Platform Guide · Lesson 2 of 13
Scan the Market: Watchlist, Screeners and Market Intel
Keep a short watchlist, narrow the market with screeners, and use Market Intel’s Market Map, Smart Money and News tabs for context.
In this lesson
- Organize a focused watchlist
- Use a screener to narrow the market to your criteria
- Read the Market Map, Smart Money and News for context rather than signals
Start with a short Watchlist. Add tickers, group them into categories and choose the columns you need. Select a symbol to open its chart. Quotes can be cached, so check freshness rather than treating the list as an execution screen.
Screeners narrow the market by stocks, option chains or options activity. Start from a preset or build your own filters, save the screens you reuse, and add results to your watchlist.
Market Intel: three tabs of context
- Market Map compares day changes across sectors. Tiles are equal in size, so a tile’s area says nothing about a company’s value. The map fills in as data arrives.
- Smart Money collects reported congressional trades, institutional holdings and short interest. These are disclosures, often published weeks after the activity they describe.
- News filters headlines by ticker and source, which helps explain an unusual move.
Watch out
A reported holding doesn’t show an investor’s whole portfolio, hedges or current position. Short interest and today’s short volume are different measures. A well-known name is not a reason to copy a trade.
Note Which plans include it
The watchlist, Market Map (delayed on Free) and News are on every plan. Screeners are included in Retail. Smart Money is included in Advance; on other plans its tab shows what it adds.
Check your understanding
2 questions. Answer each one, then open “Show answer” to compare.
Show answer
Answer: B. What it reported for an earlier period
Holdings are reported for a past period and published later. They don’t show hedges, later sales or intent.
Show answer
Answer: False.
The map’s tiles are equal in size. Color shows the day’s change; area carries no meaning.
Key takeaways
- A short watchlist is easier to follow than a long one.
- Screeners narrow the market; they don’t rank what to trade.
- Market Intel gives context: sector moves, reported disclosures and headlines.
- Disclosures describe the past, often with a delay.
Try it in StratosHedge
Open Market Intel and compare today’s Market Map with the headlines on the News tab. Look for one move the news explains and one it doesn’t.
Open Market Intel Needs: Free account
Progress is saved in this browser only.
Educational content, not investment advice. Lessons describe how markets and models tend to behave. They don’t tell anyone what to buy, sell or hold. Interactive examples use illustrative sample data, and simulator results are simulated — not actual trading. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.
Risk disclosureCharacteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (OCC) (opens in a new tab)