Build and use watchlists and screeners

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Create an exact universe#

Open Watchlist & screener, then Universe. Select a concrete feed/account, search for symbols and use asset/catalog categories or your Instrument Manager groups. My groups are user-maintained instrument groups; Catalog categories are supplied/classified from feeds. A Screener group is only a section within this screener. These are separate organizing tools.

Use a row's + Add, double-click or Enter for immediate addition. For batch selection, use checkboxes or Cmd/Ctrl-click; Shift selects a displayed range, and Cmd/Ctrl+Enter or Add n adds the pending set. Search/feed changes retain pending picks, so inspect Selected before submitting a large list. Right-click provides group targets, select-all-shown and clear-selection actions.

The identity is market/feed, symbol and timeframe. The same ticker on two brokers or at another timeframe is a different row. Adding an already-present identity does not silently move it to another group. For cTrader, prefer the concrete account feed selected in the UI rather than assuming generic cTrader history belongs to the right account.

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Add and edit columns#

1. Open Columns.
2. Choose Quote fields, Indicators or Sparkline.
3. Select/configure the field, study output, parameters and timeframe as offered.
4. Use Add column or its Add button; clicking a quote tile alone selects its settings rather than immediately adding it.
5. In the screener's column list, reorder with the grip, hide with the eye or delete with trash.
6. Click an existing column to edit it and use Apply changes.

Indicator bands can contain several outputs with a grouped header. Delete a single output or whole band deliberately; a rule may depend on it. Title, decimals, width and output settings can differ from indicator parameters. Editing keeps an existing column identity where possible; dependency warnings identify rules that would no longer work. Row-number and symbol presentation columns can be shown/hidden, and symbol sorting uses text order rather than numeric values.

A plugin indicator column can calculate its declared outputs, but a plugin-type sparkline currently falls back to price. Do not describe such a sparkline as the indicator series. Price precision also differs: bounded oscillators, percentages, volume and instrument prices have distinct display conventions.

Filter and rank the grid#

Criteria builds clauses with Match all / any. Inspect passing counts, then choose Dim or Hide failing rows. Criteria chips let you edit or remove a clause without reopening the full editor. A missing/incompatible column can make a clause invalid; use the warning and add/fix its dependency rather than accepting an always-false result.

Use header sorting and the sort summary to identify ordering. Auto-sort refreshes rank at its selected interval; a live value change and a row moving are separate events. Find filters text. Rescan reruns criteria preparation. Formatting controls display rules and heatmaps; colour highlights are visual cues, not an alert delivery or trade execution.

Use separate rows/groups for equities, forex, metals, futures and spot crypto. Bid/Ask/Spread can be unavailable when a market is closed even while historical sparklines remain useful. Compare raw volume only with a clear understanding of its source units.

Inspect a row without losing the screen#

Select a row to open its preview pane: price, screener values, criteria outcome, background alerts and screener rules are shown separately. Show chart opens the embedded hover chart; Pin chart keeps a preview available. Hover charts support timeframe changes, per-symbol overrides, zoom and keyboard navigation. An override can remain pinned independently of the default hover timeframe.

Enter opens a chart; Shift+Enter opens one with screener indicators. The row menu also offers Open chart, Open chart with screener indicators, new-window variants, groups, text rows and Export row (CSV). A symbol link can send the selected row to an existing chart. Confirm the chart's exact feed/account after navigation.

Save and export#

The Saved screen menu provides Save, Save as…, Load…, Import config (JSON)…, Export config (JSON)… and Export CSV…. JSON preserves the reusable configuration; CSV is a data report from a running session. Review the row count/range and current matching sort/filter. An unsaved indicator shows the config differs from its saved version.

Save names that describe universe, source and purpose. A shared config does not supply broker credentials or entitlements. Plugin templates in Load depend on their installed plugin; saved and plugin errors are reported separately. Workspace save preserves placement and instance preferences as well as the screener's identity.

Recover stale or empty rows#

Read the state banner: starting/prescan, reconnecting, recovering or error. Reconnecting keeps the last readable values under a stale overlay. Use Retry now or Recreate session when offered after fixing the cause. Check filters, selected feed, credentials, market hours and sufficient history before removing rows.

Replay rows use finite recorded history and can become stale at its end; they are not a continuously updating live feed. Moving an entire screener item can recreate its server session and restart alert runtime/seeding. Background alerts are a different server-owned system and are covered separately. Email is logging-only in screener alert configuration; use configured Telegram/Discord for actual bot delivery.

Continue with related tasks#

Configure screener rules and background monitoring, Navigate charts and review trading records, Add, configure and interpret chart indicators.