How to scan for pre-market gainers with Interactive Brokers

I often talk about pre-leaders or pre-market gainers. These are stocks that are up in pre-market trading. They often make for good trades. This video shows how to scan for them yourself. As to trading them, I will write about that in the future; I suggest checking out Muddy’s post about pre-leaders in the meantime.

Disclosure: No positions. I have a disclosure policy.

21 thoughts on “How to scan for pre-market gainers with Interactive Brokers”

  1. In trying to fix my email issue I deleted all the comments (by reverting to a saved version of this website). Sorry for the inconvenience.

  2. Thats cool, I wanted to tell the guy that asked about ToS and pre-market scans, it can’t be done. However, though I would like you to verify this, the scans you do there are real time so if you do a scan before the market opens is that not the same thing.
    I also started doing the supernova scan and it’s pretty cool as well.
    Really great stuff you have here and I’m really learning a lot. I have realized that the amount of stuff I have to learn is enormous and I’m paper trading until I can trade with the right principles and tactics. I trust what you are doing here and know that I’m learning the correct/better way to trade.

    Thanks

  3. Preston — I used TOS for trading for 6 months. I never learned how to do more than trade or chart. So I cannot add anything on doing scans with it.

  4. Michael, when you click on top percent gainers, if you could enter a percent in there what would it be. I use 30% and then scan, maybe thats not the same thing as your doing, keep in mind I’m trying to learn so please tell me right or wrong what I”m doing. There are so many options, top 10 sizzlers Etc., but I keep the parameters on the price and volume the same so it’s just the tab you have for top 10% gainers that I can’t figure out.
    Anyway, lol, I guess thats why you say what you said above. I have learned several scans that do work so I will keep fooling with it until I can upgrade my broker.

  5. Preston – there is no option for the % you want. The market scanner just lists top % gainers and sorts by percentage gains. I like 10% as a cutoff for stocks that I will watch throughout the day; there is no button or option for that. I just don’t copy over the stocks with less than a 10% gain to my watchlist.

  6. Ahhhh, ok. Thanks again. I have created several of your type of scans and then watchlist from them so I’m better than I was, which was nothing when I started reading this blog.
    It’s a good feeling when I start to see some of the same stocks you have on your watchlist, now I just need to learn to trade them. I will not join Tim until I understand more about this, I cannot mindlessly follow nothing.
    Have a good night and I will do my homework on the stocks you have out tonight.

  7. Thanks for the info guys. It seems I’m stuck without pre-market leaders or HOD scans in real time until I can get the cash for IB.

  8. Bastard, you deleted my post…and I said so many nice things about you as well…. 😉

    Would love to see more posts of this nature in regards to IB. Particularly curious if you use their charts? If so would love to see you talk through your chart setups. I have poked into IB charts and given up a couple of times…..

  9. Chris — IB doesn’t have the HOD list. That is Scottrade only (among common brokers).

    BTB — you want it, you’ll get it! More videos of using IB will come.

  10. No Robert — not that I have any real objections to doing that, but it would take valuable time during the most important part of the trading day.

  11. Thanks for the helpful info. The list will not copy/paste onto another page for me (I do know how to copy/paste), its just nothing tranfers over, any thoughts on that?

    Also, what volume do you look for during market hours?
    Thanks again.

    1. I don’t really know what to say about the copy/paste. It works for me and I don’t know why it wouldn’t work for you.

      During market hours I usually use a few hundred thousand as the minimum volume. I have another scanner set up with that default in there … depending on what you are looking for you may want to set it a bit higher or lower.

  12. Hey reaper-explain to me that last hour of cgen. With that kind of volume at 3:08PM taking it up- that just can’t be short covering…was just prof day traders taking it up, or computer generated Hi-freq trading? Then it ran right down to same price-seems odd. Not Prof money mng that need to fill their biopharm mutual funds w/positions I don’t think. I don’t have a position it in-just watching it w/complete fast
    nation…

    1. Rob: we can speculate all we want, but that was unusual activity and I don’t know why it happened. BTW, next time leave a comment on the most recent post if discussing current stocks in play, so other people can see it and comment.

  13. Ctrl c/v wasn’t working for me either so I asked IB support. Highlight the stocks as instructed, then right click, then left click on “copy”, then go to the target page, right click, left click on “paste”.

    Reaper, thanks for the tips!

  14. Hey Michael ,

    Thank you for making this tutorial.
    Recently i got the DVD’s from Tim and started to educate myself.
    I opened up an IB account to start trading but I always found myself too late to get in as 9 out of 10 times all the spikes and break outs happen in the morning on PR , news , pumps , earnings etc…
    Your pre-market scanner is a great tool imo for this, it gives you a good idea , pre-market, whats going to happen.
    So thanks again Michael 🙂
    Regards,
    Roel from Belgium.

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