Very impressed with Scan Wizard, it's a monumental piece of work.
Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Advanced Development Lab, Systems Architecture, leading semiconductor company.
Recently, I downloaded Scan Wizard to beta test the product.
I've always been somewhat reluctant to download any new technical
search product since I am usually presented with search results
which (1) are outside my technical level of expertise or (2) the
results are without the requisite "what do I do now" instruction.
Scan Wizard was a pleasant surprise contrary to my past experience.
After the software was downloaded, I reviewed the "Force Index"
article (Ed. note: to read, see manual). Force Index was developed
by Dr. Alexander Elder. Force Index (FI) is an indicator that
provides buy/sell signals by measuring price change, extent of
price change and trading volume. When these forces are coincident,
the subsequent effect on the market is analogous to a tidal wave.
Major shifts are a foregone conclusion.
Theory, even in its finest form, does not create a profit. Application,
if correct, creates a profit. Armed with this belief .... money
where the software's mouth is... I put Scan Wizard into play.
Scan Wizard says to short CISCO on Sept 6. I prefer to buy puts. 10 contracts @ 3/8. On Sept 12, I sold @
2 1/8. One successful trade is not a successful trade pattern. However,
I'm telling the story anyway and based on back testing, I'll be
able to replicate this an impressive number of times in the future.
Software Plus Side: Very easy to down load, very easy to use.
Software Down Side: I don't understand all I know. This is theoretically
very heavy stuff to me at least. I'd like to see the developers
have a seminar wherein they explains "best application methods"
and the thinking behind them.
The author a program this in-depth sometimes forgets that we cretins
don't always understand the esoteric meaning. If no seminar, then
a step-by-step manual...which I never have appreciated as much
as a seminar.
OHIO
I am a visual type investor. Scan Wizard is really terrific! It is very powerful.
L/S Force and Triple Force are the most dynamic of all. It combines
their ability to scan and to backtest for and to identify the
movers based on the Force Index. I believe it is second to none.
Their swift calculations allows me to trade the stock with added
confidence since I use my other trading indicators to collaborate my decision that
is most often initiated by the Scan Wizard.
The program opens very smoothly and looks good. I use two screens for it. The news link is really useful and a pleasure to use and are so convenient. My comment below
covers this in more detail.
This is a great product and I know your price objective preclude all the bells
and whistles of the more expensive packages. I will keep using
this program.
CALIFORNIA
Pro.--excellent comments on how to choose or not choose trading candidates
at the end of the Manual....my comment is 'One can not find stocks to trade if he does
not know what he is looking for---Scan Wizard will give you many
possiblities but you better have done your homework. If you are
new to the market, SW will find candidates if you do not know
where to look.
Plus---This product is exciting because you can monitor many stocks at one time. Even the entire SP500. You can have multiple scan lists going on. You can sort the output columns to group what you have
found from the scan list.
Con.--no holy grail---as in any system you must take the time
to become intimate with how the indicators work-- what will trigger
them, what will not trigger them. The data is 20 min delayed but
the charts are daily---want to see a second chart that will be
at intraday level.
These comments are based upon a limited amount of time with the
system but it is an exciting system that makes you think about the stocks that
you are watching.
NEVADA
I love the concept . I use the force indicator with the MACD and
ADA. The software is simple to use and the concept is very good.
COLORADO
The program is very easy to use. I think it is a very slick program and uses a novel method of gathering the data that I think is the wave of the future. I honestly believe that you have the most exacting stock information
software that is available on the mar ket. Nice going.
CALIFORNIA
Smooth and easy install -- really runs like clockwork just as you indicate!
CALIFORNIA
At my brokerage firm, where I am a financial advisor, we have
access to scores of trading tools. For my price-volume work,
I like to use Scan Wizard (http://option-wizard.com/scanwizard).
I like its power, simplicity and ease of use, but I use it because
it gives me a price-volume insight into the market that I cant
quite achieve with any other tool.
You can come close.
For non-professional investors, there are several standalone (TC
2000) and web-based (eSignal Rally Scan and traderbot.com) programs
that scan for criteria, (e.g. most active, volume/average volume,
% gain, % loss, etc.), but Scan Wizard does it a bit differently
and that makes all the difference. Like a stealth fighter, Scan
Wizard flies under the conventional radar to get at what is happening
within any stock or within your list of stocks that might otherwise
go unnoticed, rather than the vast market as a whole. It can
also pick up more subtle changes in price and volume that does
not show up on conventional scanning software.
Heres what I mean.
Scan Wizard is based on the Force Index model by author and educator
Dr. Alexander Elder. Force Index is a powerful technical indicator,
but comes onboard surprisingly few software programs. Scan Wizard
uses two models: Force Index and Triple Filter.
Force Index generates a buy signal when 20 day moving average
of Force Index changes from negative to positive. It generates
a sell signal when 20 day moving average of Force Index changes
from positive to negative.
(Force Index is strikingly objective. It doesnt know if the
stock is the most loved stock on Wall Street, or the most hated.
It doesnt know if the stock is supposed to go up, or go down.
It doesnt know the stocks PE ratio. It doesnt know what it
makes or sells. It only knows what is actually happening in the
stock, and reflects this back accurately.)
Triple Filter is the second on-board trading model. Besides Force
Index, it adds trend and momentum conditions. You must be in
an uptrend to buy (defined by fast moving average being above
slow moving average, in Scan Wizard 5 and 20 day), and you must
not be overbought (stochastics must be below 75). Reverse these
for the short side.
Scan Wizard charts for these, and only these criteria: candlesticks,
stochastics, and Force Index. It also has a news retrieval feature,
accessing Yahoo financial news.
Preferences allows a client to select free, 20 minute delay data,
or real time data from AT Financial (http://www.atfi.com).
Does it work?
I love software, gadgets, buttons, and the like as much as the
next guy, but as a financial advisor, the question for this software
as well as any other has to be: does it work?
The answer, for me, is "yes."
Take Intel, for example.
Back in late August-early September, Intel was in the 70s, then
60s, yet many analysts were calling for $100 price targets.
On September 8, Scan Wizard went short INTC 65.375. We urged
clients to sell; a total of 75,000 shares were sold. Fourteen
days later, the stock crashed, and steadily declined. We averted
a potential loss of $2.2 million.
This signal would not have shown up with a conventional scan tool
on a most active, or % volume change, etc. basis. The change
was more subtle.
On the long side, Scan Wizard "bought" Aetna at 62 in early November.
The stock rallied 10% the following four weeks.
Scan Wizard works best when there is a clear change in direction.
When a stock meanders sideways, it will generate contradictory
buy and sell signals, i.e. "noise." When a breakout of this neutral
territory takes place, however, it can be quite definitive (e.g.
Scan Wizard recommended AET after a period of back and forth signals
in the days previous.)
On the ergonomics side, Scan Wizard is easy to set up, easy to
run. It comes lists of stocks such as the Dow Jones 30, Internet
50, S&P 500, etc. You can overwrite or edit a list with your
own ticker symbols using any text editor, as few or as many as
you would like.
On the negative side: as prescient as they sometime can be, Scan
Wizard can generate noise in a sideways market. Furthermore,
recommendations shouldnt be followed blindly, nor do the developers
suggest they should. Take the signals for what they are, meaningful
change in price-volume structure, then do the requisite homework
to find out why.
Summarizing, we like Scan Wizard because it:
1. Employs the lesser known, yet powerful Force Index model.
2. Is objective, has no long or short side bias.
3. Focuses on the internal condition of any individual stock,
i.e. price-volume change within a stock that may presage a major
move.
4. Focuses on our list of key stocks, stocks we know vs. the market
universe.
5. Logs a track record on board for every individual stock scan.
They say "the right tool for the right job." For fast, easy price-volume
work, we like having Scan Wizard in our tool chest.
CHICAGO -- Scan Wizard is a trademark of Sarkett & Associates, Inc. -- 111[an error occurred while processing this directive]