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Site Guide

Every page, explained.

All 124 pages on TheDesperateTrader: what each one shows, what the numbers mean, and how to actually use it when you trade. Search it, or read it top to bottom and you will know the whole site.

Start Here6 pages

If you open one page a day, make it one of these. They answer "what is worth my attention right now".

What you see
The live front page: what is moving right now, the biggest movers, halts, unusual volume and the newest scanner alerts, all on one screen.
How to use it
Use it as your first look of the session. If nothing on the home page is moving, there is usually no trade worth forcing.

Top Stocks Today

/top-stocks
free
What you see
Six ranked stocks with live charts, on five timeframe toggles (Scalping, Day, Swing, Position, Investing). Each card shows the boards that flagged the name and the news catalyst behind the move.
How to use it
The simplest place to start. Pick the timeframe that matches how long you actually hold, then read the badges: a name on four boards has more going for it than a name on one. Refreshes every 30 seconds.

Stock Market Today

/stock-market-today
What you see
The full dashboard behind Top Stocks Today: every leader board (most alerted, movers, RVOL, momentum, EMA trend), a market pulse summary and the Top Play hero, on the same five timeframes.
How to use it
Go here when the six-stock view is not enough and you want the whole board. The Top Play here is the same name ranked number one on Top Stocks Today.

The Pulse

/pulse
What you see
A live stream of everything at once: unusual-volume alerts, trending tickers, market news and the trader community reacting in real time.
How to use it
Leave it open on a second screen during the session. It is the fastest way to notice a name catching fire before it reaches the ranked boards.

Alerts

/alerts
What you see
The real-time alert feed: every stock our scanners flag as it happens, with the level, the reason and the price at the moment of the alert.
How to use it
This is the raw signal everything else is built from. Filter to the alert levels you care about, then click a symbol to open its chart before deciding anything.

Discover

/discover
What you see
A guided entry point that points you at the right scanner or board for what you are trying to find.
How to use it
Use it when you know what you want ("stocks gapping up", "unusual volume") but not which page shows it.

Live Alerts7 pages

Alerts are the engine of the site. These pages are the different ways to receive and review them.

RVOL Alerts

/alerts/rvol
What you see
Relative-volume alerts: stocks trading far more volume than they normally do at this time of day, across pre-market, regular hours and after hours.
How to use it
RVOL is the single best early tell that something is happening. A stock at 10x its normal volume has real participation behind the move, not one buyer.

Mover Alerts

/alerts/movers
What you see
The biggest gainers, biggest losers and most active high-volume stocks, updating live across all three sessions.
How to use it
Cross-check a mover against its RVOL. A big percentage move on thin volume is far easier to reverse than the same move on heavy volume.

Price Alerts

/alerts/price
sign-in
What you see
Set a price on any stock and get notified the moment it crosses, on desktop or phone.
How to use it
Better than watching. Set alerts at the levels that would actually change your mind, then go do something else until one fires.

Alert History

/alerts/history
What you see
Every alert that has fired, searchable after the fact.
How to use it
Use it to review. Pull up yesterday, find the names that ran, and look at what their alerts said at the time. That is how you learn which alert patterns matter.

Caught Early

/caught-early
What you see
Receipts: the exact price and time we first alerted a stock, next to how high it ran the same session.
How to use it
The honest scoreboard for the scanner. Read it to calibrate what an alert is actually worth, rather than assuming.

Feeds

/feeds
What you see
Per-ticker feeds combining real-time volume alerts, momentum moves and trader discussion for the most active names.
How to use it
When one name is the story of the day, its feed is where the alerts and the conversation sit together.

Stream

/stream
What you see
A raw continuous stream of scanner output.
How to use it
For when you want everything unfiltered. Most traders will prefer Alerts or The Pulse.

Scanners and Signals10 pages

Purpose-built scans. Each one answers a single specific question about the market.

All Scanners

/stock-scanners
What you see
The index of every free scanner on the site in one place.
How to use it
Start here if you are not sure which scan you need.

RVOL Scanner

/rvol-scanner
What you see
Relative volume across all US stocks in real time, with level filters and 200 EMA context.
How to use it
Sort by RVOL, then ignore anything you cannot get in and out of. High RVOL on an illiquid name is a trap, not an opportunity.

Halt Scanner

/halt-scanner
What you see
Live trading halts and resumes, including LULD and circuit-breaker halts.
How to use it
Halts mark violent moves. The resume is the tradeable moment, and it is fast. Know the halt code before you touch it.

Halts Today

/stock-halts-today
What you see
Every stock halted today with the reason, LULD code, halt and resume times, price and day move.
How to use it
The after-the-fact record. Reviewing halts is one of the fastest ways to find names with real volatility.

Gap Scanner

/gap-scanner
What you see
The biggest opening gaps against the prior close, with fill status showing whether the gap filled or held.
How to use it
Fill status is the useful column. A gap that holds through the first hour behaves very differently from one that fills immediately.

200 EMA Signals

/signals/ema-200
What you see
Real-time 200 EMA cross and reclaim alerts, plus proximity signals showing which stocks are testing the line.
How to use it
The 200 EMA is where a lot of traders place their line between trend and no trend. Reclaims off it are a cleaner setup than chasing extended names.
What you see
The market ranked by how steep its trend is, on 5-minute, 30-minute, 4-hour, daily and weekly charts. Slope is measured in percent per session so timeframes compare fairly.
How to use it
Slope tells you the strength of a trend, not just its direction. Steep and rising is a different trade from flat and drifting.
What you see
Filter the whole market by price, day percentage change, relative volume and market cap, with one-click preset scans.
How to use it
Build the scan that matches your strategy and save it as your daily routine. Start from a preset and adjust.

Stocks to Watch

/next-session
What you see
The names worth having on your list for the next session.
How to use it
Read it the night before or pre-market. Deciding what you will trade before the open beats reacting after it.

Why Stocks Are Moving

/why-are-stocks-moving-today
What you see
The biggest gainers and losers, each paired with the news or SEC filing behind the move.
How to use it
The "why" changes the trade. A move on an earnings beat behaves differently from one on a dilution filing.

Movers and Rankings14 pages

The same market, sorted different ways. Pick the sort that matches what you are hunting.

Biggest Gainers

/biggest-gainers-today
What you see
Today's largest percentage gainers from the latest session with live prices.
How to use it
Check volume before acting. A gainer with no volume behind it is a move without participation.

Biggest Losers

/biggest-losers-today
What you see
Today's largest percentage decliners.
How to use it
Useful for finding capitulation and for avoiding falling knives. Do not buy a stock only because it is down.

Most Active

/most-active-stocks
What you see
The most active stocks by dollar volume.
How to use it
Dollar volume, not share volume, is the right liquidity measure. This is where you can actually size a position.

Pre-Market Movers

/premarket-movers
What you see
The biggest movers before the open.
How to use it
Pre-market volume is thin and prices can be misleading. Use it to build your list, not to set your entry.

After-Hours Movers

/after-hours-movers
What you see
The biggest gainers, losers and most active names against the 4 PM close.
How to use it
Mostly earnings reactions. Overnight moves frequently reverse at the open, so treat them as information rather than entries.

Weekly Movers

/weekly-movers
What you see
The biggest moves over the week rather than the day.
How to use it
Good for swing candidates. A name leading the week is in a real trend, not a one-day spike.
What you see
Stocks printing new 52-week highs and lows, ranked by dollar volume.
How to use it
New highs mean no overhead supply: nobody who bought is underwater. That is a genuinely different tape from a stock trading into old resistance.

Most Volatile

/most-volatile-stocks
What you see
Stocks ranked by ATR percentage, the average size of their daily range.
How to use it
Size positions against volatility, not share count. A 12% ATR name needs a much wider stop and a much smaller position than a 2% one.
What you see
Names ranked by a blend of price move, unusual volume, scanner alerts and Reddit buzz.
How to use it
A composite view. Useful when you want attention and price action in one ranking.

Leaderboards

/rankings
What you see
Site-wide leaderboards.
How to use it
See who is performing on the site and how.
What you see
Daily recaps: the biggest gainers and losers, unusual volume, and most-alerted names for every trading day.
How to use it
The single best review habit. Read yesterday's recap before today's open and you start seeing repeat behaviour.

Recap by Date

/recap/[date]
What you see
The full recap for any specific past trading day.
How to use it
Go back to a day you traded badly and reconstruct what the tape actually looked like.

Performance

/performance
What you see
How the scanners and calls have performed.
How to use it
Read it before trusting any signal on the site, including ours.

Session Replay

/replay/[symbol]
What you see
An animated replay of a stock's session.
How to use it
Replay a name that ran and watch where the alerts fired against the move. This is the closest thing to practising a day you missed.

Stock Screens by Type10 pages

Pre-built lists for specific kinds of stock. Each is a scan someone asked for often enough to deserve its own page.

Penny Stocks

/penny-stocks
What you see
The most active stocks under $5.
How to use it
High volatility, high risk, frequent dilution. Check the float and any recent filings before trading one.

Stocks Under $1

/stocks-under-1
What you see
The most active sub-$1 names.
How to use it
Spreads are wide and moves are violent. Position size accordingly, if at all.

Stocks Under $10

/stocks-under-10
What you see
The most active names under $10.
How to use it
A common day-trading range: enough movement to matter, enough liquidity to exit.

Low Float Stocks

/low-float-stocks
What you see
Stocks with a small number of shares actually available to trade.
How to use it
Low float is why some stocks move 100% in a day: small supply, so any real demand moves price hard. It cuts both ways.

Most Shorted

/most-shorted-stocks
What you see
Stocks with the highest short interest as a percentage of float.
How to use it
High short interest is fuel, not a signal. It matters only when something forces shorts to cover.

Short Squeeze Candidates

/short-squeeze-stocks
What you see
Heavily shorted names showing the price and volume conditions that can force covering.
How to use it
Wait for the squeeze to start rather than predicting it. Most heavily shorted stocks simply stay heavily shorted.

Oversold (RSI Under 30)

/oversold-stocks
What you see
Stocks with RSI below 30.
How to use it
Oversold means "fell fast", not "about to bounce". Look for the reversal to actually begin before acting.

Overbought (RSI Over 70)

/overbought-stocks
What you see
Stocks with RSI above 70.
How to use it
Strong trends stay overbought for a long time. This is a list to watch, not a short list.

Post-Earnings Movers

/stocks-moving-after-earnings
What you see
Stocks moving on their earnings reaction.
How to use it
The first move is often not the real one. Earnings gaps frequently reverse in the first hour.

Store Closure Watch

/store-closures
What you see
Live prices for retailers and restaurant chains in the store-closure spotlight.
How to use it
A themed watchlist for a slow-moving news cycle that affects a whole group at once.

Charts and Per-Stock Research8 pages

Everything about one company, once a name has your attention.

Chart

/chart/[symbol]
What you see
The full chart for any symbol: minute and daily views, indicators, alert markers plotted on the price, and news markers.
How to use it
The alert markers are the point. You can see exactly where each alert fired against what price did next, on the same chart.

Trade Dashboard

/chart/[symbol]/trades
What you see
Every trade the Watcher has taken on that symbol: setup used, entry, exit, hold time, capture, size guards and the exit reason.
How to use it
Where you investigate a symbol properly. If a name keeps losing, this shows whether it was the entry, the exit or the size.

Stock Page

/stocks/[symbol]
What you see
The overview for one ticker: live chart, real-time alerts, key stats and the trader conversation.
How to use it
The general-purpose landing page for a symbol. Start here, then open the chart.

Why Is It Moving

/stocks/[symbol]/why
What you see
The likely catalyst behind today's move for a single stock, with volume and alert context.
How to use it
Answer "why" before you decide anything. A move with no explanation is a move you cannot judge.

Catch

/catch/[symbol]
What you see
When we first flagged a stock, against how it moved afterwards.
How to use it
The per-symbol version of Caught Early.
What you see
Two or more stocks side by side on price, performance and fundamentals.
How to use it
Use it when picking between two names in the same theme. Usually one is clearly leading.
What you see
Plain-English breakdowns of earnings, SEC filings and the catalysts behind the biggest moves.
How to use it
Read the filing coverage in particular. Dilution and offerings are the most common reason a hot stock suddenly stops working.
What you see
What each chart indicator does and how to trade with it: structure, volume, trend, momentum and volatility.
How to use it
If any indicator on the chart page is unfamiliar, this explains it in trading terms rather than maths.

The Watcher6 pages

Our automated trader. It trades a paper account live, and everything it does is published, wins and losses alike.

What you see
What the Watcher is tracking right now, per timeframe, with the setup it is waiting for and its entry plan.
How to use it
Read the entry plan rather than the ticker. Seeing a stated target and stop before the trade is the useful part.

Watcher Lab

/watcher-lab
What you see
The research surface: every setup, its measured performance, and the deploys that changed it.
How to use it
For understanding why the system does what it does. Setup pages show what has actually been tested rather than assumed.

Setup Detail

/watcher-lab/setup/[setup]
What you see
One trading setup in depth: its rules, results and history.
How to use it
Read a setup before copying it. Most setups look better in description than in their numbers.

AI Trade Journal

/ai-journal
What you see
The Watcher's trade-by-trade journal with its reasoning at entry and exit.
How to use it
The reasoning is the value. Compare what it expected with what happened.

Trades

/trades
What you see
The full trade record.
How to use it
Filter it and look at losses first. Wins teach less.

AI Config

/ai-config
What you see
The current configuration of the trading algorithm.
How to use it
For readers who want the exact parameters rather than a description of them.

Where the Money Is8 pages

Follow institutional and insider flow. Slower than a scanner, and often far more informative.

The Money Map

/money-map
What you see
A live map of where market capitalization was added or wiped today, broken down by sector.
How to use it
Zoom out with it. Knowing which sector is being bought stops you fighting the whole tape.

Smart Money

/smart-money
What you see
New 5%+ stakes and fresh 13F equity positions from major funds and corporates, pulled from SEC filings.
How to use it
13F data is delayed by up to 45 days, so treat it as research rather than a trade trigger. New 5% stakes are timelier.

Filer Detail

/smart-money/[filer]
What you see
Every position for a single institutional filer.
How to use it
Follow one manager you respect rather than skimming all of them.

Super Portfolio

/super-portfolio
What you see
One combined view of what the biggest funds and companies own, across 13F positions and disclosed corporate stakes.
How to use it
Shows crowding. A name held by everyone has less room to surprise than one held by nobody.
What you see
Every position Buffett, Wood, Burry, Ackman and other well-known managers reported.
How to use it
Interesting, and slow. Use it for ideas to research, never as a reason to buy today.

Insider Buying

/insider-buying
What you see
Fresh open-market insider buys from SEC Form 4 filings, ranked by dollars and by cluster.
How to use it
Cluster buying is the signal worth noticing: several insiders buying in the same window says more than one large purchase.

Dividends

/dividends
What you see
Upcoming ex-dividend dates, the buy-by date to qualify, cash amount, forward yield and payout history.
How to use it
Note that a stock drops by roughly the dividend on the ex-date. The yield is not free money.
What you see
Upcoming IPOs and stocks that just listed, with offer price, deal size and exchange.
How to use it
New listings have no chart history and no established levels, which makes them unusually hard to trade. Watch a few before trading one.

Calendars and Events7 pages

What is scheduled to move the market, so nothing catches you mid-position.

What you see
Everything in one place: economic releases, earnings and ex-dividend dates.
How to use it
Check it before the open every day. Most avoidable losses come from being in a position through an event you forgot about.

Economic Calendar

/economic-calendar
What you see
US releases that move the whole market: FOMC, CPI, PPI, jobs, GDP, retail sales and PCE.
How to use it
These move everything at once. Size down into them, or stand aside.

Earnings Calendar

/earnings-calendar
What you see
Who reports this week, before the open or after the close, with consensus estimates.
How to use it
Holding through earnings is a coin flip on a gap, not a trade. Know the date before you enter.

Earnings Next Week

/earnings-next-week
What you see
Every notable company reporting next week.
How to use it
Plan ahead. It is also how you find names that will be volatile in a few days.
What you see
Stocks grouped by sector and theme: AI, semiconductors, crypto, energy, dividends, banks, biotech, EV, meme, gaming and more.
How to use it
When a theme moves, it usually moves together. Find the leader of the group rather than the laggard.

Theme Detail

/theme/[slug]
What you see
Live prices and day moves for every stock in one theme, plus the biggest movers and why the group is moving.
How to use it
Confirms whether a move is company-specific or the whole group.

Sector Performance

/sector-performance
What you see
How every sector is performing today, ranked by the median stock, drillable into industries.
How to use it
Trade with the sector where you can. A good setup in a sector being sold has the tape against it.

Community and Social10 pages

What other traders are doing and saying, plus your own presence on the site.

Reddit Radar

/reddit-radar
What you see
The most-mentioned tickers across WallStreetBets, r/stocks, r/investing and more, ranked by mention volume.
How to use it
Retail attention is real and it is early on small caps. It is also frequently wrong about direction. Use it to find names, not opinions.

Reddit Posts

/reddit-radar/posts
What you see
The top stock posts right now, sortable by hot, most upvoted and most commented.
How to use it
Read the comments rather than the headline. Sentiment shifts show up there first.

Google Searches

/google-searches
What you see
The stocks and finance topics people are searching for right now, windowed from 4 hours to 7 days.
How to use it
Search interest often precedes retail buying. A spike with no news attached is worth investigating.

Chat

/chat
What you see
Live trader chat.
How to use it
Fastest place to ask what is happening with a name.

Messages

/messages
sign-in
What you see
Direct messages with other users.
How to use it
Private conversation.

Your Profile

/profile
sign-in
What you see
Your public profile, trades and stats.
How to use it
Publishing your trades is a strong discipline. It changes what you are willing to enter.

User Profile

/profile/[username]
What you see
Another trader's public profile and record.
How to use it
Look at hold times and consistency, not just the wins.
What you see
A paper-trading competition with seasons and rankings.
How to use it
The right place to test a strategy you are unsure about. Same decisions, none of the money.

Supporters

/donor-ranking
What you see
The people who fund the site.
How to use it
Recognition for the people keeping it free.

Content Creators

/stock-content-creators
What you see
A directory of stock-market YouTube channels, subreddits and X accounts worth following.
How to use it
Curated so you can skip the search. Judge any of them by their losing trades, not their winners.

Calculators12 pages

Free, instant, no sign-up. The first two are the ones that actually change results.

All Calculators

/calculators
What you see
The index of every calculator.
How to use it
Start here.

Position Size

/position-size-calculator
What you see
Enter account size, risk per trade, entry and stop to get the exact share count and position value.
How to use it
The single most valuable page on this list. Deciding size from your stop, instead of guessing, is what keeps one trade from ending your account.

Risk / Reward

/risk-reward-calculator
What you see
Entry, stop and target give you the reward-to-risk ratio, the breakeven win rate it implies, and expectancy.
How to use it
The breakeven win rate is the number to internalise. At 3:1 you can be wrong most of the time and still make money.

Stock Profit

/stock-profit-calculator
What you see
Buy price, sell price, shares and fees give dollar profit or loss and total return.
How to use it
Run it before entering, not after exiting. Seeing the real payoff often kills a mediocre trade.

Breakeven Recovery

/breakeven-recovery-calculator
What you see
How large a gain you need to recover a given loss, with a table of common drawdowns.
How to use it
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain to get back. Look at this once and your stop discipline improves.

Average Down

/average-down-calculator
What you see
Two buys give your new average cost, total position and unrealized P/L.
How to use it
Use it to see the true cost of adding to a loser before you do it, not after.

Dollar Cost Average

/dollar-cost-average-calculator
What you see
A fixed amount per buy across several prices gives total shares, invested and blended cost.
How to use it
For building a position deliberately over time rather than in one decision.

Compounding

/compounding-calculator
What you see
Projects account growth from starting balance, risk per trade, win rate and reward-to-risk.
How to use it
Shows how much small consistent edges matter, and how quickly overtrading undoes them.

Dividend

/dividend-calculator
What you see
Projects a dividend portfolio with reinvestment, dividend growth, price appreciation and contributions.
How to use it
For long-term income planning rather than trading.

Mortgage Rates

/mortgage-rates
What you see
Current Freddie Mac 30-year and 15-year fixed rates with weekly change and a 12-month trend.
How to use it
Rates drive housing, banks and the broader risk mood. Useful macro context.
What you see
Live exchange rates against the US dollar.
How to use it
Useful when trading foreign-listed names or ADRs.
What you see
Live prices for Bitcoin, Ethereum and the top 50 coins with 24-hour and 7-day change.
How to use it
Crypto often leads risk appetite. Bitcoin selling off overnight frequently shows up in small caps the next morning.

Learn11 pages

Plain-English explanations. Read these before trusting any scanner, including ours.

What you see
The short version: find an alert, open the chart, analyse, decide.
How to use it
Fifteen minutes. Read it first if you are new.

All Guides

/guides
What you see
The full library of written guides.
How to use it
Browse by topic.

What Is RVOL

/guides/what-is-rvol
What you see
What relative volume means, how it is calculated and why it matters in day trading.
How to use it
RVOL underpins most of this site. Understanding it makes every scanner more useful.

What Is a Stock Halt

/guides/what-is-a-stock-halt
What you see
Why stocks halt, how long halts last, and what every halt code means (LULD, T1, T12, M, H).
How to use it
Read it before trading a halt resume. The code tells you what kind of move you are stepping into.

Alert Levels

/guides/alert-levels
What you see
What each alert level means and how they are assigned.
How to use it
Lets you filter the alert feed to only what you care about.

Using Live Alerts

/guides/live-alerts
What you see
How to work the real-time feed without drowning in it.
How to use it
The practical companion to the Alerts page.

Chart Analysis

/guides/chart-analysis
What you see
How to read the chart page: structure, levels and confirmation.
How to use it
Pairs with the Indicator Guide.

Trading Strategy

/guides/trading-strategy
What you see
Building a repeatable strategy rather than trading on impulse.
How to use it
Read alongside the position size and risk/reward calculators. Strategy without sizing is not a strategy.

How It Works

/how-it-works
What you see
Our data sources, and exactly how RVOL, halt detection and the news-catalyst engine are calculated.
How to use it
Read this to know the limits of the data before you rely on it.

Roadmap

/roadmap
What you see
What is being built next.
How to use it
Tells you where the site is going.
What you see
Live status of the scanners, data feeds and alerts.
How to use it
Check here first if alerts look quiet. Quiet is sometimes broken.

Your Account, Tools and Support15 pages

Your watchlist, your strategies, your settings, and how to get help.

My Watchlist

/watchlist
sign-in
What you see
Your stocks with live prices, mini-charts, unusual-volume alerts and one-click price alerts.
How to use it
Keep it short. A watchlist of forty names is a list you cannot actually watch.

Strategies

/strategy
sign-in
What you see
Build, save and manage your own trading strategies.
How to use it
Writing a strategy down is what makes it testable. Undocumented rules drift.

New Strategy

/strategy/new
sign-in
What you see
Create a strategy.
How to use it
Define entry, exit and sizing. All three, or it is not finished.

Trading

/trading
sign-in
What you see
Your trading workspace.
How to use it
Where your own activity comes together.

Settings

/settings
sign-in
What you see
Account settings, notification preferences and alert delivery.
How to use it
Set notification preferences deliberately. Too many alerts is the same as none.

Subscribe

/subscribe
What you see
Subscription management.
How to use it
Plans and billing.

Pricing

/subscription-info
What you see
What each plan includes.
How to use it
Most of the site is free. Check here before assuming you need to pay for something.

API Docs

/api-docs
What you see
Developer documentation for the Partner API: one authenticated endpoint returning the symbols our scanner surfaced and which boards flagged them.
How to use it
For building on top of the scanner. The list, not the feed.

Partner Program

/affiliate
What you see
The affiliate and partner program.
How to use it
For referring other traders.

Support Hub

/support
What you see
Help articles and support requests.
How to use it
Search here before contacting us. Most answers already exist.

Contact

/contact
What you see
Account, billing and API support, plus partnership enquiries.
How to use it
For anything the support hub does not cover.

Donate

/donate
What you see
Support the site directly.
How to use it
The site is free. This is what keeps it that way.
What you see
The terms you agree to by using the site.
How to use it
Worth reading once.

Privacy Policy

/privacy-policy
What you see
What data we collect and how it is handled.
How to use it
Worth reading once.

Data Deletion

/data-deletion
What you see
How to have your data removed.
How to use it
Your data, your call.

Nothing on this site is financial advice. The scanners describe what is happening in the market: what is moving, on what volume, and why. What you do with that is your decision, and the risk is yours. If you are new, start with the position size calculator before you start with a scanner.