A stock screener for penny stocks helps you find the penny stocks you want to trade. It cuts through the noise of thousands of stocks and lets you hone in on the stocks that actually meet your criteria.
Penny stocks often have high volatility — meaning their price can change drastically in a really short time.
Wasted time equals missed trading opportunities.
That’s why a stock screener is essential in penny stock trading.
What are the best penny stock screeners, and why did I pick them? Let’s dive right in!
What Are Penny Stocks?
Penny stocks are stocks that trade at a low price, below $5 per share as a default state. They can make big moves in a really short time. It isn’t unusual to see 100%, even 200% moves happen in a single trading day.
Penny stocks usually have small market caps, meaning the total value of their shares is relatively small. Most penny stock companies are also new or unknown.
Why are stock screeners important for traders? Check out my guide to the basics of stock screeners to learn more.
How to Evaluate Penny Stocks
You can evaluate penny stocks by doing your due diligence and studying chart patterns. Then you develop trading plans and methodology with clear conditions to trade the stocks you’re watching..
I look for increased volume and news catalysts. You can use a stock screener platform to help you spot volume spikes and high-impact news stories.
I use the Breaking News Chat add-on for StocksToTrade. It helps me spot the biggest news catalysts of the day…
Get a StocksToTrade + Breaking News 14-day trial — only $17!
What Is a Stock Screener for Penny Stocks?
A stock screener for penny stocks is a tool that helps penny stock traders find the assets they want to buy or sell. It scours through the thousands of securities available to trade and filters them to a handful of tickers that match their preferred criteria.
Importance of Using a Penny Stocks Screener
Using a penny stock screener can help you find penny stocks that match your trading preferences.
There’s one thing to note when using penny stock screeners: use one that scans for OTC stocks. Not all stock screeners are built to scan for OTC stocks, so using them might mean losing out on actionable penny stock trades.
Why Do You Need a Stock Screener for Penny Stocks
You need a stock screener for penny stocks to find the stocks you want to trade. A screener helps regulate the flow of information from stock exchanges so you don’t get overwhelmed. Instead of drinking water from a firehose, you’re drinking from a tap that you can easily control.
A stock screener also gives you fine control over your stock searches, ensuring you’ll only find tickers that match your preferences perfectly.
Different stock screeners are appropriate for different trading styles. Here are my top picks for the best value stock screeners and best low float stock screeners. I also have a list of the best overall stock screeners.
Advantages of a Penny Stocks Screener
The most important advantage of a penny stock screener is its control over what to screen for. You can input any search criteria you want to make sure you find the stocks that fit your trading strategy.
Your stock screener also saves multiple filter configurations, meaning you don’t have to rebuild them every day. You can just save all the filters you need and use them as the situation requires.
How We Evaluated These Best Stock Screeners for Penny Stocks
Not all stock screeners are cut out to be penny stock screeners — you gotta separate the wheat from the chaff first.
Here are three criteria I use when looking for penny stock screeners:
- Pricing: Almost all of the best penny stock screeners are paid products. Find a screener that suits your budget but still fulfills your needs.
- Customizability: A stock screener is only as good as its indicators. Find a stock screener that you can customize according to your requirements.
- Ability to scan for OTC stocks: If your penny stock trading plan includes OTC stocks, find a screener that can scan for OTC stocks. Even if you don’t trade OTC stocks, why limit yourself by selecting a limited screener?
To refine your search even further, check my guide to the best stock screener criteria.
Best Penny Stocks Screeners
Here are my picks for the best penny stock screeners:
- StocksToTrade — Best Overall Penny Stock Screener
- Benzinga Pro — Best Penny Stock Screener for News Scanning
- TD Ameritrade — Best Penny Stock Screener for New and Advanced Traders
- MarketWatch Stock Screener — Best Web-Based Penny Stock Screener
- Yahoo Stock Screener — Most Accessible Penny Stock Screener
You don’t have to choose just one. Try them all and see which one works best for you!
1. StocksToTrade — Best Overall Penny Stock Screener
My first penny stock screener pick is StocksToTrade.
StocksToTrade tops this list because it’s MY favorite stock screener. It’s insanely customizable, meaning you can screen for any criteria you want. You can also use its many trader-built screens, so you can trade like the pros.
Once you have a watchlist going, its charting and news scanner features help you keep tabs on those stocks so you won’t miss out on trading opportunities.
Here’s another extra perk for you: the Oracle algorithmic chart analysis tool. It scans the day’s most tradable stocks to give you actionable trade signals. And best of all, you can get a taste of it with our NO-COST Oracle trade alerts!
2. Benzinga Pro — Best Penny Stock Screener for News Scanning
My second penny stock screener pick is Benzinga Pro.
Like many other screeners, Benzinga Pro offers a real-time news feed that lets you stay on top of catalysts. But Benzinga takes it a step further with an advanced news feed that lets you filter for specific titles or stock parameters, helping you identify relevant news that might present new trading opportunities.
Benzinga is also a good fit for screening penny stocks because it offers real-time quotes and lets you scan OTC stocks.
3. TD Ameritrade — Best Penny Stock Screener for New and Advanced Traders
My third penny stock screener pick is TD Ameritrade’s suite of platforms.
The basic TD Ameritrade screener is meant for newer traders because it has educational tools and materials designed to get their feet wet. It also has 25 predefined stock screeners you can customize further to refine your searches.
Its thinkorswim desktop trading platform is a more powerful app for experienced traders. It offers more control for advanced users by giving them the ability to construct their own trading tools and conduct more varied types of analysis.
That said, TD Ameritrade is very friendly to penny stock traders. Its screener takes OTC stocks into account — you can even get real-time data for free!
4. MarketWatch Stock Screener — Best Web-Based Penny Stock Screener
My fourth penny stock screener pick is MarketWatch Stock Screener.
MarketWatch’s stock screener is just one of the many tools offered on the MarketWatch website. While somewhat light on features, it does its main job well. Its robust screener lets you filter by various technical and fundamental indicators quickly.
MarketWatch is primarily a news and analysis website, and it shows when you drill down into each stock. In addition to key data of the stock itself, you get a feed of the company’s recent news as well as an analyst rating to help you make educated trading decisions.
One knock against the MarketWatch screener is that it doesn’t scan for OTC stocks. You can manually check for information on OTC companies on the MarketWatch site, but you can’t screen for them on its screener tool.
5. Yahoo Stock Screener — Most Accessible Penny Stock Screener
My fifth penny stock screener pick is the Yahoo Stock Screener.
Yahoo’s stock screener gets a lot of points for being extremely accessible. You can access the screener from a browser, and it gives you 15 pre-made screeners for free. A premium subscription gets you even more pre-built screeners.
You can edit Yahoo’s pre-made screeners to suit your trading preferences. You can also make brand-new screeners and save them to use in the future.
Another notable thing about Yahoo’s stock screener is that you can browse Yahoo Finance-curated watchlists, which includes lists like the most active and most profitable penny stocks.
But unfortunately, while you can check for information on OTC stocks, the screener doesn’t have access to OTC markets.
Final Thoughts
Penny stock screeners help you find the penny stocks that fit your trading criteria. Not all stock screeners are cut out for penny stock screening — many of them don’t scan for OTC stocks or have real-time data, which might be a dealbreaker if your strategy involves trading OTC stocks.
Here’s another great stock screener for you to consider: millionaire trader Matt Monaco’s Alpha Scanner. He’s a software engineer turned millionaire trader who brought those old skills back to build a screener based on his profitable trading style.
Matt’s packed the Alpha Scanner full of live mentoring sessions, trade alerts, and more. Can his life’s work be your edge in trading? Here’s how you find out…