A stock screener is a tool that filters the entire stock universe using conditions you set — such as market cap, price, volume, RSI, moving averages or delivery percentage — and shows only the shares that match. Instead of opening charts for thousands of NSE-listed stocks one by one, you get a ready shortlist in seconds. You can use a stock screener app, a website, or a custom Google Sheet built around your own filters.

Start by defining your goal — intraday, swing or long-term investing — and then pick your stock universe, such as Nifty 500 stocks or all NSE-listed shares. Apply filters one at a time, for example average volume above one lakh shares, price above the 50-day moving average, RSI between 50 and 70, or a recent moving average crossover. Run the screen, shortlist five to ten names, and always verify fundamentals and news before acting.

Fundamental investors usually begin with a free stock screener that filters companies on PE, ROE, debt and market cap, while technical traders lean on TradingView and Chartink for custom scans. Tickertape and Groww also offer quick built-in filters for stocks and ETFs. If you want India-specific columns like delivery percentage or F&O status combined with technical filters, a Google Sheets screener is the most flexible free option.

For intraday, liquidity matters more than anything else, so screen for high average volume, tight spreads and stocks in the F&O segment. Useful intraday filters include gap-up and gap-down openings, stocks near the previous day's high or low, sudden volume spikes, and intraday recovery stocks identified market-cap-wise. Keep the final list short and decide your stop loss before entering any trade.

Open the Stock Screener on TradingView, switch the market to NSE, and add filters such as price, market cap, volume, RSI or moving average crossovers from the columns panel — then save the screen so you can rerun it daily. TradingView is excellent for quick technical scans, but it does not show India-specific data like delivery percentage, which is why many Indian traders recreate their screens in Google Sheets with live data feeds.

Pick the category first — broad index ETFs like Nifty 50 or Bank Nifty, sector ETFs, or gold ETFs — and then compare funds on AUM, expense ratio, tracking error and average daily volume. Sorting by these four fields instantly removes illiquid or high-cost funds. Once you have a shortlist of three or four ETFs, check the underlying index and past tracking difference before investing.

A good ETF screener in India should cover all NSE-listed ETFs and compare expense ratio, AUM, tracking error and liquidity side by side — Tickertape, Groww and TradingView all offer versions of this. For deeper control, a Google Sheets ETF watch can add custom columns such as premium or discount to NAV. The best screener is simply the one whose filters match how you want to build your portfolio.

Create columns for date, stock, buy or sell, entry price, exit price, quantity, charges and net P&L, then add columns for your setup, the reason you took the trade, and lessons learned. Formulas can then auto-calculate your win rate, average winner, average loser and overall equity curve. A trading journal in Excel works fully offline, the same journal in Google Sheets opens on your phone and can even pull live prices, and ready-made journal templates are available if you would rather skip the setup.

A good trading journal format is simple enough to fill in within two minutes of closing a trade: date, scrip, side, entry, exit, quantity, P&L, setup name and a one-line note on your state of mind. Everything else — screenshots, market-condition tags, weekly review columns — can be added later. If maintaining the format takes more effort than the trade itself, you will stop journaling, which defeats the entire purpose.

The best trading journal is the one you will actually update after every trade, so beginners should start with a free trading journal template in Google Sheets or Excel instead of a complicated paid tool. Make sure it auto-calculates P&L, win rate and streaks, and review it every weekend. Consistent journaling improves results faster than constantly switching tools.

A trading journal app saves time by importing trades from your broker automatically, but it usually charges a subscription and locks you into fixed fields. A spreadsheet journal is free, fully editable and keeps your data private — you can add portfolio dashboards, RSI or volume analysis, and monthly summaries alongside your trade log. Many traders begin with a simple trading journal PDF or sheet and move to an app only once they are trading large volumes.

Yes. Basic screeners need only formulas like FILTER, SORT and conditional formatting, with price data pulled in through built-in sheet functions or add-ons. India-specific fields such as delivery percentage and F&O data need an external data source, since default Sheets functions do not provide them. If formulas feel overwhelming, a ready-made Google Sheets screener template or a short personalized walkthrough can fast-track the setup.

Delivery percentage shows what portion of a day's total traded quantity resulted in actual share transfers to demat accounts rather than intraday square-offs. High delivery alongside rising prices often points to genuine accumulation, while a sharp rally on low delivery can be mostly speculative intraday activity. NSE publishes this data daily, and delivery-based screeners use it to confirm breakouts and filter out speculative moves.