps you find opportunities you would never have noticed on your own. Investors can even back test ideas for investing and trading to see how they would have performed in previous times.
While the service offers a free plan, most features require a premium account. Which you can get with a monthly fee starting at $118.
3. TradingView
TradingView offers an amazing flexible screening platform at low or no cost.
You can screen stocks and ETFs with no sign-up required and get to know the many options available. With over 100 basic filters, you can sort stocks with precision. You can also look at stocks or ETFs, or easily switch between the two.
A unique area of this free stock screener is the wide range of securities and investments it includes. It includes international stocks and funds from all over the globe, which lets you compare American and foreign stocks with the same set of tools. TradingView also offers an easy rating system for securities. It indicates whether it’s a “buy,” “sell,” “strong buy,” or “strong sell.”
TradingView has both free and premium options. The free version has ads but also includes most functionality. To access the scanner feature and export data, you need a paid subscription. They offer a 30-day free trial, and Premium accounts start at $15 per month.
4. Zacks
Zack is another free stock screener that is well known for its rating system, and its free screener offers a surprising amount of functionality, with more metrics.
The main reason investors use Zack is that it lets you specify the values you want to use for screening, rather than accepting already set values that the screener provides. You can screen stocks using any of the many fundamental businesses and investing metrics.
It also offers more detailed earnings per share search result like earnings surprises, valuation-based measures, dividends, and analyst views on stocks. The ability to save screens and export results to a spreadsheet is especially valuable.
On the downside, not all the information is accessible without a subscription. For instance, if you want access to the proprietary rating information that Zacks has on stocks, you require a premium subscription.
However, You still have access to a handful of features on Zacks if you don’t want to pay for a subscription.
5. Stock Rover
Stock Rover is one of the best free stock screeners used widely for US and Canada based stocks. It has many screening filters that can be also used by day traders to scree ETF’s and mutual funds.
With Stock Rover, you can create complex equations, and combine multiple filters to streamline your results.
Stock Rover also provides robust scanning features, with its data, and filters updating every minute. Stock Rover works very well for long-term investors. It can merge with your other brokerage account, such as TD Ameritrade, and once integrated, offers wider portfolio rebalancing recommendations for your asset allocation, and portfolio analysis.
Generally, a lot of functions are available to all users, although paid users have access to additional features such as equations, data exporting, filters, portfolio analytics, and alerts.
Its membership plan is in three levels- an entry-level paid subscription which costs $79.99 per year, the Premium plan which is $179.99 per year, and the Premium Plus plan which costs $279.99 per year.
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6. Stock Fetcher
Stock Fetcher is one of the most ideal stock screeners available for day traders who like to narrow their list of potential stocks down to a few stocks.
It could be a little difficult to understand at first. But when you finally get a hang of it, provides a robust screening platform for traders who know what they are precisely looking for in a trade.
Stock Fetcher is one of the few free stock screeners that allows you to set your parameters that result in a much more detailed search.
The free version of Stock Fetcher lets you see 5 stocks at a time and this is more than enough for a day trader who knows his interests. However, to see all the search results, you need to upgrade to a higher plan. This starts at $8.95 per month.
7. TD Ameritrade
Another one of the best free stock screeners is TD Ameritrade. This stock screener is designed for day trading and is among the first online brokerages to go commission-free.
Its most common trading tool is its Thinkorswim trading platform. This platform combines flexible data analysis with fast, easy trading.
For real-time scanning and screening, it is advised to use the Stock Hacker tool. Like other screeners, Stock Hacker has a wide range of filter options. For example, you can scan real-time for stocks with specific technical patterns like flags, channels, and wedges and immediately buy on the platform.
Generally, TD Ameritrade’s goal is to lure you into the trading platform so you fund your account and switch to the broker for everyday trading.
To easily access all these features, you just need to open a brokerage account with them.
8. TC2000
TC2000 is one of the best free online stock screeners available to the US and Canada STock market. It offers a wide range of fundamental and technical screening parameters.
One unique feature of TC2000 is that it allows you to create your screening criteria and arrange them in layers into visual charts. It also lets you customize alerts to let you know sooner when your custom combination aligns just right. Together with fast real-time scanning, it makes an outstanding platform for day traders.
On the downside, TC2000 comes as a downloaded software however, users complain it doesn’t give a maximum experience like its live website.
Like other stock screeners, TC2000 has both a free version and a premium option. if you would like to upgrade to the premium option, it costs $10 per month.
9. Chartmill
Chartmill is another one of the best free stock screeners available. It offers standard features of a first-tier stock screener, with a variety of parameters available and a special focus on technical indicators.
Furthermore, ChartMill differs from other stock screeners by offering several parameters that directly lead to trading, which is ideal for beginner day traders who are yet to develop their own trading strategies.
ChartMill’s free stock screener version operates on a credit system, with a fixed number of free credits available for use each month. Every time you use ChartMill, you spend some of your free credits. The number of credits should be more than enough for most day trading strategies, but you can also buy more credits if you need it.
10. Yahoo Finance
Yahoo Finance is one of the best free stock screeners available. It has an easy-to-use interface that lets its users navigate to several parts of the site.
Together with its ease of use, this free stock screener includes free streaming quotes, ESG data filters, and results that include columns of popular Yahoo Finance fundamental data. In addition, they can view results as a heat map. It offers all these features for free.
However, Yahoo Finance lacks an in-depth technical and fundamental filter option.
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11. Market Switch
Market Switch is another one of the best free stock screeners available. This charting package from investors.com (Investors Business Daily) offers excellent charting packages which include access to the screener alongside IBD’s entire list of proprietary ratings.
These proprietary ratings help investors identify and pick viable stocks to act on.
To access its complete features, pay a fee of $149.95/month.
12. Atom Finance
Atom Finance aims to provide modern investing tools at your fingertips by allowing you to add your other brokerage accounts. This helps you monitor your entire investment portfolio at a point.
In addition, there are advanced stock screening tools that help you research individual stocks and wider trends starting with real-time stock quotes and institution-grade financial news feeds.
There is also available company data like SEC filings and transcripts, analyst forecasts, equity research from all major banks and financial firms, and recommendations. Atom’s advanced document search lets you search for phrases across multiple news articles, filings, and transcripts to discover hidden trends and patterns.
The good news is that Atom Finance is all for free. However, the company plans to release a premium version.
13. Motley Fool CAPS Stock Screener
The Motley fool’s CAPS stock screener is on the list of the best free stock screeners. The screener not only lets you search on common financial and fundamental metrics but also allows you to tap into the mutual knowledge of the CAPS community, including the star ratings on each stock that are determined by the individual picks of a lot of Fool members who use the system.
The number of metrics available on the Motley Fool CAPS stock screener is smaller than what you’ll find with other stock screeners. But the opinions that the CAPS star ratings provide can be indispensable in helping you figure out whether other investors have an interest in the same things you’re looking at, or whether you’ve truly uncovered a slightly hidden treasure.
With the years of experience and success story of Motley Fool, one can unarguably say this is a good choice.
Conclusion
Searching for viable stocks is a major step in investing and therefore investors look for the best stock screeners to use.
What is more exciting is that there are some stock screeners that give you the needed information all for free?
Do well to read the post and discover the best free stock screeners available.
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