How is the 150-day moving average (MA150) signal calculated?

MA150 is a simple moving average of the last 150 trading-day closing prices. Scanance flags an MA150 buy signal when price is within 1% above its MA150 level, and an MA150 short signal when price is within 1% below. The 200-day MA200 follows the same rule on a 200-day window.

How is RSI calculated on Scanance?

Scanance uses the standard Wilder 14-period RSI. RSI 70 is flagged as overbought (potential short signal). The 14-period smoothing follows Wilder's original 1978 formulation: avg_gain and avg_loss are exponentially smoothed with alpha = 1/14.

How does Scanance compute MACD?

MACD uses the standard 12/26/9 setting: a 12-period EMA minus a 26-period EMA gives the MACD line, and a 9-period EMA of that gives the signal line. The histogram is MACD line minus signal line. A positive histogram crossover (negative to positive) is flagged bullish; a negative crossover is flagged bearish.

How is the volume ratio computed?

Volume ratio is current-day volume divided by the 20-day average volume. Scanance uses it as a confirmation signal: ratios above 1.5× are flagged "above average," above 3× are "very high." The 20-day window matches a typical trading month.

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Methodology

How Scanance scans stocks. The exact formulas, data sources, and timing.

Data

Scanance uses end-of-day OHLCV data (open, high, low, close, volume) refreshed once per trading day after market close. The scan runs across approximately 7,500 stocks in 10 markets: NYSE, NASDAQ, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Dow 30, FTSE 100, DAX 40, CAC 40, Nikkei 225, and ASX 200. We do not use intraday or real-time data.

Indicator 1: MA150 / MA200

The simple moving average is the average closing price over the last n trading days. We compute two windows:

MA150: average of the last 150 closes — a medium-term trend filter
MA200: average of the last 200 closes — the classic long-term trend marker

Scanance flags an MA150 buy when price is within 1% above its MA150, and an MA150 short when price is within 1% below. The 1% band catches stocks that are actively crossing the MA, where the most decisions get made.

Indicator 2: RSI(14)

The Relative Strength Index measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes on a 0–100 scale. We use the standard Wilder 14-period RSI (Wilder, 1978).

RSI < 30 — oversold; flagged as a potential buy signal
RSI > 70 — overbought; flagged as a potential short signal
30–70 is treated as neutral and not flagged

The smoothing follows Wilder's original method: avg_gain = (avg_gain × 13 + gain) / 14 and the same for losses, giving an exponential moving average with α = 1/14.

Indicator 3: MACD (12, 26, 9)

MACD captures momentum shifts. Scanance uses the standard 12/26/9 setting:

MACD line = 12-period EMA − 26-period EMA
Signal line = 9-period EMA of the MACD line
Histogram = MACD line − signal line

A bullish crossover (histogram flipping from negative to positive) is flagged as a buy signal. A bearish crossover is flagged as a short signal.

Volume ratio

Volume ratio is current-day volume divided by the 20-day average. We use it as confirmation, not as a primary signal:

≥ 3.0× — “Very high” (institutional flow, news, or earnings reaction)
≥ 1.5× — “Above average”
0.7–1.5× — “Normal”
< 0.7× — “Below average”

Confirmed setups

A confirmed setup is a stock where two or more of the four indicators (MA150, MA200, RSI, MACD) signal the same direction on the same trading day. Confirmed setups reduce single-indicator false positives — they are statistically more reliable than any single signal in isolation.

A confirmed buy means at least two of: MA150 buy, MA200 buy, RSI oversold, MACD bullish crossover. A confirmed short is the bearish equivalent.

What this is not

Scanance is not investment advice. Technical indicators are mathematical descriptions of past price behaviour. They produce regular false positives, ignore fundamental and macroeconomic context, and do not reliably predict future price movement. Anyone using Scanance to make trading decisions accepts that responsibility themselves.

We do not provide personalised recommendations, do not know your risk tolerance, and have no financial advisor relationship with you. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before making any trade.

Schedule

The full scan runs at approximately 02:30 UTC each trading day, after all covered markets have closed. US-only scans complete first; Asian and European markets follow. Premium subscribers see results immediately on completion; free users see them five trading days later.

Have a question about the methodology that's not answered here? Get in touch.