How to Use a Crypto Scanner to Find Altcoin Trades (Step by Step)

There are thousands of altcoins. You cannot look at all of them, and you do not need to. A crypto scanner does the first pass: it filters the whole market down to the few coins that meet criteria you care about. The skill is in choosing sensible criteria and knowing what to do with the list.

What a scanner does

A scanner checks every coin against a set of conditions, such as trend, volume or price change, and shows only those that pass. Instead of scrolling through charts, you start from a shortlist.

It does not tell you what to buy. It tells you where to look.

The filters that matter

1. Trend. The simplest useful filter is whether price is above its moving average. The scanner in the open the terminal, free lists coins trading above their 20-period average on the daily, weekly or monthly timeframe. Coins above it are, at least, not in a downtrend. See the 20-day moving average.

2. Volume. Without volume, a chart is unreliable and a trade is hard to exit. The scanner includes only coins with at least $1 million of 24-hour volume. See volume and liquidity.

3. Timeframe. Daily is the usual working chart for swing trades. Weekly and monthly show the bigger picture. A coin above its average on all three is in a stronger position than one that only passes on the daily.

4. Recent change. Sorting by the 24-hour change shows what is moving now. Be careful with the top of that list. A coin already up 80% in a day is usually late.

A step-by-step workflow

1. Choose the timeframe. Start with daily.
2. Look at the list. How many coins pass? A long list suggests a broad market rally. A short list suggests weak breadth. See Bitcoin dominance and altcoin season.
3. Sort and search. Sort by the 24-hour change to see what is active, or search for a coin you already follow.
4. Open the chart of each candidate. Ask: is the trend clean? Where are the nearby levels? Did the coin just break out, or is it extended?
5. Discard what does not fit. Most of the list will not have a good entry right now. That is expected.
6. For the few that remain, do the checks. Look for red flags, unlock schedules and catalysts. See altcoin red flags and how to research an altcoin.
7. Write the trade plan before entering: entry, stop, target and size. See risk-reward.

What the scanner cannot tell you

• Whether the coin will keep rising. Being above an average is a condition, not a prediction.
• Whether the setup has a good entry. A coin can pass the filter and still be too far from support to trade sensibly.
• Whether the project is sound. A trending coin with red flags is still a coin with red flags.
• Why it moved. You still need to check for news, catalysts and unlock dates.

Common mistakes

• Buying the first thing on the list. The list is where you start, not where you finish.
• Chasing the biggest movers. The top of a gainers list is often the end of the move.
• Scanning constantly. Once a day on the daily chart is enough. More often just produces noise.
• Ignoring the wider market. A good scan result matters less if Bitcoin is falling sharply.

Make it a routine

The most useful way to use a scanner is as a fixed step in a daily routine: scan, shortlist, check, plan, and then close the screen. If you work full time, that fits in 15 to 30 minutes. See how to trade crypto with a full-time job.

You can try the whole workflow at no cost. Open the scanner, pick a coin, and take the trade on the practice account with a stop and a target, to see how it plays out before real money is involved.