How to Scan for Range-Bound Stocks

December 21, 2024

 I don't have a direct way to do that. Range bound could be very subjective...  

• Basing Scans - all of the scans there could fit the bill.  I'd start with the Bollinger Band Squeeze scan.
• Low Volatility Scans - There are 4 Bollinger Band based scans and the "3 Weeks Tight" scan.
• Range Contraction Scans - mostly overlaps with the above two categories
• And after seeing the Moving Average Scans category I remembered one of those in particular -- the Timeframe Trends scan (see my blog post about that scan) which allows you to do something like "find stocks above their 200 DMA but flat (close to) with respect to their 50 & 10 DMAs"

You could try searching for stocks crossing a certain moving average -- which average is again subjective and would vary based on the timeframe you care about. Filtering for stocks rated C might also help as A & B rated stocks tend to be ones in some kind of uptrend... (and D & F rated tend to be in some kind of downtrend)

You can also play around with the "price vs moving average" filters on any scan:

And you could also get creative with the Combo Scan and/or the Back-to-Back scans.  One idea that comes to mind is doing a back-to-back scan for stocks which have crossed a moving average 2 or 3 days in a row.

So there are potentially many ways to find range-bound (non-trending) stocks with SwingTradeBot.   If anyone has other ideas please leave them in the comments.