Trade Ideas Stock Scanner Alerts, Backtests & Pricing

An Event and a Current Condition Answer Different Questions

Suppose a hypothetical stock crosses $20 at 10:01, reaches $20.10 and falls to $19.95 before the next list update. A crossing alert can record what happened while an above-$20 list no longer includes it. That disagreement is expected. Compare event timestamps and filter definitions rather than assuming one tool missed the stock.

Trade Ideas combines multiple alert types as alternatives while requiring the selected filters together. For example, a new-high event OR a volume event can qualify, but a price-above-$5 filter AND a minimum-volume filter must both pass. Adding another alert broadens the events considered; adding another filter narrows eligibility.

Official Refresh and Backtest Descriptions Need Care

The current feature page says Top Lists update every 15 seconds; the user-guide chapter still says 30 seconds. Confirm the behavior in your version. Neither number establishes end-to-end alert latency or broker execution time. The toolbar latency reading measures a round trip to Trade Ideas servers, not the time from an exchange event to a completed fill.

Marketing describes event-based strategy testing, but the OddsMaker guide specifies one-minute OHLC modeling, no spread in exit prices, no current-day tests and no premarket or postmarket testing. It also limits repeated entries in the same symbol during a day. These details matter more than a broad claim of tick-level backtesting; verify them before applying a strategy to live trading.

One Minute of OHLC Cannot Reveal Every Intrabar Path

Consider a hypothetical bar with open $10, high $11, low $9 and close $10.50. A $10 entry with a $10.80 target and a $9.50 stop encounters both levels inside that bar. OHLC alone cannot tell which was reached first. A test needs an ordering assumption or finer data, and the assumption can change a win into a loss. Adding software cost afterward does not repair that uncertainty.

For a separate cost calculation, 12 Standard monthly payments total $1,524 versus $1,068 annual billing, a $456 difference. Premium totals $3,048 monthly versus $2,136 annually, a $912 difference. This compares billing commitments only; it does not estimate trading returns or establish that either plan is worthwhile.

Sources checked October 20, 2026: current plans, features and latency definition, Alert Window, Top List semantics, OddsMaker modeling limits and execution tools. Compare Pineify access terms separately. No broker connection, order or independent latency test was performed.