With more than 17,000 stocks being traded in the United States stock market nowadays, choosing profitable stocks to invest in has become the toughest task for stock brokers and dealers. If you are an independent investor in stocks, then you will find it even tougher to find stocks that meet your selection criteria for stock trading without any advanced tools. However, the problem can easily be solved by using a stock screener. Stock screening software is now abundantly available online, and these software programs can actually help you achieve a long term winning streak with stocks.

Some of the main advantages of using stock screening software for stock trading are:

?Once you have your stock selection variables decided, stock screening can make investment decisions fast and easy. By using a stock screener, you get to know about all the stocks that meet your selection criteria with a single click. Stock screeners can screen thousands of stocks within seconds. Doing the same thing manually is simply not possible, especially considering the time frames that you are required to work with.

?Stock screening takes emotions out of stock trading. And unless you always have amazing stock intuition, this is the best course to follow. Investing without letting your emotions get in the way will definitely increase your wins and cut down on losses, provided you are using the correct variables for screening.

?Stock screeners screen thousands of stocks within seconds. While you might still not want to base your decision to buy or sell simply on a stock screen result, these programs definitely narrow down the list of stocks with which you have to work drastically.

?Current stock screeners in the market not only perform complete technical analysis of stocks based on the provided criteria, but they also give users the screened information in an easy to read and convenient format. What is more is that most of the stock screeners in the market today will also provide you with company profiles, comparative reports and intra day charting. With all this information on hand, taking stock trading decisions becomes more balanced, prudent and safe.

Getting Started With Stock Screening

If you are just getting started with stock screeners, then you can start using a basic screening version. Basic stock screeners let you set your screening criteria based on a predetermined set of variables that already exist for screening. This kind of screening is perfect for beginners and those who do not want to spend a lot of time in setting their screens. Experienced investors can try out advanced stock screeners, which require users to not just provide the criterion variable, but also to provide the value and the condition. Most basic stock screeners are available online for free, while some advanced programs are provided at a nominal fee.