JStock is a free, lightweight stock market software that is useful to scan for stocks, manage portfolio as well as design custom indicators for trading strategies. An earlier article described how to install and use JStock for Linux Mint/Ubuntu.

Here is how to use it in Windows :

Download and install the Windows version from here.

Once installed, select the stock exchange from the list of countries by choosing Country > name of the country.

To add a specific symbol which may not be on the stock list (it does cover all the stocks so this is not really needed), select Database > Stock Database and add the stock symbol.

Now, once the chosen market list is loaded, the entire list of stocks for that will be displayed. To get an alert if a specific stock has crossed a price above or below the desired value, simply enter those values in the Fall Below and Rise Above columns next to the stock symbol.

An alert will be displayed if either of those conditions are triggered.

Creating custom indicators for screening of stocks is simple in JStock.

It does not need a specific programming language but rather a flowchart type of design wherein various blocks representing different elements like stock prices, constant values, historical and relative values of stocks, logical/arithmetic operators which can be put together to form a screening strategy.

To create a custom indicator, click on the Stock Indicator Editor tab.

Now for example, a screener that will check if the stocks are trading at a price that is higher than their 10 day average price needs to be created, the required design will be something like below :

The inputs here will be the real time last traded price of the stock (the star icon). Another input will be the 10 day average price of the stock (the star icon with green arrow), comparison operator (= icon). The output from these will be used to generate an alert (bell icon).

The values of these blocks can be changed by right clicking and selecting Properties.

In this example, the real time last price of stock is checked with it’s 10 day average price by using the greater than condition to generate an alert.

Save the indicator by clicking on Save from right pane.

Now, to use this for screening, click on Stock Indicator Scanner tab and hit Scan. From the list of indicators that show up, select the one created (MA in this case).

JStock will run this screener and display the entire list of stocks that match the required criteria.

Also, the refresh interval for scanning stock prices can be changed if needed. This can be useful when screening stocks for day trades where the interval can be set to the smallest value for faster updates. Select Options > Speed and change the values. (2 seconds is the smallest value available which means faster scanning).

Stocks bought/sold can be tracked using the portfolio feature available in JStock. Click on Portfolio Management tab and enter the stock transaction details as needed.

Overall, this is a fantastic tool for stock market scanning and trade management that is useful for all types of market participants ranging from day traders to investors.  Do give it a try.

Happy trading and investing!