A stock screener for over-the-counter (OTC) stocks helps traders cut through the noise and find the stocks they want to trade. It’s essential if you want to look for OTC stocks that actually meet your criteria.
OTC stocks are unlisted stocks that trade on the OTC markets. Many of these stocks don’t have to report their financial information — which is why many sketchy penny stocks can be found there.
Penny stocks are stocks that trade under $5 per share. They often have high volatility — meaning their price can change drastically in a really short time. You can’t waste time; otherwise, you’ll lose out on potential trading opportunities. That’s why a stock screener is essential in penny stock trading.
What are the best OTC stock screeners, and how can they improve the way you trade? Let’s jump right in!
What Are Over-the-Counter Stocks?
Over-the-counter stocks are securities that don’t trade on major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq Stock Market. Instead, they’re traded on decentralized platforms such as OTC Markets and often appear as pink sheet stocks. These are typically smaller companies, international issuers, or businesses that don’t meet listing requirements.
Many of these stocks lack regular financial disclosures, which raises the risk for traders. But for experienced stock traders looking for hot stocks, these markets can provide volatile setups, especially in microcap stocks that are lightly regulated. Tools like the Yahoo Stock Screener and Zacks Stock Screener can help highlight these opportunities when they support OTC filters.
How OTC Stocks Differ from Listed Stocks
The biggest difference between OTC stocks and listed securities is the lack of oversight and transparency. Stocks listed on the Nasdaq or NYSE follow stricter reporting and compliance rules. OTC issuers, especially those on the pink sheets, often operate with looser requirements and fewer investor protections.
This lack of structure affects liquidity, bid/ask spreads, and trade execution. It also means that you won’t find OTC tickers on many default screeners unless they offer coverage of international securities trading or SEC-regulated alternative trading systems. If you’re screening for active penny stocks, always verify where and how the security trades.
Why Traders Look at Microcap and Penny OTC Stocks
Traders look at low-priced OTC names for one main reason—volatility. Microcap stocks and most active penny stocks can move dramatically with minimal volume, giving day traders the chance to capitalize on large intraday moves. This is especially true with stocks with a low float and news catalysts.
You won’t find reliable earnings reports or financial guidance in most cases, which makes traditional valuation metrics like P/E unreliable. But using custom filters in platforms like the finviz Stock Screener or MarketWatch Stock Screener can help you isolate the setups worth watching. That’s why strategy and screener choice matter more here than in traditional equity trading.
What Is an OTC Stock Screener?
An OTC stock screener is a tool that helps you find OTC stocks to trade. It can scan through thousands of assets on OTC stock exchanges and filters them down to a handful of tickers that match your preferred criteria.
Why is a stock screener important, and how can it help you trade? Read my article on the basics of stock screeners.
Importance of Using an OTC Stock Screener
Using an OTC stock screener helps you find stocks that match your trading preferences.
But there’s a catch when using stock screeners to scan for OTC stocks: use one that supports OTC stock scans. Not all stock screeners on the market can scan OTC stocks, so do your due diligence before picking a stock screener.
Here’s a look at what I like to scan for…
Why Do You Need an OTC Stock Screener
You need an OTC stock screener to find stocks you want to trade. An OTC stock screener is like a sieve. You pour all the securities on the OTC market into it and let all the stocks that don’t match your preferences pass through. The ones left will be the stocks that fit your strategy.
A stock screener also lets you customize filters according to your preferences. This ensures you only find companies and stocks that match your trading criteria.
Different types of stock screeners excel at different purposes — here are my favorite penny stock screeners and low float stock screeners. You can also check out my picks for the best overall stock screeners.
Advantages of OTC Stock Screeners
The main advantage of an OTC stock screener is the ability to scan for OTC stocks. You can combine parameters and criteria to make sure you only see the stocks that fit your trading strategy.
Your stock screener should also be able to save different filter configurations, so you don’t have to reset them every time you want to screen for stocks. You can also use your various saved filters depending on the trading situation.
You need to input the right parameters to get the stocks that fit your trading requirements. Head over to my article on the best stock screener queries to learn more.
How We Evaluated These Best OTC Stock Screeners
There are lots of stock screeners out there, but not all are cut out to be great OTC stock screeners.
Here are three criteria I use when looking for stock screeners for OTC stocks:
- Pricing: Most of the best OTC stock screeners are paid products. Find a stock screener that suits your price range but still fulfills your needs.
- Customizability: A stock screener’s worth is determined by its criteria. Find a customizable stock screener you can tweak according to your needs.
- Access to OTC assets: Not all stock screeners can access OTC stocks. Make sure to find one that can screen OTC stocks.
These three aren’t the only criteria you can use. Feel free to add your own to ensure the stock screeners you find match well with your trading strategy.
Best OTC Stocks Screeners for 2025
Here are my picks for the best OTC screeners:
- StocksToTrade — Best Overall OTC Stock Screener
- Trade Ideas — Best AI-Powered OTC Stock Screener
- TradingView — Best Real-Time OTC Stock Screener
- TC2000 — Most Customizable OTC Stock Screener
- Stock Rover — Best OTC Stock Screener for Search Parameter Variety
You’re not getting married here — try them all and stick with the one that works best for you!
1. StocksToTrade — Best Overall OTC Stock Screener
My first OTC stock screener pick is StocksToTrade.
I use StocksToTrade every day — it’s my favorite stock screener. It’s a robust, insanely customizable real-time screener that lets you screen for any criteria that you need for trading. It also comes with loads of trader-built screens, so you can trade like the pros.
StocksToTrade also gives you lots of ways to keep tabs on the stocks on your watchlist through its news scanner and charting features, so you won’t miss out on actionable trades.
But wait — there’s more. Meet Oracle, the algorithmic chart analysis tool. This nifty piece of technology scans the day’s most tradable stocks to give you actionable trade signals. You can get a taste of Oracle with our NO-COST trade alerts!
Take StocksToTrade for a spin — get a 14-day trial for just $7!
2. Trade Ideas — Best AI-Powered OTC Stock Screener
My second OTC stock screener pick is Trade Ideas.
The Trade Ideas stock screener features Holly, a highly-advanced trading AI. It’s named after the Holy Grail, so you know the team’s confident about this technology.
So, what does Holly do? It scans the day’s stocks and analyzes the best potential setups to provide trading recommendations tailored to your strategy. You shouldn’t let Holly take the wheel entirely, but it’s still really useful to give you trade ideas to work with. But remember — always do your due diligence before committing to Holly’s picks.
3. TradingView — Best Real-Time OTC Stock Screener
My third OTC stock screener pick is TradingView.
TradingView brings one of the most important things about OTC stock screeners to the table — real-time stock quotes. These are only available for some stocks, so do your due diligence in checking that it will work for the stocks you target.
TradingView also comes with stock heatmaps that measure stock performance. Setting these heatmaps to show the stocks on your watchlist is a great way to spot the biggest gainers and losers at a single glance.
4. TC2000 — Most Customizable OTC Stock Screener
My fourth OTC stock screener pick is TC2000
Like many stock screeners, TC2000 lets you make your own screener filters. But unlike other screeners, TC2000 allows users to make the screeners they want by using a coding-like language. This gives you even more freedom in customizing your filters to your trading requirements.
TC2000 also has a powerful watchlist feature that lets you run scans inside your watchlist to refine your stock picks even further. This means you can get an even better idea of how the stocks on your watchlists are doing.
5. Stock Rover — Best OTC Stock Screener for Search Parameter Variety
My fifth OTC stock screener pick is Stock Rover.
A stock screener is only as good as its search parameters — and Stock Rover offers over 650 of them to build filters from. You can combine all these parameters to create the stock screener that fits your preferences to a T.
Stock Rover also comes with watchlists curated by its crew that covers many different categories. You can use them as-is to track stocks or build new watchlists with the pre-existing ones to start off from.
Here’s how I build my daily watchlists!
How to Build a Smart Screener Setup
Start with the basics: filter for market capitalization, current price, and average trading volume. Add in float, debt to equity, and custom chart-based filters for technical setups. Your goal is to build a screener that highlights fast-moving setups without drowning in irrelevant tickers.
This is where screeners with flexible filter logic shine. The ability to scan for percentage gain, high RSI, or price consolidation patterns can help narrow your list fast. And if your screener supports sectors like energy stocks or biotech, you can zero in on the hottest segments.
Risk Considerations in OTC Trading
OTC trading comes with higher risk because of low liquidity, limited reporting, and wider spreads. Even when using the best screeners, you can get caught in a stock with no real order flow. That’s why I always teach traders to screen not just for setups — but also float data and recent notional trading activity.
Avoid OTC stocks with no financials or confusing share structures. If the market cap is unclear or the float is unusually low, you may be walking into a trap. The right screener helps you avoid those names before they become a problem.
Final Thoughts
An OTC stock screener helps you find OTC stocks that fit your trading strategies. Be careful when looking for a stock screener for OTC stocks — some of the popular stock screeners can’t scan OTC stocks and don’t have real-time data, which makes them unusable for OTC stock trading.
A strong screener should help you spot hot stocks, gap up stocks, and high-momentum setups, regardless of where they trade.
Here’s one more stock screener pick for you: the Alpha Scanner by millionaire trader Matt Monaco. Matt brought his old software engineering skills back to build a stock screener based on his profitable trading style.
The Alpha Scanner is jam-packed with live mentoring sessions, trade alerts, and more. Can Matt’s life’s work be your edge in trading? Here’s how you find out…
Sign up to join the next Alpha Scanner LIVE broadcast to learn more!
OTC Stock Screener FAQs
What Key Features Do the Top OTC Stock Screeners Offer for Penny Stocks?
Top OTC stock screeners like Finviz and MarketWatch offer specific features such as volume filters, markets filter, and choices for penny stock screening. These tools allow traders to filter through thousands of stocks, including penny stocks, focusing on those that meet specific technical and fundamental criteria. Features like chart patterns and earnings reports play a huge role in helping traders identify potential actionable penny stock trades.
How Do News and Market Data Influence OTC Stock Screening?
The integration of advanced news feeds, such as StocksToTrade’s Breaking News Chat add-on alerts for news, is crucial for traders using OTC stock screeners. These tools provide real-time updates and the biggest news catalysts that can impact market price and price action. Check out the features on the Breaking News 14-day trial to see what it has to offer!
How Can Traders Utilize Technical and Fundamental Analysis in OTC Screening?
Traders utilize technical analysis by applying chart patterns and monitoring price action, while fundamental analysis might focus on earnings reports and market performance. These methods are foundational in tools like OTC stock screeners, where they help identify stocks with breakout trading strategies or bullish trading setups. Analyzing the average trading volume and current trading volume also provides insights into trading activity, which is essential for making informed trading decisions.
What Are the Benefits of Using Built-In and Customizable Scans in Stock Screeners?
Using built-in and customizable scans in stock screeners provides advanced users with the flexibility to tailor their searches to specific trading strategies, like those needed for blue-chip or blockchain stocks. Improved user interfaces help streamline this process, making it easier to include additional filters and scans that pinpoint trading opportunities in specific markets such as airline stocks or casino stocks. These features are designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of trading, offering additional trading opportunities to those engaged in the market.