Congratulations on using the best stock charting app - Interactive Stock Charts! This is the only charting app that allows you freely scroll, zoom, and manupilate trendlines and overlay indicators with touchscreen interface! As well as some of the unique and proprietary technical analysis tools such as Chart pattern filter, automated trendlines, and Tom Demark 9-13 count indicators!
Here is a description of the app and menu icons:
Portfolio View Icons:
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Add symbol |
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Screen stocks by various filters, e.g. news sentiment, chart patterns, trend breakouts, etc. |
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Sort portfolio by various categories, e.g. new sentiment |
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Refresh view |
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Indicate you are connected to Tradier market data (See Tradier Brokerage) Refresh quotes will be in real time, and includes options and after market quotes. |
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Share |
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Setup options, e.g. indicator parameters, chart parameters |
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Fullscreen / restore |
Chart Menu Icons:
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Show and hide Toolbar menu. Located on top left corner, not visible on fullscreen mode |
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Toggle fullscreen mode on and off. |
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Setup options, e.g. indicator parameters, chart parameters |
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Share tile grids, lists or charts |
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Redraw chart in log-scale |
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Place buy order (with Tradier Brokerage) |
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Place sell order (with Tradier Brokerage) |
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Indicator Playground |
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Show crosshair on touch) |
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Show Info mode. Shows detailed quote info on touching chart. To make selections, change to Pan mode) |
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Indicator Reliability Lab (backtesting tool) |
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Candlestick Pattern Scanner demo video |
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Pan and selection mode. You can scroll chart, and select trendlines in this mode. |
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Automatic refresh |
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Place buy order (with Tradier Brokerage) |
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Screen stocks by various filters, e.g. news sentiment, chart patterns, trend breakouts, etc. |
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View latest news on a particular stock |
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Hide or unhide indicator panel on chart (toggle) |
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Draw your own trendlines.
One finger mode: Start drawing the line by dragging. Release to finish. Two finger mode: Use one finger to mark one point in line, and the other for another point. Move both fingers to adjust the slope and intercept of trendline satisfied. Release to finish. |
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Add system generated support, resistance , trendlines |
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Hide all trendlines on the chart (toggle) |
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Delete all trendlines and user annotations from the chart |
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Add text annotation. |
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Fibonacci Retracement Tool. One finger mode: Start from min and drag to max, or start from max and drag to min. Release to finish. Two finger mode: Use one finger to mark min, and the other max. Move both fingers to adjust min and max points until satisfied. Release to finish. |
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Remove chart grid lines (toggle) |
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Refresh the chart to bring it up to date (get latest updates only) |
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Force Refresh. Reloads the whole chart (full history) |
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Online / Offline: View localy stored historical data when not on-line (supresses offline warning / error messages) |
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Hide toolbar |
Here is a list of Q&A. Most simple operations should be intuitive without instruction. But some advanced charting options deserve some explanation!
Q: Where is the menu button on chart view?
The menu button on chart view is on top left corner. 
It is hidden if you are go on fullscreen mode, which can be toggled on and off at top right corner. 
Q: How does "Offline Mode" work?
The app stores historical EOD (End of Day) data in local cache (device's SD card) so as to optimize the loading time of the charts and reduce network usage. For example, if you look up stock IBM chart frequently, it will only have to download its historical EOD data from 1960s just once, and only update the current day quote to reflect the changes in the last candle / bar.
Even if you have no internet connection, you can view historical charts (daily, weekly, 6 months, 1 year etc.) as long as candle bar length is greater than 1 day, only the last candle bar (current trading day) will not be updated. You can still analyze chart patterns, trendlines, etc for long term analysis. This is referred to as Offline Mode.
If you open charts offline, you will get a warning / error message saying app cannot obtain up to date quotes. To supress this warning, you turn on Offline Mode. Offline / Online mode toggle button is found on the toolbar as shown in the screenshot below:
Q: How to auto-refresh quotes?
You can set portfolio view to refresh all of its quote at specified time intervals by long press the refresh button. A dialog will prompts you for number of seconds to auto-refresh. To stop the auto-refresh, enter 0, or press "Stop". You can also change auto-refresh intervals from Settings view.
Q: What is "Force Refresh"?
As explained in Offline Mode, The app only downloads the necessary quote data to append to already cached historical market data when updating chart. The normal Refresh button does just that.
However, in case you skip the chart lookup for a day or two, the market data server is able to handle up to 5 to 7 days of data patching. For example, if you looked at charts on June 2 Monday, and did not use open IBM chart until June 5th Thursday, the app should be able to patch 4 day worth of "hole" in the historical data without having to download the entire decades of historical data.
However, if you skip chart lookup for longer period than 7 days, the app will automatically download the entire historical data to replace the old cache. The longer the skipped period, the more likely market data is skewed due to things like splits and dividend adjustment, or sometimes simply corrupt data. If you notice something is wrong with chart being displayed, you can use Force Refresh to redownload the entire historical EOD data from screenulator server to ensure the consistency.
Force Refresh button is found on the toolbar as shown in the screenshot below:
Warning! Do NOT overuse this button as it is very expensive on network usage and gives unecessay burden on the server!
Q: Why are indicators not showing?
You probably turned "Show Indicator" button off. The button is located on toolbar:
Q: What do trendline colors mean?
Pink: Closest bounding support and resistance lines
Yellow: Recently penetrated lines
Green: The line that has been penetrated for a long time, about to be removed from the chart
Grey: All the other lines
Q: How to delete unwanted trendlines?
1. If you are in fullscreen mode, exit fullscreen mode, so that title bar with refresh and share buttons appear
2. Select the trendline(s) by touching them.
3. Trash bin (delete) button 
should appear left to the Share button.
Q: How to save charts?
Use the Share 
button which will save a high quality of chart image in PNG format on your SD card, and gives you options to attach to email, facebook or send to cloud drives such as DropBox or Google Drive.
Q: How to create your own portfolio?
1. Open the app, it should show the tiles view. If not, go to tiles view by pressing back button.
2. Tap on "..." or menu button, and select "New Portfolio". It will warn you about current portfolio will be deleted. It simply means if the currently open portfolio needs to be saved before you overwrite it with a blank new one. So save it if you care about it, then ignore the warning.
3. Now you have a blank slate portfolio, with empty view, no tiles, no symbols. Enter symbols one at a time to populate your new portfolio
4. After you are done entering symbols, do not forget to save it, but "Save portfolio" command from menu. Make sure give it a unique but easy to remember name in case you want to manage multiple portfolios or export to computer.
Q: Where are the portfolios stored?
For Android app, each portfolio is saved as a ".ptf" file in your phones external storage (SD card)'s "screenulator" folder or sub-directory. Each device can have a different path. My HTC ONE looks something like "/storage/sdcard0/screenulator"
In desktop app, portfolios are stored in MyDocument\screenulator\public\ folder . All files with extension ".ptf" are portfolio files.
Q: How to delete portfolio?
For Android app, Menu - Open portfolio, and long press on any portfolio and select "Delete", or you can browse to the directory where portfolio files are stored and use delete command. "Astro" file browser is one of the good tools to do it.
In desktop app, portfolios are stored in MyDocument\screenulator\public\ folder . All files with extension ".ptf" are portfolio files. You can simply browse to it, and delete any portfolio you want.
Q: How to save / manage multiple portfolios?
By using "Open portfolio" and "Save portfolio" commands from the menu.
Q: How to quickly create a large portfolio with lots of symbols
If you want to add a portfolio say over 100 symbols, it could be quite tiresome to enter symbols one at a time on a tap screen keypad. I use Excel program to create the portfolio list and export it to .csv (comma separated file) with double pipes as separator. Then rename the file to .ptf (portfolio file) and connect your device to computer, copy the .ptf file to the SD card's "screenulator" folder where all other portfolio files are stored.
Here is what you need to understand and do, step by step
1. First you have to understand portfolio file format. They have extension ".ptf" and stored in your phone's external storage (SD card)'s screenulator directory.
".ptf" file are formated as follows:
symbol||position size (num. shares)||purchase price||alert low price||alert high price||time added
Each line represents a stock or tile
If you do just want to add symbol and none of the other trading info, just do something like:
ibm||0.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||0
2. Open excel, and write the symbols in the first column, and append trading info in the next 5 columns. If nothing, just put 0's
3. I use double pipes "||" as separator because it is cleaner than commas. You have to change Windows settings to allow Excel to export it with double pipes format. You can do this by going to Control Panel ?> Region and Language, and then click the Additional settings button on the bottom... Now look very closely at the ?List separator? item, which normally has a comma in the field, change it to double pipes "||".
4. Back in Excel, select Save As - select ".csv" in save as type box. This will create your desired file format compatible with .ptf file.
5. Rename the result file from step 4 from .csv to .ptf without altering the content. The name of the file will be your portfolio name
6. Connect your device, copy the file to your SD card's screenulator folder.
Q: What do alert ball colors represent?
"Alert balls" are circular shaped price / TA alert signals on top right of tiles in portfolio view. Not to be confused with "perfection" circles in TR / TD indicator
Green - last trade price is greater than alert high price.
Red - last trade price is less than alert low price.
Yellow - days range exceeds either alert low or high prices.
Q: How do I read TR (Trend Reversal & Exhaustion) / TD indicator?
See the TR indicator tutorial page at http://www.screenulator.com/td_indicator_help.html
Q: How do I generate TR S/R or TDST lines on TR indicator?
A TR resistance line is drawn when a completed Reversal Buy signal, and it can often be used as sell target in a long trade. A TR support line is drawn when a completed Reversal Sell signal, and it can often be used as buy back target in a short trade. These lines are drawn from the point of count 1. ISC app automatically draws these when you click on "Generate trendlines" button when TR indicator is shown, or select "TR S/R lines" from right click menu.
Q: I have subscribed to TR / TD package. How do I show TR / TD indicator on chart?
First, make sure you have activated your app with the license key given to you after purchase. On desktop version, it is in Help - Activate license. In Android / mobile version, it is in Purchase Full version, or Purchase upgrade menu.
In settings page, find "Reversal and Exhaustion" from Indicator dropdown. This is the TR / TD inidcator.
Q: I forgot or lost license key!
If you are still using the same device from which you activated the app, you can simply go to Purchase Menu View of the app, and hit "Retrieve Licence Key" button at the bottom of that page.
If you bought a new device and don't have the old device, and don't have the license key, you still can retrieve the key from my website or email me your purchase / transaction information.
1. If you purchased through Google Play: Google does not share your email address with me, so you will have to email me your transaction ID or original confirmation email. You can login to your Google Wallet account and look up this information, and contact me at screenulator@gmail.com
2. If you purchased through my website: If you used either PayPal or credit card purchase, you can retrieve your license key by email me your associated email address. This is the email address you used to signup on PayPal account or credit payment form. It may NOT be your primary email address. If I cannot find your license key associated with your associated email address you will have to email me a receipt or confirmation email by credit card / PayPal company.
Q: I am a screenulator website subscriber. How do I retrieve ISC license key?
If you have your email address and login password: http://wwww.screenulator.com/get_licence_key.php
Q: I have recently purchased ISC App licence key, but the app now tells me that my account is expired, or have to pay? What is happening?
It is likely that you uninstall and re-installed a different app, or are trying to run the app on a new device. Follow the steps below to resolve the issues.
Android app:
- If you are using the same device, go to Menu - Purchase Upgrade, and hit "Retrieve license key" button at the bottom.
- If you are installing on a new device, go to Menu - Purchase Upgrade, enter your license key and submit.
Desktop app:
- Download the latest version from http://www.screenulator.com/ischarts.jar
- Delete the old program in your computer to avoid confusing as to which one you are running. You can always check version number from Help - About
- Enter your license key and submit on Help - Activate License
Q: I updated newer version of the app or uninstall - then reinstall the app, but now my pro-feature subscription is gone.
If you are still using the same device from which you activated the app, you can simply go to Purchase Menu View of the app, and hit "Retrieve Licence Key" button at the bottom of that page.
Q: I have already paid subscription in Google Play Store, but it is asking me to pay again?
If you purchase from Google Play Store, there is no guarantee I am able to track your renewal status. It is best to make payments via my website directly (http://www.screenulator.com/apps.html), which is cheaper than Google PLay Store. because there is no 30% transaction charge Google takes when you pay at Play Store.
After payment is made on this website, it will automatically renewal without the hassle of Play Store verification.
If your subscription expired, please pay via the above link, and send me an email I will refund your payment at Google Play.
Q: Why is my intraday chart not working? (5 min, 1 min, etc. bars)
It depends on which symbol you are looking and intraday data source you are using. It also depends on your geographical location. For example, in some Asian countries, it is not possible pickup some Yahoo Finance data.
Market data sources ISC app use come from either Yahoo or Google Finance. Each supports different sets of data symbols. Most of US, Canada, HK, and NSE (Indian) symbols are supported by both. Yahoo finance tends to have longer timeframe support up to 16 days of backfilled intraday data. Google finance has shorter timeframe (5 days), but tends to more precise intraday bars.
ETFs and indecies: Better supported by Yahoo finance
FOREX currency pairs: Only supported by Google finance
Q: What is Intraday scan?
Intraday scan allows screening of select stocks (up to 20) on a indicator on a select intraday chart (1min, 5 min. 10 min. charts etc.). Currently only Trend Reversal and Exhaustion indicator is supported as it seems the most useful indicator for intraday scalping. This is an extension of "Alert" feature, and only works on Tiles view
To set alert, long press any symbol in portfolio view, and select "Set Alert". You can set indefinite number of price alerts, but only up to 20 indicator scan alerts (for performance reasons). You manually start intraday scan any time from Menu command - Intraday scan, or check "Auto start intraday scan on quote refresh" in Settings page.
Stocks with intraday TR indicator scan set have a border - blue/cyan border indicates Buy Reversal Complete or Buy Exhaustion Complete criteria selected. Purple/Magenta border indicates Sell Reversal or Sell Exhaustion Complete criteria selected. If any of the 6 prior bars were detected to have reached the selected criteria condition, an alert ball will show on the top right corner of the tile.
When you run the scan, the program will ask you "Do you want to restrict to follow trend?", if you choose Yes, it will exclude stocks that are not correlated with the general market trend. I usually choose No so that I can manually check the qualifiers to see if I want to trade it or not.
See Intraday scan video: https://youtu.be/U7pcOjGXotA
Q: What time zone do charts show?
The time axis in the chart usually shows your local time zone settings in your device (phone , tablet or computer). However, you can force it to always show US EST Time Zone Settings under Intraday Options in the application settings.
If you have questions not answered here, please contact me at yue.j.qi@gmail.com
Q: I cannot access desktop application from my work computer
Most office computers access internet via a proxy server which is common in a LAN (local area network). You IT administrator has a proxy host and port number. This information should also already be set in your internet browser such as Chrome or IE. Enter this proxy host and port number in the "Network proxy setting" section of "Settings" Tab of your ISCharts desktop application.
Q: Chart appears inaccurate?
Daily charts of your frequently viewed stocks are stored in your computer's local cache. When you open it every day, it downloads the updated daily prices from the server and updates the local cache. If your local cache is corrupt it possible for the chart to appear inaccurate compared to other officially released chart sites. Daily price updates can also contain errors and later corrected by market data provider. When you see anything suspicious, you can Force Refresh (red refresh button) to re-download the historical daily charts from the server all over again. But please be advised not to over-use this function as it is slow and can potentially slow down the entire server.
If Force Refresh still does not solve the problem. Please contact Joe at joe\@screenulator.com for support. It is my job to keep quality data flowing.
Q: How to get live intraday chart? - how to update charts automatically?
In order not to consume bandwidth when you are not looking at chart, ISC is designed now to auto-refresh / update charts unless you explicitly update the chart by pressing Refresh button. However if you are constantly looking at charts as in the case of intraday trading, it is helpful to automatically update charts in regular intervals. You can use press "automatic refresh" button on chart toolbar to enable this mode.
Q: What is the significance of the patterns and trendlines?
A: There is a wealth of information you can learn about trendlines and chart patterns, such as this. They are among the oldest concepts in technical analysis, but they are also the most subjective and difficult to identify. There is no formula you can just plug in and get the results. Most require human eyes and experience. However, with the semi-heuristic algorithm I have developed, it is possible to identify these patterns and lines with computer. There are some false positives so you still need manual confirmation, but this saves a lot of time and effort by not having to scan through all charts manually.
Q: What exactly are trendlines?
A trend line is a bounding line for the price movement of a security. A support trend line (or a bottom line) is formed when a securities price decreases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous support pivot points. Similarly a resistance trend line (or a top line) is formed when a securities price increases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous resistance pivot points. In other words, bottom lines are formed by joining a series of bottom points, and top lines are formed by joining a series of peaks.
Trendlines are considered by many expert traders and investors as the single most important tools in technical analysis. However, unlike other indicators of Technical Analysis, it does not come with a fixed formula, but require human eyes and brain to draw the best fit line across a series of bottoms or tops. It is still very much of an art form. If you are looking for a particular trendline pattern - such as Resistance breakout, the tasks of drawing trendlines for all stocks on the market becomes tedious if not impossible. Screenulator solves the problem for you.
Q: What are the trendline colors?
Line colors:
Pink: Closest bounding support and resistance lines
Yellow: Recently penetrated lines
Green: The line that has been penetrated for a long time, about to be removed from the chart
Grey: All the other lines
Q: How frequently do you update the screening results?
A: Screener results are computed twice daily: For US/Canada market, at 11 am EST (UTC-4), and for NSE/Asian market, at 11 am India time, (UTC+5). News sentiment updated at 12 am EST, and 5:30 pm EST. The mornig update time varies depending on market volatility. I want to make sure market is reasonably stable before running pattern screeners to get more accurate results. Same day results are only available for paying memebers.
Q: Which symbols and how many symbols do you screen?
A: As of June 2017, about 22,000 symbols for US, Canada, Australia, NZ, HK, China, India (NSE), Jakarta, KLSE, Singapore (SGX), Europe, London stocks are supported. As well as selected ETFs. As of July 2014, about top 50 FOREX pairs are also supported. If you do not see the symbol you would like, just send me a Request!
Q: Are options supported?
A: Options are supported for US market tradable through Tradier brokerage. For international markets, please Yahoo Finance. You can look up add option chains from portfolio by right click, or long press (Android) on the underlying stock symbol, and select Option Chains command. Option symbols look like "UGA16015C00028000" means UGA (the underying stock), 2016, January 15 Call, Strike at $28.
Charts of options are generally choppy and discontinuous due to the low liquidity nature of them. It is much better to analyze the charts of the underlying stock even if you plan to only trade options.
Q: Which FOREX pairs are currently supported?
As of July 2014, the following FOREX symbols are supported. If you do not see the symbol you would like, just send me an email at Screenulator@gmail.com!
AUDCAD,AUDCHF,AUDJPY,AUDNZD,AUDUSD,CADCHF,CADJPY,EURAUD,EURCAD,EURCHF,EURGBP,EURHUF,EURJPY,EURNOK,EURNZD,EURPLN,EURSEK,EURTRY,
EURUSD,GBPAUD,GBPCAD,GBPCHF,GBPJPY,GBPNZD,GBPSGD,GBPUSD,NZDCAD,NZDCHF,NZDJPY,NZDUSD,USDCAD,USDCHF,USDDKK,USDHUF,USDJPY,USDMXN,
USDNOK,USDPLN,USDSEK,USDSGD,USDTRY,USDZAR
Q: What market data are you using?
A: Combination of market data from Google and Yahoo finance, and Sina. For US, UK, India, Canada, Australia, Google Finance provides realtime quotes. Yahoo finance provides wider world market coverage such as Jakarta, Singapore, EU countries and Hong Kong. Historical EOD prices mostly come from Yahoo Finance as it goes back the furthest. Forex data comes from Google Finance which is up to 1 min. intraday. Chinese markets Shenzhen, Shanghai exchanges market data comes from Sina finance. For more detailed inquiry, or want to add your market data source please contact me.
You can also enable real-time market data coverage from my partner broker Tradier Brokerage who will provide US equity and options market data including pre- and after market data.
Q: When I search for a symbol, why can't I see the quote?
A: It is because this is not a quote site. If you just want to check stock quotes, there are hundreds of other sites dedicated for that purpose. The search for symbol function searches through all pre-defined filter results, and find matching symbol in their corresponding filter category and date.
Q: What are the lines on the charts?
Q: What are the lines on the charts?
A: A trend line is a bounding line for the price movement of a security. A support trend line (or a bottom line) is formed when a securities price decreases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous support pivot points. Similarly a resistance trend line (or a top line) is formed when a securities price increases and then rebounds at a pivot point that aligns with at least two previous resistance pivot points. In other words, bottom lines are formed by joining a series of bottom points, and top lines are formed by joining a series of peaks.
I have developed a computer algorithm to detect all possible trendlines to aid your analysis. Not all the trendlines are correct, or useful. every trader has his own opinion on which trendlines are should be, and some trendlines are more important than others. Screenulator show you all possible trendlines including ones you could possibly have missed.
Q: Do you have a desktop or mobile charting applications?
A: Yes! Interactive Stock Charts is an industry leading general purpose technical analysis charting app as well as contains exclusive and proprietary screenulator only features (Trendlines, Chart Patterns, and Trend Reversal and Exhaustion indicators). It supports Android, Windows, MacOSX, or any Java supported platforms.
With Android version, its innovative multi-touch interface allows defining trendlines and Fibonacci levels with two fingers instead of one mouse pointer, thus allowing you to adjust two data points simultaneously.
Q: Can you combine two or more screener criteria to create my own custom screener?
A: Most definitely! ISC app's Custom screener Tab allows you to compose your own screener by combining two or more default screeners. In fact this is the most powerful way to discover your a trading strategy that suits you and your market the best. See the next question for how to use the custom screener.
See Demo video
Q: How to use custom screeners?
A: Please use desktop application's Custom Screener Tab, it allows you to compose your own screener by combining two or more default screeners. A lot of default screeners such as RSI and Trend Reversal results in too many qualifiers. Combining screeners is a good way to refine your search results and with experience greatly increase the profitability of trades.
To add a condition or screener, select a condition from the "Criteria" dropdown. Usually the first one you want to add is your local stock market, such as US stocks only, or NSE stocks only.
The Basic statistics include things such as price and volume, in which you can specify comparison operator (>, ==, <) and value parameters. For example, if you want to filter only stocks between price $5 and $20, you can add two conditions: 1) Closing price, Greater or Equal, $5, and 2) Closing price, Less than or equal, $20.
Then you can add one or more advanced chart pattern / trendlines / TA screeners from the dropdown. My favorite is to combine TR Buy complete, with trendline near support, and maybe one more oscillator such as RSI near 30, or cross over 30.
See Demo video
Q: How do I know buy or sell recommendations on a stock?
A: Again this is not a stock pick site. I do have offer investment advise. You should do your own research with the help of powerful tools screenulator provides (Trendlines, and Trend Reversal & Exhaustion indicator signals), combined with fundamental analysis if you are included to. Then form your own style and timeframe of trading.
©2017 Screenulator