Stocks & Commodities V. 21:2 (91, 39): Websites For Traders: StockFetcher.

com by David Penn

STOCKFETCHER.COM volatility, and the mass index. Don’t see stocks on the list appears ready to meet
One of the fascinating things about the your favorite indicator? Don’t fret — a particular technical condition. Unlike
technology sector implosion has been just send StockFetcher e-mail about the most stock watchlists, which are usu-
the movement by many technology indicator you would like to see added to ally limited to price and volume infor-
product manufacturers to load more and their catalog of filters and, chances are, mation, StockFetcher’s watchlists can
more features into and onto a given StockFetcher will comply. be used to provide instant information
product. Thus, not only do we have about which stocks are not only moving
personal computers that surf the web, FETCHING CHAINS up or down, but also are getting closer to
play music, and edit digital video, but StockFetcher encourages its members a condition in which they can be traded
we also have cell phones that take pho- to set up what it calls “filter chains,” based on the trader’s qualifications. An
tographs and refrigerators with flat- which can consist of up to 30 different e-mail feature can also be set up to mail
screen LCD monitors. technical stock screens, providing a pro- the trader a copy of the watchlist and
I thought of this as I visited what gressively more discriminating list of stock screens to see if any stocks are
might be the “mother of all technical stocks. StockFetcher can create histori- close to being ready to trade.
stock screeners,” better known as a cal filter chains in order to see how a After spotting a stock that appears to
website called StockFetcher.com (Fig- particular stock that fits a certain tech- be ready to be traded by meeting some
ure 1). For just $9 per month, investors nical profile actually performed over a particular criteria, StockFetcher pro-
and traders who subscribe to StockFetcher given period of time. This is an excel- vides a Historical Analysis page that
get access to a truly dizzying array of lent way of backtesting screens and includes price charts and a table of re-
technical indicators — from price chan- filter chains to determine whether they cent performance over a variety of time
nels and new highs/new lows to actually provide a set of stocks that will frames, from one day up to one month.
stochastics, Bollinger Bands, and act the way the trader or investor ex- More specifically, the Historical Analy-
candlesticks. For those technically based pects. For example, a given filter chain sis page shows the occurrences when
traders and investors who have occa- that a trader believes will point to stocks the stock actually matched the criteria,
sionally felt that individual stocks were that are breaking out to new highs may, as well as how the stock performed in
virtually immune to the interpretive upon reviewing the filter performance various time frames (one day, one week,
power of technical analysis, StockFetcher history, actually reveal stocks that are and so on) since. Again, this ability to
provides the sort of technical screens prone to false breakouts. Too often, see how a stock performed after meet-
that will help traders narrow the uni- backtesting has been the sole domain of ing stated criteria is a key feature of
verse of stocks to just those equities that systems testers. With StockFetcher, StockFetcher. Not only does this keep
fall into given trading criteria. stock screeners have the same level of traders from blindly trading stocks just
Before I go any further, let me count scrutiny when it comes to their stock because the stocks meet a certain tech-
the ways StockFetcher filters stocks: screens and filters. nical criteria, but the feature also helps
average directional movement index For stocks, StockFetcher also pro- traders create ever more effective stock
(ADX), directional movement index vides watchlists with up to 200 different screens and filter chains.
(DMI), price channels, new highs/new stock symbols. Combined with the fil-
lows, price against moving average, ter chaining feature, the watchlists can SECTORS, BETAS, AND BEYOND
volume and average volume, moving readily tip off the trader when one of the In addition, StockFetcher allows for
average crossovers, stock screens and filters
Bollinger Bands, moving based on sector, which is
average convergence/di- a powerful complement
vergence (MACD), rela- to individual stock analy-
tive strength index (RSI) sis. The sector filtering is
and smoothed RSI, fast as seamless a process as
and slow stochastics, the stock filtering; sec-
candlesticks, average tors are simply considered
true range, Williams’ to be just another vari-
%R, the money flow in- able. This feature also
dex, on-balance volume, helps traders get a sense
commodity channel in- of whether stocks in a
dex (CCI), comparative given sector respond to
relative strength, Chaikin certain technical charac-
teristics in a similar fash-
FIGURE 1: STOCKFETCHER.COM.
ion, allowing the trader to
Could this be the mother of all tech- compare the performance
nical stock screens?

Copyright (c) Technical Analysis Inc.

of peer stocks in order to, for example, buy the strong and is no programming language whatsoever that StockFetcher
short the weak. members need to be concerned about. Fortunately, given the
StockFetcher has also released a beta version called variety of filter types in StockFetcher, this is not a handicap
StockFetcher Pro that is available as a free download from in the slightest. By providing a wealth of different technical
StockFetcher.com. Although the beta of StockFetcher Pro criteria (and being open to creating more based on member
does not have all the features the final version will have, it is interest) and a seamless way of moving from watchlist to
a worthwhile look at where the developers of StockFetcher filter chain to historical analysis, StockFetcher lets traders
are headed. And for those who find StockFetcher particularly and investors focus on what matters most: trading and
helpful, working with the beta product is an excellent way of investing.
influencing the ongoing development.
In short, those who trade stocks based on technical criteria David Penn is a Staff Writer for STOCKS & COMMODITIES.
owe it to themselves to give StockFetcher a try. Unlike many
S&C
other stock screens (such as those provided in TC2000), there

Copyright (c) Technical Analysis Inc.