Screener Basics
Tour the Market Jukebox Screener: the seven presets, the key columns, sorting, the quick-chart drawer and how to turn a list of results into a few real candidates.
What a screener is for
A stock screener filters thousands of stocks down to the handful that match rules you choose. Instead of flipping through charts one by one, you ask a question such as “which stocks are near their 52-week highs on heavy volume?” and get the answer in a second. The Screener is often the first tool traders open each day on Market Jukebox.
Remember what a screener does and does not do. It finds candidates that match a pattern in the numbers. It does not know the business, the news or your plan. Every result still needs your own checklist before it becomes a trade.
The basic workflow: start from a preset, refine, sort, open the chart, then save what matters.
Start with a preset
Presets are ready-made scans across the top of the Screener. Each one captures a common setup that Chart School teaches, so they are a great way to connect lessons to real stocks. Click a preset and the table updates instantly; click another to switch.
| Preset | What it looks for |
|---|---|
| Breakouts | Price above the 20- and 50-day averages, pushing toward 52-week highs on elevated volume |
| Surging | Large percentage gainers with expanding relative volume |
| Strongest | RS-style rank of 80 or more, still above the 50- and 200-day averages |
| Pullbacks | Stocks in an uptrend (above the 200-day) cooling back toward the 20-day average |
| New highs | Within 1% of the 52-week high and green on the day |
| New lows | Within 2% of the 52-week low, useful for studying weakness |
| Volume shock | Relative volume of 3× or more versus the 3-month average |
The seven Screener presets and the rules behind them.
Reading the columns
Each row shows one stock. The most useful columns for beginners are price, percent change, volume, relative volume, RS rank, market cap and the stock’s 20-, 50- and 200-day moving averages. Relative volume (Rel Vol) compares today’s volume with the stock’s normal volume: 1.0× is an ordinary day, while 2× or 3× means unusual interest. RS rank scores how a stock has performed versus the rest of the market, with higher numbers meaning stronger relative performance.
The 52-week high column shows how close a stock is to its best price of the past year. Leaders often trade near their highs; laggards sit far below them.
Sorting puts the best at the top
Click any column header to sort by it, and click again to reverse the order. By default, results are sorted by RS rank from strongest to weakest, which puts market leaders first. Sorting by Rel Vol surfaces stocks with unusual activity, while sorting by percent change shows today’s biggest movers. Try the same preset with different sorts; each one tells a different story.
Open the quick chart
Click any row to open the quote drawer, a quick chart and stats panel that slides in without leaving the table. It shows candles with the moving averages, plus volume, relative volume, RS rank, market cap and where price sits versus each average. From the drawer you can tap the thumbs-up to add the stock to your watchlist or open the full chart page.
This is where most of the filtering really happens. A quick look at each chart lets you discard messy, extended or broken setups in seconds.
Search by ticker or name
The Ticker / name box filters the table to matching symbols or company names. It is the fastest way to check a single stock’s numbers. The full chart page also has a “Screen this ticker” button that sends you back to the Screener with that symbol loaded.
Save and share your work
When you find a combination of preset, filters and sorting you like, use “Save this screen” to keep it for later. You can also export results to a CSV file to review in a spreadsheet. Because the preset and search appear in the page address, you can bookmark a view such as the Pullbacks preset and open it with one click each day.
A simple first routine
Open the Strongest preset, sort by RS rank, and open the drawer for the top ten names. For each one, ask the trend questions from the Picking Your First Stock category and note any that look orderly and near a logical entry. Thumbs-up the two or three best. That short routine turns a list of hundreds into a focused set of ideas.
Common mistakes
- Treating every screener result as a buy signal.
- Never opening the charts, so messy setups slip through.
- Sorting only by today’s percent change and chasing the biggest movers.
- Ignoring volume and relative volume columns.
- Running a different scan every day instead of learning a few well.
Key takeaways
- The Screener narrows thousands of stocks to candidates that match your rules.
- Seven presets cover breakouts, strength, pullbacks, highs, lows and volume spikes.
- Rel Vol shows unusual interest; RS rank shows relative performance.
- Click a row to open the quick-chart drawer and judge the setup.
- Save useful screens and use the same few scans consistently.