Building Automated Equity Screeners from Market and Fundamental Data
Summary
The document considers whether API services can screen equities in real time using conditions such as proximity to a 52-week low, valuation ratios, and earnings growth. The replies explain that an API is a way to access data or brokerage services; the screening rules themselves can be implemented in a script once the needed data is available. Automating a screener therefore depends on acquiring and processing suitable market and company data, not merely locating a ready-made screening endpoint.
The answers distinguish delayed or periodic fundamental data from real-time market feeds. A live workflow may require a streaming price service, while fundamentals such as reported earnings and ratios update on slower schedules and can take time to enter provider systems. The thread mentions brokerage APIs as possible sources but does not verify current availability, coverage, latency, licensing, or product terms. It presents no tested implementation or systematic trading results, and its vendor references are time-sensitive; the durable lesson is to match data frequency and quality to each screening condition.
Key ideas
- A screener can be implemented in a script using data retrieved through an API.
- Real-time screening depends on access to an appropriate live market data feed.
- Fundamental data often updates more slowly than prices and may lag corporate filings.
- Each screening condition requires data with suitable coverage, freshness, and definitions.
- The thread's provider suggestions are not a current comparison of services.
Tags
Full text
# API-based equity screeners? # API-based equity screeners? I know there are APIs from different brokers that allows you to trade and also obtain information about specific companies, but I wonder if there are equity/asset screeners that are API-based and can be triggered in real-time? For example, I'd love to have an API that would alert me of any equities that are: - Near 52 week low - Have P/E < 30 - 5 year average earnings growth is > 5% - etc. I could do it myself with brokerage screeners, but they are totally manual; I'd have to build and run them. If there are APIs that can be tied to automated scripts, that'd be amazing, as it would mean both speed and coverage in terms of trading opportunities. ## Answer by Unknown Coder (score 2) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/14853 I'm not sure that you fully understand what is meant by the term "API". You are describing items that you can create yourself with any basic API/data source, really. You'd have to have some programming knowledge, as would anyone that uses an API, but it doesn't sound like you want to get that deep into this. ## Answer by arodrisa (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/14846 You won't find any real time screener anywhere, because of the comission you need to pay to the stock market. But if you can manage to get the data flow, you can run a script in matlab or any other language every few time, so that it is almost real time. ## Answer by xyx (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/15175 Problem is not the API, it is more the data. Most data you request is on a daily base. When you would like calculate it every 5 seconds for example you need a realtime feed and the fundamentals for you ratios. Next problem will be that the data providers needs some time to put the 10k into their systems. As I know there are no public available feed for doing things like this. If you have Bloomberg you can try this in EQS, but i think it is not realtime. ## Answer by Autowealth (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/16704 I believe what you are looking for is available through the Tradier brokerage. Just review their documentation at https://developer.tradier.com/documentation Hope that helps. ## Answer by Tradier_J_Barry (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/16737 You can certainly use the Tradier API to do this. For delayed data you can use the Developer Sandbox for request/response. To access realtime data you’ll need a Tradier Brokerage account but you’ll have access to a realtime stream. You can find the streaming documentation here: https://developer.tradier.com/documentation/streaming/get-markets-events
Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.