STOCK TITAN

Argus Momentum Scanner: Features and How It Works

Argus is StockTitan’s stock momentum scanner. It monitors eligible US-listed stocks for New High / New Low, Rapid Move and Volume Spike alerts, with recent news and SEC filing context when available.

This guide explains the alert rules, market coverage and data delays, so you can understand what you are seeing when you use the scanner.

Open Argus scanner

Scanner Specifications

  • Coverage Hours Premarket Regular After Hours
  • Alert Parameters 4%+ moves 5-minute surges volume spikes
  • Data Delivery Real-time Gold / Platinum 1-min Silver 15-min Free
  • Information Type Price data news aggregation SEC-filings aggregation

What is Momentum Trading?

Momentum trading is a strategy where traders observe stocks that are experiencing significant price movement in one direction. The concept involves monitoring trends in the market, though outcomes are never guaranteed and all trading carries risk.

How Momentum Trading Generally Works

The idea is that a stock already moving hard in one direction, on volume well above its usual level, tends to keep drawing attention and orders for a while, so a trader who sees the move early can plan an entry and an exit around it instead of reacting after the fact. In practice the work breaks into a few steps, and a scanner such as Argus exists to do the first two for you.

  • Finding the Move: Out of several thousand listed stocks only a small number are moving with conviction at any given moment, and a momentum trader wants that short list in front of them the minute it forms rather than an hour later. Argus watches the whole market for that list.
  • Reading What Is Behind It: A move backed by a press release, an SEC filing or a real surge in volume is a different setup from a thin stock drifting on a few trades, so the trader checks the news and the volume before deciding whether the move is worth their time. Argus puts the matching news or filing beside the alert when there is one.
  • Planning the Entry and the Exit: Momentum fades, sometimes within minutes, so the trader decides in advance where they would get in, where they would take profit and where they would accept being wrong, and then follows that plan. This part stays with you.

Commonly Cited Characteristics of Momentum Trading

Momentum trading looks quite different from buying a stock and holding it for years, and those differences are the reason the tools matter so much. Most traders who work this way would recognize the traits below in their own routine.

  • Volatility: The stocks that qualify are the ones moving the most, which is where the opportunity comes from and also why the exit plan matters as much as the entry.
  • Short Term Focus: Positions are often held for hours or days rather than months, since the trade is about the move itself and the trader usually steps out once the move stops.
  • Technical Analysis: Price, volume and speed of change carry more weight than a company’s long term fundamentals, which is why momentum traders rely on charts, indicators and trading scanners.
  • News as the Catalyst: A stock moving hard on a fresh press release or SEC filing tends to hold the attention of more traders than one moving on nothing at all, so the news beside the chart matters as much as the chart. Argus matches its own news feed and SEC filings feed to each alert, so the likely reason for a move sits in the same row as the move.

Risks of Momentum Trading

The same speed that makes momentum trading attractive is what makes it unforgiving, and anyone considering the style should understand the downside before putting money at risk. A scanner shows you where the movement is, it does not make the decisions for you, and it does not remove any of the risks below.

  • Substantial Loss Risk: A stock that ran up fast can reverse just as fast, and a trader who is late to exit can give back the whole gain and more within minutes.
  • High Complexity: Reading a move correctly takes market knowledge and practice, and a beginner is likely to mistake a brief spike for a trend more than once before that judgement develops.
  • No Guaranteed Outcomes: Past momentum does not predict future performance, and nothing on this page or in Argus is investment advice; every trade is your own decision.

Meet Argus, the Momentum Scanner Built Into StockTitan

Thousands of US-listed stocks trade at once and something is always moving, so no person can watch it all. Argus does the watching for you. It follows every eligible US-listed stock through premarket, regular and after hours, reduces each session to a short feed of alerts under three named rules, and places the company’s latest news or SEC filing on the same row as the move when there is one. If you have been looking for a momentum stock screener, or a stock scanner with the news sitting right beside the move, this is what we built.

What Argus Does for You

Your screen shows only the stocks that are moving right now, with the news that may explain the move. These are the parts of the job Argus takes over.

  • Watches the whole market: every eligible US-listed stock, small-cap and low-float names included, through the premarket, regular and after-hours sessions.
  • Alerts under three named rules: New High / New Low, Rapid Move and Volume Spike, each explained in the next section. Every row carries the badge of the rule that produced it.
  • Puts the context on the row: the latest company news or eligible SEC filing sits beside the alert when there is one, matched automatically from our own news feed and SEC filings feed.
  • Narrows the feed to your criteria: filters on strategy, price change, price, float, market cap, volume and news, with saved presets on the paid plans so a setup you like is one click away.
  • Ranks the day’s biggest movers: gainers and losers lists let you compare percentage moves at a glance instead of reading the feed alert by alert.
  • Delivers at the speed you choose: real-time on Gold and Platinum, a 1 minute delay on Silver and a 15 minute delay on Free.

The Three Argus Strategies

Every alert in the feed carries a Strategy badge that tells you which rule caught it. New High / New Low watches how far a stock has moved from its last close, Rapid Move watches how fast it is moving right now, and Volume Spike watches how much it is trading compared with its normal.

Before any rule alerts, Argus asks two plain questions: is there enough trading in this stock for the move to mean anything, and has this same move already been alerted? The same stock can appear under more than one rule on the same day.

All three are shown by default. In the Filters panel, under Strategy, you can switch any of them off so the feed shows only the kind of movement you want to follow.

New High / New Low

This rule measures how far the stock has moved from its reference close: the previous day’s close during premarket and regular hours, and today’s regular-session close once after-hours trading starts.

  • What sets it off: the stock is at least 4% above or below that close, with enough trading behind the move.After the first alert, Argus alerts again only when the stock pushes further in the same direction, past the price it already alerted at.
  • What it describes: a move that keeps extending, which is what a high of day or low of day momentum scanner is usually asked to find.The label does not mean the highest or lowest price of the whole day.
  • Where the number is: the Change column, which shows the move from the reference close for the current session.
  • How the badge reads: New High with an up arrow, or New Low with a down arrow.

Rapid Move

This rule ignores how big the day’s move is and looks only at how fast the price is moving right now, over about the last five minutes.

  • What sets it off: the price moved at least 5% within about five minutes, and enough was traded in those minutes for the move to count: at least $5,000 of traded value between the prices Argus observed, or at least 50,000 shares traded that day when the window starts from the close.
  • What it describes: speed, not size.A stock whose move for the day is still small can trigger Rapid Move because it jumped in the last five minutes, and a stock that is up 30% on the day may never trigger it because it climbed slowly.
  • Where the number is: the 5-minute change column, which shows the move over those five minutes.
  • How the badge reads: Rapid Move with an up or down arrow, because a burst can go either way.

Volume Spike

This rule watches how much is being traded and ignores the price.Volume alone says nothing about direction, so this is the one badge without an arrow.

  • What sets it off: the stock is trading far more shares than it normally does at this time of day.Argus compares the last few minutes with how much this same stock usually trades at the same minute of the day, so a busy market open does not count as unusual by itself.For a stock with too little history, Argus uses a simpler test: a day’s volume above about three times its 20-day average.
  • What it describes: more shares changing hands than usual.Volume does not say how many people traded, and it can rise while the price goes up, down or nowhere.If what you came for was an unusual volume scanner, this is the rule to keep switched on.
  • Where the number is: the volume columns, explained under Reading the Argus Screen.The Volume Spike test compares the last five minutes with the same time of day in past sessions, and it is a separate calculation from the relative-volume ratios shown on the row.
  • How the badge reads: Volume Spike, with no direction arrow.

The Three Strategies at a Glance

Strategy Watches Typical trigger Has a direction
New High / New Low Move from the active reference close 4% or more from the reference close, then again only when the move goes further Yes, up or down
Rapid Move Speed over about five minutes 5% or more inside those five minutes, with enough traded to count Yes, up or down
Volume Spike How much is traded, against the stock’s own normal Volume far above what this stock usually trades at this time of day No

Seeing More Than One Strategy on the Same Stock

The three rules are evaluated independently, so the same stock can produce different badges within minutes.

A stock that gaps overnight on an earnings release often triggers New High and Rapid Move together, because the same jump is both a fresh high and a fast move.

A stock that trades heavily while going nowhere may produce Volume Spike alone.

None of these combinations is scored, ranked, or rated by Argus, and no combination is presented as better or more reliable than another; the badge exists so you can tell which rule put the row in front of you.

A badge says that a rule was met at that moment, nothing more: it does not predict the next move, and the news beside a row is matched automatically rather than confirmed as the cause.

Argus vs. Traditional Trading Scanners

Feature Argus Scanner Traditional Scanners
Data Focus Extending price moves, rapid moves and unusual volume Complex: Multiple technical indicators
Market Coverage All sessions: Premarket, Regular, After Hours Often regular hours only
News Display Integrated with price movements Usually separate or unavailable
Alert Logic Continuous: New highs for gainers, new lows for losers One time indicator triggers
Learning Curve Minimal: Focus on price action Steep: Multiple indicators to understand
Primary Function Display momentum stocks with clear direction Various analytical approaches

Premarket, Regular and After-Hours Stock Scanner

Argus covers eligible US-listed stocks across market-cap sizes, including small-cap and low-float stocks. The scanner follows each trading session at the times below.

Premarket Trading (4:00 AM - 9:30 AM ET)

Argus starts working as a premarket scanner at 4:00 AM ET, showing the top premarket gainers and decliners as they move. Information shown includes:

  • Early moves on overnight news and earnings, before the regular open
  • The gap from the previous close, with volume when the premarket has any

Regular Trading Hours (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM ET)

During regular hours, Argus displays top momentum stocks today with full market data:

  • New High / New Low alerts as moves extend, with Rapid Move and Volume Spike under their own rules
  • Price, volume and the matched news on every row, in real time or delayed by your plan

After Hours Trading (4:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET)

As an after-hours scanner, Argus tracks the after-hours market movers, including:

  • Moves on after-hours earnings releases and late news
  • Extended-session volume when there is any

If all you want is a session’s gainers and losers ranked by percent change, without the alert feed, the premarket movers board and the after-hours movers board keep those lists for you.

Reading the Argus Screen

Every alert is one row, and the columns are the same in every session. The card explains what a row shows; the volume columns below it are the only ones that need a definition.

What Each Row Shows

A row is one alert on one stock. Read it left to right and you have the stock, the rule that caught it, how far and how fast it moved, how much traded, and the news that may explain it.

  • Ticker Symbol: the stock’s symbol
  • Strategy Badge: the rule that produced the alert, with an arrow for direction where the rule has one
  • Alert Count: the number of alerts recorded in the current session and today
  • Price and Change: the current price and the percentage move, measured from the previous day’s close during premarket and regular hours, and from today’s close in after-hours
  • Volume: the shares traded, with the ratios explained below
  • News: the matched article or SEC filing when there is one

The Volume Columns

The Volume Spike strategy finds unusual trading activity. The displayed volume ratios help you compare stocks, but a ratio alone does not determine whether that strategy fires.

  • Volume: shares traded so far today, including the extended sessions. The dollar display values those shares at the current price.
  • RVol (M): today’s cumulative shares divided by the median cumulative volume at the same Eastern Time minute over the 20-session profile. When that baseline is unavailable, Argus uses the 20-day average full-day volume.
  • RVol (W): the same comparison using the 5-session profile, with the 5-day average full-day volume as its fallback.
  • 5m RVol: the shares traded in the last five minutes compared with what this stock trades in an average five minutes, which Argus takes as its 20-day average daily volume divided by 78, the number of five-minute slots in a regular session. This plain ratio does not adjust for the time of day. On a Volume Spike row caught by the time-of-day test, the cell shows a different ratio instead: the window’s volume against what the stock usually trades in that same five minutes of the day, and the cell’s tooltip gives the z-score behind the alert.
  • 5m Traded $: the window’s shares valued at the current price. This is an estimate of traded value, rather than the sum of each individual trade’s value.

Who Uses Argus

Argus gets used by people with quite different days, from a trader who keeps it open from the premarket open to the after-hours close, to someone who looks at it once in the evening to see what moved. These are the four readers we see most, and what each of them does inside Argus.

Active Traders

A trader who is in the market every session keeps the feed open all day and lets Argus do the watching.

  • Follows momentum stocks as the alerts arrive, in real time on Gold and Platinum
  • Keeps a list of favorite symbols and hears new movers announced aloud through voice alerts
  • Catches top gainers premarket before the regular session opens
  • Reads the matched news or filing on the row before deciding whether the move deserves a closer look

Researchers and Analysts

Someone studying how stocks move uses Argus as a record of the day rather than a live screen.

  • Reviews the after hour market movers in the evening to prepare the next session
  • Compares the move against the news or filing Argus placed beside it
  • Exports the alert history as a CSV file, the current day on Gold and the past 7 trading days on Platinum
  • Sees how the same stock behaves across the premarket, regular and after-hours sessions

People Learning the Market

The Free plan shows the scanner with a 15 minute delay, which is enough to learn how movers behave before paying for anything.

  • Watches how stocks move through the different sessions
  • Learns to spot top momentum stocks today and which of the three rules caught them
  • Sees the relationship between a headline and a price move on the same row
  • Reads this guide beside the feed to understand what each column means

Part Time Market Watchers

Someone with a job to do during the day cannot sit in front of a feed, so they use Argus to catch up fast.

  • Opens the ranked gainers and losers lists to see the day's biggest moves in one look
  • Checks the premarket for anything moving before the day starts
  • Scrolls the alert feed in the evening, with the news beside each move, to see what happened and why it might have

Membership Options

Argus offers different data access levels to suit various needs. Data speed and features do not predict trading outcomes.

Platinum

Everything in Gold, with 5 saved presets, unlimited favorites and CSV exports that reach back over the past 7 trading days.

  • Real-time alerts in every session, with no delay
  • Full filter set covering strategy, price change, price, float, market cap, volume and news
  • 5 saved presets, and several can be active at once
  • Unlimited favorite symbols to follow through the day
  • Voice alerts that announce new movers aloud
  • CSV export of the past 7 days of alerts

More info

Gold

Real-time alerts with the whole filter set, 3 saved presets, spoken alerts and the current day of alert history as a CSV file.

  • Real-time alerts in every session, with no delay
  • Full filter set covering strategy, price change, price, float, market cap, volume and news
  • 3 saved presets, and several can be active at once
  • 5 favorite symbols to follow through the day
  • Voice alerts that announce new movers aloud
  • CSV export of the current day of alerts

More info

Silver

Cut the delay to 1 minute and choose which of the three strategies you want to see; the rest of the filter set stays with Gold.

  • 1 minute delay on every alert
  • Strategy filter alone, switching New High / New Low, Rapid Move and Volume Spike on or off
  • 1 saved preset holding your strategy selection
  • 1 favorite symbol to follow through the day
  • Sound alerts only, without spoken voice alerts
  • No CSV export of the alert history

More info

Free

Watch the scanner with a 15 minute delay and no filters, which is enough to see how Argus behaves before you pay for anything.

  • 15 minute delay on every alert
  • No scanner filters, so every qualifying mover shows
  • No saved filter presets
  • No favorite symbols
  • Sound alerts only, without spoken voice alerts
  • No CSV export of the alert history

More info

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly does Argus track?

Argus scans eligible US-listed stocks for three independent conditions: New High / New Low, Rapid Move and Volume Spike.

The 4% threshold applies to New High / New Low only. Rapid Move looks for a move of at least 5% within roughly five minutes, and Volume Spike looks for unusual trading activity against the stock’s own history.

Each strategy also applies liquidity and repeat-alert checks.

How does Argus calculate the percentage change?

The Change column uses the previous trading day’s close during premarket and regular hours. In after-hours it uses today’s regular-session close, so the percentage can change at 4:00 PM ET even if the price does not.

New High / New Low uses this reference for its 4% threshold. The five-minute change uses its own short-window reference.

What are momentum stocks?

In market terminology, momentum stocks refers to securities experiencing significant price movement with above average volume.

These are stocks showing strong directional movement, either up or down.

When can I see premarket gainers?

Argus begins displaying top premarket gainers data at 4:00 AM ET when premarket trading opens.

This data continues updating until regular market hours begin at 9:30 AM ET.

Does Argus cover after hours trading?

Yes, Argus tracks after hour market movers from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET, displaying stocks that continue moving after regular market close.

How are "new highs" and "new lows" determined?

New High / New Low requires a move of at least 4% from the active reference close and progress beyond the price already alerted in that direction, subject to liquidity and repeat-alert checks.

Those alerted prices carry across session boundaries until the new trading day, while the session alert count resets.

They are earlier alerted prices; the label does not certify the highest or lowest trade of the entire day.

Why did a stock's first alert appear later than the move I saw on the chart?

Check the Strategy badge and your membership’s data delay first.

New High / New Low requires progress beyond an earlier alerted price, while Rapid Move and Volume Spike have their own window, history and liquidity checks.

A move visible on a chart can fail those checks, and repeat-alert controls can prevent another row while the same burst continues.

How are stocks ordered in Argus?

The Top Gainers and Top Losers lists are ordered purely by the size of the percentage move.

The live alert feed is ordered by time, with the newest alert at the top.

Filters change which stocks qualify to appear, but they do not re-rank the list.

What's the difference between membership tiers?

Gold/Platinum members receive real-time data updates with no delay. Silver members see data with 1 minute delay. Free members see data with 15 minute delay.

Higher tiers also add the filter set, saved presets, favorite symbols, voice alerts and CSV exports, and an ad-free experience.

Can Argus predict which stocks will move?

No. Argus displays current and historical data only.

It does not predict future movements or provide trading recommendations.

Legal Notice & Risk Disclosure

No Investment Advice

Argus provides market data and information only. Nothing in this service is investment advice, a trading recommendation, or guidance about buying, selling or holding any security, and we are not registered investment advisers or financial professionals. Every trading decision is yours to make and to verify through independent sources.

Trading Risk

Trading stocks and other securities involves substantial risk of loss, and fast-moving stocks and extended-hours sessions carry more of it.

Data Disclaimer

Alerts and screening results report that defined criteria were met using information available to the tool at that time; they are not buy, sell, or hold recommendations and do not predict future performance. News correlations are generated automatically and are provided as context. Real time data refers to delivery speed. Data and content are not designed to be the sole basis for any trading decision; verify material information through the linked original sources before acting.

Limitation of Liability

Argus and its operators shall not be liable for any damages arising from use of this service, including but not limited to trading losses, missed opportunities, data errors or delays. The service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind.

Use of Argus is governed by our Terms of Use.