Finviz and MarketSurge are the two tools most swing traders already know. Finviz is the all-purpose screener; MarketSurge is IBD’s premium CANSLIM platform. SwingTradeScanner was built for one job neither does: handing you a scored swing-trade shortlist before the open, with the reason every stock moved sitting right next to its chart.
Seven ready-made scans instead of filters you build yourself. The SEC filing or news behind every gap, not just a headline list. A live premarket scan from 04:00 ET. All for $20 a month — about half of Finviz Elite and less than a seventh of MarketSurge.
Feature by feature
| SwingTradeScanner | Finviz Elite | MarketSurge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-made swing setups | Yes 7 scans: momentum breakouts, episodic pivots, parabolic short and long, Minervini SEPA with VCP, O’Neil CANSLIM, sector rotation | No General screener; you build and maintain the filters | Partly Built around CAN SLIM and IBD’s stock lists |
| Setups scored and explained | Yes Breakouts, pivots, parabolic shorts and CANSLIM scored 0–100; every column defined in plain English | No Filters return matches, not scores | Yes IBD’s proprietary 1–99 ratings |
| Why a stock gapped | Yes Catalyst read from SEC EDGAR filings and the news tape, linked to the source, next to every gap | Headlines News on each ticker page; no catalyst matched to each gap that we could find | Data Earnings and fundamentals in one screen |
| Live premarket scan | Yes Episodic pivots from 04:00 ET, refreshed every minute to 20:00 ET | Data Premarket quotes from 4:00 AM on Elite; no dedicated gap-catalyst scan | No Not part of its published feature list |
| Market regime read | Yes 0–100 gauge plus breadth: % above 20/50/200-day, new highs/lows, advancers/decliners | Partly Heat maps and index overview | Partly Market and industry data |
| Multiple trading methods | Yes Kullamägi, Minervini and O’Neil methods side by side | No Method-agnostic | No O’Neil / IBD approach |
| Relative strength ranking | Yes Every stock ranked 1–99, plus O’Neil-style RS, EPS, SMR and A/D on CANSLIM results | Partly Performance filters by period | Yes IBD ratings |
| Watchlist that remembers why | Yes Records which scan found each name, and when | Partly Portfolios and alerts | Partly Lists and alerts |
| No-card free trial | Yes 7 days | No Card required | No $24.95 for 30 days |
| Price per year | $216 | $299.50 | $1,499 |
Finviz details from finviz.com and MarketSurge details from IBD’s MarketSurge page, both checked on September 28, 2026. Prices and features change; check their sites for current offers.
What that means on a real morning
- 04:00 ET. The episodic-pivot scan is already live. A stock gaps 14% on an 8-K; you see the filing type and a link before you open a chart. On Finviz you see the gap and go hunting for the news. MarketSurge is not built for this.
- Before the open. The regime gauge says whether breakouts are working in this tape. Then the momentum, SEPA and CANSLIM scans hand you scored lists — no filters to rebuild, no presets to maintain.
- Pick your names. Every row carries the chart, sector strength, fundamentals and the catalyst. Save the ones worth watching; the watchlist remembers which scan found them.
The honest caveat
SwingTradeScanner is a scanner, not a charting platform. If you need 100+ indicators and drawing tools, keep your charting app — most of our users do. And if you screen for dividends, value or options rather than swing setups, a general screener like Finviz covers more ground. For finding swing trades and knowing why they moved, SwingTradeScanner does more for less.
See the difference in one morning
7 days free, no card. Or look at today’s scan results first.
Start free trialFinviz, MarketSurge and Investor’s Business Daily are trademarks of their respective owners. SwingTradeScanner is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.