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🖥️ 5 Technical Screens

Writer: Lester Davids
Lester Davids
7 minutes ago
3 min read

Disclosure: The commentary below was compiled using an artificial intelligence tool, based on my own data.


1. The "V-Shape" Mean-Reversion Screener (Criteria: Price below 200-day SMA, but closing above 8-day EMA with 7-day RSI hooking up from <30)

  • WHL (Woolworths)

  • TFG (Foschini Group)

  • TRU (Truworths)

  • MTN (MTN Group)

2. Blue-Sky Momentum Leaders (Criteria: Price > 8D > 21D > 75D > 200D with 7-day RSI > 60)

  • SOL (Sasol)

  • OMN (Omnia Holdings)

  • SNT (Santam)

  • GND (Grindrod)

3. Structural Capitulation (Falling Knives) (Criteria: Price below all MAs, 7-day RSI < 25, negative 1-month performance)

  • HAR (Harmony Gold)

  • IMP (Impala Platinum)

  • NPH (Northam Platinum)

  • WBC (We Buy Cars)

4. The 50-Week EMA Defenders (Criteria: Price testing the 50-week EMA and bouncing, forming a structural floor)

  • ANG (AngloGold Ashanti)

  • DSY (Discovery)

  • OUT (OUTsurance)

  • VOD (Vodacom)

5. Yield & Property Breakouts (Criteria: REITs/Yield-plays closing above 21-day EMA with expanding volume)

  • HYP (Hyprop)

  • VKE (Vukile)

  • FFB (Fortress B)


What is a Technical Screen?


In trading and technical analysis, a technical screen (or "screener") is a systematic process used to filter a vast universe of securities—such as the 100+ liquid names on the JSE or the thousands on the NYSE—down to a manageable shortlist that meets specific, predefined criteria.

Rather than analyzing every chart manually, a screen acts as a quantitative "funnel" to identify setups where the odds are mathematically skewed in your favor.


Why Professionals Use Screens

For an investment professional, a screen is less about "finding a tip" and more about process efficiency and bias reduction:

  • Scalability: It allows an analyst to monitor hundreds of shares across multiple timeframes (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) simultaneously.

  • Objectivity: It removes emotional attachment to specific "story stocks" and focuses strictly on price action and momentum profiles.

  • Early Detection: It identifies sector rotations or "alpha flows" before they become obvious to the broader market.


The Goal: A technical screen doesn't tell you what to buy; it tells you what is worth your time to investigate today. It turns a sea of data into a high-probability "watchlist."


Types of Technical Screens


Rotation: Absolute & Relative


Trend & Phase Scans

  • Leading Phase: Strong across all timeframes.

  • Lagging Phase: Weak across all timeframes.

  • Waking Up / Turnaround: Short-term strength appearing in a long-term downtrend.

  • Deteriorating: Short-term weakness appearing in a long-term uptrend.


Momentum & Velocity

  • Power Trend: Extreme bullish momentum pushing a strong trend higher.

  • Hyper Momentum: Parabolic, highly volatile upside.

  • Violent Breakout: Explosive short-term push reversing a weak long-term trend.

  • Momentum Squeeze: Timeframe convergence (coiling) usually preceding an explosive price move.


Over-extended & Extremes

  • Extreme Overbought: Euphoria across the board.

  • Extreme Oversold: Severe panic selling across the board.

  • Overbought Warning in Bear Trend: Violent counter-trend rally ripe for short-selling.

  • Deep Dip in Bull Trend: Sharp, over-extended pullback in a primary uptrend.

  • Capitulation: Total institutional abandonment.


Volatility & Accumulation

  • Steady Accumulation: High-quality, low-drama buying.

  • Low Volatility Compounders: Slow, steady, highly predictable uptrends.

  • High Volatility Momentum: Strong trend with wild daily swings.

  • High-Vol Laggards: Dangerous wealth-destroyers with massive daily swings.

  • Dead Money: Trapped in a tight, directionless neutral zone.


Market Structure & Divergences

  • Perfect Bull Alignment: Textbook sequential leadership (Short-term leads medium-term, which leads long-term).

  • Perfect Bear Alignment: Textbook sequential breakdown (Short-term leads the decline, dragging down medium and long-term trends).

  • Bullish Divergence: Shorter timeframes dragging a dead long-term trend higher.

  • Bearish Divergence: Shorter timeframes breaking down while the long-term trend still looks great.

  • Stealth Bull: Creeping accumulation while the long-term chart still looks bad.

  • Stealth Bear: Creeping distribution while the long-term chart still looks good.

  • MT Turnaround: Medium-term momentum just crossing out of weakness, pulled by short-term strength.

  • MT Breakdown: Medium-term momentum just dropping out of strength, dragged by short-term weakness.


Transitions & Pullbacks

  • Bull Market Correction: Healthy pullback into weak territory within a strong primary trend.

  • Bear Market Rally: Sharp bounce into strong territory within a primary downtrend.

  • Bullish Stall: Short-term momentum flatlining inside a strong trend.

  • Base Building: Bleeding has stopped, chopping sideways at the bottom.


Lester Davids

Senior Investment Analyst: Unum Capital

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