Wondering what the best forex screeners are? If you’ve ever traded actively in any market, you probably know how important getting in on the best trades can be to your bottom line. A forex screener helps you find viable trades in the forex market.
In the market for a stellar forex screener? Take a look at our list of the best forex screeners to find one now.
Quick Look: Best Forex Screener
- Best Overall: TradingView
- Best for MetaTrader 4 Users: Multi Forex Scanner
- Best for Advanced Traders: MT4 Professional
- Best for Professional Forex Traders: Interactive Brokers
Best Forex Screener Options
The best forex screeners for your needs depend largely on your level of trading experience. For example, an inexperienced trader would not have the background to customize their indicators like a more seasoned trader, so they may not require the ability to do that in the forex screener they select. Benzinga’s picks for the top forex screeners in 5 key categories appear below.
1. Best Overall: TradingView.com
TradingView is a research platform for traders that offers screeners free forex, stock and cryptocurrency markets. TradingView’s online forex screener lets you scan all major and minor currency pairs at a glance. You can also customize the screener with dozens of different filters and indicators to program alerts according to your trading plan and preferences.
TradingView offers the most comprehensive forex screener for traders at all experience levels. A widget of its forex screener is also available for the cTrader trading platform. Several online brokers, such as FOREX.com and Oanda who service the U.S. and link directly to the TradingView website and allow you to trade directly from the TradingView research platform.
2. Best for MetaTrader 4 Users: Multi Forex Scanner
You can download this custom indicator from the MQL5.com website. It was written by Carlos Oliveira for the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platform by MetaQuotes, which is available for download free of charge.
The indicator displays a list of currency pairs, cryptocurrencies and spot metals in the forex platforms’ Market Watch window. The main advantage of this free custom indicator consists of having the ability to automatically execute transactions based on trading opportunities the screener identifies using an expert advisor (EA) written for MT4 that codifies your trading plan.
3. Best for Advanced Traders: MT4 Professional
MT4 Professional is a great options for advanced traders. The platform lets you see the entire market situation at a glance for any symbol and timeframe with your custom rules, based on any standard or custom indicators. No programming skills required on your part.
MT4Professional is integrated inside MT4. You won't need to manage an external program, but the MT4Professional panel will be automatically added to your MT4 without any further actions needed from you. You can scan hundreds of symbols and timeframes using your custom rules, and open all charts with different timeframes and templates for a selected symbol.
Up to 100 indicators are scanned per second, and you have unlimited scanner conditions and flexibility. The real-time MT4 snapshots and trade status on your phone mean you’re always in the know. But don't worry, security is a top priority: the cloud-based platform means you never need to worry about lost data.
4. Best for Professional Forex Traders: Interactive Brokers
- Best For:Active and Global TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:Securely through Interactive Brokers’ website
With one of the most sophisticated trading platforms in the business, Interactive Brokers deliberately caters to the highest level of a professional trader and accepts U.S.-based clients. Interactive Brokers has a $10,000 minimum deposit requirement and it charges clients inactivity fees for idle accounts.
The main advantage of using Interactive is its presence in virtually every major world financial market. Also, its brokerage and margin fees are among the most competitive in the business, which large professional traders will find attractive. If your level of expertise and trading capital don’t meet the broker’s minimum requirements, you might want to choose a different broker.
Interactive’s Trader WorkStation (TWS) market scanners offers a comprehensive set of market indicators and lets you access screeners for a wide variety of world markets that include 23 currencies and their associated pairs. This range gives forex traders plenty of choices.
What is a Forex Screener?
A forex screener is a tool that is used by forex traders to identify potential trading opportunities by filtering through numerous currency pairs. It is a powerful tool that helps a trader focus on specific criteria of interest and ignore those that do not meet their requirements.
Forex screeners offer a wide range of filtering options such as currency pairs, technical indicators, and fundamental analysis criteria. Traders can fully customize the screener to display only those currency pairs that meet their criteria. Thus, traders do not have to waste their time analyzing numerous currency pairs that do not meet their investment needs.
Ultimately, forex screeners help traders to make informed and better trading decisions. Thus, a trader who uses a forex screener often has a better chance of finding good trading opportunities and making more money. Forex screeners are becoming increasingly popular within the forex trading community due to their ability to quickly identify and analyze currency pairs with great potential.
What You Want in a Forex Screener
A forex screener basically scans the entire forex market to find trades based on a set of parameters. A default set of parameters for trade setups generally comes with the screener software that you can customize depending on the screener you choose to use.
A good forex screener will let you monitor the market for multiple currency pairs simultaneously. By default, most screeners display all current information on each currency pair, including its current exchange rate, the daily high and low for that pair, the daily change, and a buy or sell recommendation according to the software’s screening algorithm.
Additionally, a good screener should include a comprehensive set of technical indicators to select from, as well as the option to customize the parameters of those indicators for trade setup alerts.
Where to Trade Forex
If you use the MetaTrader 4 trading platform with any of the top online forex brokers, then a decent low cost option is to simply download the Multi-Forex scanner indicator free of charge from Mql5.com that you can then use with your existing broker. Third-party market screening software like MarketInOut uses its own proprietary algorithms to give you trade setups, but it charges a substantial periodic membership fee for that service.
Online brokers like Interactive Brokers offer their own forex screeners. Other brokers like FOREX.com and Oanda will accept U.S. clients and link directly to the TradingView research platform that offers a very comprehensive forex screener.
You can check out Benzinga’s in-depth FOREX.com Review for more information about that top forex broker, as well as the table below for a detailed broker comparison.
- Best For:Earning Cashback on TradesVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Forex.com's website
- Best For:$100 Welcome BonusVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Trading.com's website
- Best For:Active and Global TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:Securely through Interactive Brokers’ website
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use a screener?
An experienced forex trader that operates in multiple currency pairs, as well as a novice looking for good setups, could benefit considerably from using a forex screener. Although, you may find that the current choices for forex screeners are limited, TradingView, one of the best options, can be integrated with accounts at a number of brokers, including FOREX.com.
The MetaTrader Mql5 option for MetaTrader users can be integrated with other EAs, which is ideal if you want to incorporate the screener’s results into your automated forex strategy. The MarketInOut and Interactive Brokers options would probably make a good fit for well-capitalized traders, fund managers and other professionals operating in multiple markets.
What are forex screeners used for?
Forex screeners allow you to do a deep dive on moving currencies. This allows you to find trading and investment opportunities. Further, screeners allow you to pick up trends by sorting asset classes.
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About Luke Jacobi
Luke Jacobi is a distinguished professional known for his role as President at Benzinga, a renowned financial media outlet. With a background in business operations and management, Luke brings valuable expertise to his position, overseeing various aspects of Benzinga’s operations. His contributions play a crucial role in the company’s success, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness across different departments. Prior to his role at Benzinga, Luke has held positions that have honed his skills in leadership and strategic decision-making. With a keen understanding of the financial industry and a commitment to driving innovation, Luke continues to make significant contributions to Benzinga’s mission of providing high-quality financial news and analysis.