Methodology

Momentum Screener ranks securities using systematic, rules-based measures of price momentum. The goal is to identify securities with strong, sustained trends relative to their peers while reducing the influence of short-lived price moves.

The rankings are a starting point for research. They are not predictions, price targets, or buy and sell recommendations.

The ranking process

Each ranking follows the same broad process:

1. Define the securities eligible for the selected market and screener.
2. Evaluate adjusted price history using the selected momentum strategy.
3. Calculate an underlying momentum score for each eligible security.
4. Order the eligible securities from strongest to weakest to produce a strategy rank.
5. Apply the user's result limits and filters to decide which ranked securities appear in the current list.

This separation matters: filters can change what you see without recalculating the underlying strategy scores or ranks.

Ranking universes

Rankings are relative to a defined universe, not to every tradable security in the world. The universe depends on the screener, market, plan, and available data.

For example, the Free Screener ranks eligible current members of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. Paid plans can provide broader U.S. equity coverage and additional asset-class screeners. See Data & Delays for current coverage and availability.

A high rank means that a security has stronger measured momentum than most eligible peers in that calculation universe. It does not mean the security is inexpensive, low-risk, or certain to rise.

The five momentum strategies

The five strategies evaluate momentum independently. The same security can rank differently in each because every strategy emphasizes a different part of its price history.

The four Trend strategies measure how consistently a security sustains an upward price trend over their respective horizons. They also use growth confirmation so that a flat security is not treated the same as one that persistently advances. The exact formulas, adjustment constants, and weighting rules are proprietary.

Weighted Average is not a simple average of the four displayed Trend ranks. It independently combines momentum information across multiple horizons into another relative ranking.

Scores, strategy ranks, and list position

These terms describe different parts of the workflow:

• Momentum score is the underlying measurement produced by one strategy. Scores make securities comparable within that calculation.
• Strategy rank is a security's position after eligible securities are ordered by score. Rank #1 is the strongest measured result for that strategy and universe.
• List position is the number shown beside a security in the current screener results. It reflects the current filtered and sorted list, so it may differ from the security's underlying strategy rank.

Because ranks are relative, a security's rank can change even when its own price changes very little. Other securities in the universe may strengthen or weaken around it. Changing filters can also remove securities from the visible list, changing list positions without changing the stored strategy ranks.

When rankings update

Momentum Screener is designed for persistent momentum research rather than second-by-second signals. Rankings are recalculated after each relevant market close using the latest completed end-of-day data available to the ranking pipeline.

Processing continues after the closing bell while prices, corporate actions, and other required inputs are validated. Rankings remain on the latest completed dataset until the next calculation finishes. Current-session prices may appear elsewhere in the product without changing those rankings or their order.

For a surface-by-surface explanation, see Data & Delays.

How to use the rankings

Higher-ranked securities have stronger measured momentum under the selected strategy relative to their eligible peers. The screener is most useful for:

• Finding candidates that deserve further research
• Comparing trend strength across a market universe
• Seeing whether momentum appears across one or several horizons
• Tracking how a security's relative standing changes over time
• Combining a stable ranked list with charts, company data, volatility statistics, and your own investment criteria

Agreement across several strategies can show that a trend is visible under multiple horizons. Disagreement is also useful: it can reveal that leadership is recent, fading, or uneven across timeframes.

A high ranking does not evaluate every part of an investment. Momentum strategies do not determine intrinsic value or account for your financial circumstances, portfolio constraints, or risk tolerance.

Current rankings versus backtests

The current screener answers: How do eligible securities rank now under this strategy?

Historical backtests answer a different question: How would a defined model portfolio have behaved if it had applied specified ranking, selection, weighting, and rebalance rules to historical data?

Backtests therefore include assumptions that are not part of a raw current rank, such as the number of holdings, rebalance schedule, benchmark, portfolio weighting, and transaction-cost treatment. The Historical Performance page displays those assumptions with the corresponding results.

Backtested results are hypothetical. They do not represent an actual account and can differ materially from results that could have been achieved in practice. Historical performance does not guarantee future performance.

Methodology limitations

No momentum model provides a complete assessment of an investment opportunity. Important limitations include:

• Momentum is derived primarily from historical market prices and cannot anticipate unexpected events.
• Relative ranks depend on the composition of the eligible universe and can change when that universe changes.
• Rapid reversals can weaken an established trend before longer-horizon measures fully respond.
• Data delays, corrections, and differences between instruments can affect comparisons near calculation times.
• Historical datasets can retain effects from corporate actions, classification changes, incomplete coverage, or survivorship despite efforts to identify and correct them.
• Raw ranks do not incorporate an individual investor's taxes, liquidity needs, portfolio constraints, risk tolerance, or actual execution costs.