How to Use the thinkorswim® Scan Tab

For traders and investors looking for new investment ideas, tools on the thinkorswim^® Scan tab can provide a good starting point. These tools enable investors and traders to filter through tens of thousands of stocks, options, futures, and forex products quickly and efficiently. It's possible to choose from (and modify) hundreds of predefined scans or create custom scans based on specific search criteria.

The Scan tab is made up of several subtabs including Stock Hacker, Option Hacker, and Spread Hacker.

Traders can create a custom stock scan by selecting Stock Hacker. On the upper left of the screen, there are criteria fields with the default settings of Net change, Volume, and % change. Use the menus to select the desired filters. Select Add filter > Stock to add additional criteria for the scan. Select the X to the far right of a criteria row to remove a filter.

It's also possible to further narrow a search focus. For example, Add filter > Stock allows traders to filter securities based on the output of a predefined or custom-built chart study like a simple moving average or a Bollinger Bands^® crossover. Add filter > Fundamental allows traders to filter securities based on a number of different fundamental data points about a company, such as earnings per share or dividend yield.

After selecting their filters, traders can enter parameters for their search. The scan dynamically displays the number of matches as a trader updates criteria. When all the filtering criteria is entered, select the green Scan button on the right side of the screen.

The scan tab displays a list of stocks that fit the selected criteria, including useful data about each security like its last price, net change, percent change, and volume. To add the scan results to a watchlist, select the drop-down menu icon to the right of Add condition group. Select Save scan query in the menu to save the criteria for future reference. Via the drop-down menu, traders can also export their search results to an external file.

Use Option Hacker to filter for options ideas and Spread Hacker to search for options spreads.

The Scan tab syncs market scans or a scan’s resulting watchlist across devices using thinkorswim. View a synced scan or watchlist on a mobile device by accessing the personal watchlists section of the app.