Beginning Swing Trader needs source of fundamental data for nightly screens

Discussion in 'Data Sets and Feeds' started by FanOfFridays, Apr 24, 2002.

  1. Hello

    As a beginning swing/position trader, I want to try to generate higher probability trades by screening stocks using fundamental data - i.e. stocks trading at new highs with relative strength and earnings in the top 15% for the sector, or stocks with P/E ratios which have recently dropped below 90% of the stocks in their sector. Can anyone tell me which if any of the feeds discussed on these boards will provide me with this data and which software might be configured for these types of screens? If not, can anyone suggest a good source for such information? Thanks, Nik
     
  2. chuv

    chuv

    Nik,

    I use Quote.com ( http://www.quote.com ) feed and Stock Watch Pro ( http://www.crontech.com/swp ) for scanning. From my experience Quote.com is the most comprehensive feed out there for it's price and Stock Watch Pro is a very powerful scanning tool that allows to create any type of formulas/strategies.

    Hope that helps...
     
  3. Hi Nik,

    What kind of time frame are you looking to operate in? If you are planning to do scans every night, you might consider screening for technical criteria instead of fundamental. Some people feel that you are apt to get a better snap shot of short-term market/stock conditions.

    If fundamental criteria is your thing, wouldn't a basic news service suffice?
     
  4. Sorry, I meant to say that wouldn't a news service in conjunction with your broker provided info meet your needs?

    Best of luck
     
  5. Lightningsmurf and others

    Thanks a lot for the replies...

    Re: time frames, I want to start by thinking in terms of 2-10 days, or as long as a swing might let me stay in a trade, hopefully establishing positions and then legging out. Yes, I agree that screening by tech criteria is necessary, and I have even started to create some of my own screens using a EOD data and a basic charting program. However, I saw a screen on the tradingmarkets site that provided stocks making all time highs with RS and Earnings among the top 10-20% in their sector... I thought that this might be a good first screen - take these stocks that may have a higher probability of moving in a given direction and then use technical screens to narrow down the choices even further. I guess you would tell me that as time frames become shorter, fundamental data becomes less and less important, right? Anyway, there are a number of other screens which occured to me after I saw this one.

    Re: a basic news service ... definitely a good idea - I suppose I assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that if I choose one of the mid-range data feeds, a comprehensive news service would be included. Again, though, my intention was to be able to create any screen I wanted, and for this I would need access to data on demand - if I understand you, you are referring to a headline service when you say 'news service', right?

    I have looked at the daytradingstocks page and there are a number of screening services listed there, and I'll be checking out the quote.com/stockwatch service tomorrow... again, I was hoping that to control costs, I could find a data provider which would include a comprehensive set of fundamental data.... perhaps I will have to accept the fact that if I want a _really good_ screening service I will have to pay extra for it. No doubt services like Bloomberg, etc. provide this kind of thing, but I can't afford them at this time. Thanks again for the response.
     
  6. I noticed that you're interested in low cost.
    Below is a great first-cut screener that is absolutely free. (It does what I want anyway.)

    http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stockscreen/advancedscreen.gsp

    Also: Amibroker is a very reasonable yet powerful way to get into scanning and backtesting swing-type investing.
     
  7. Oops - I didn't notice that it doesn't have RS which is your main interest.
     
  8. Shoeshineboy-

    Thanks - actually, the SI screener isn't bad. I am looking into the stockwatch screener as well. I'm realizing that it's a 'get what you pay for' type of situation. All the best, Nik