Frequently asked questions

PairScanner is Swiss quantitative trading software that makes research-backed quantitative strategies accessible without code. As of October 1, 2026, it automatically computes six strategies every day, tracks 4,122 stocks, ETFs, currencies and cryptocurrencies, and runs about 9.8 billion computations a day. Everything runs in your browser: the six strategies.

PairScanner is first for retail traders and investors who want ready-made technical analysis to take their trades, on top of quantitative signals, without calculating or coding. It also serves beginners who want to trade with recognized quantitative strategies, advanced traders who want to simplify their day and spot new opportunities while they are still visible only in the numbers, and companies that want to detect market information visible in the data. See the strategies computed.

No. PairScanner requires no code, no formula and no spreadsheet: every strategy is computed automatically on its servers, every day, and you read the results in a dashboard. You only choose your filters, favorites and alert thresholds. Every number is explained in plain words, right in the app.

PairScanner is free during its development phase: an email address is all it takes to create an account, with no card required. Creating a free account does not start a paid subscription or authorize automatic charges.

No. PairScanner is an analytics tool: it computes the strategies and shows the signals, but it connects to no broker and places no orders. You stay in control of your decisions and of your choice of broker.

PairScanner computes research-backed strategies for you and delivers ready-to-read signals. QuantConnect is for people who program their own algorithms, Composer for those who assemble and automate their own strategies, and TradingView is first a charting tool. With PairScanner there is nothing to build or program: the calculations are done every day.

PairScanner is designed and built in Switzerland. The tool publicly documents its methods, its academic sources and the definition of every number. For any question: contact@pairscanner.com. See about us.

Quantitative trading means making decisions from measurable rules applied to market data, rather than from intuition. Quantitative funds have used strategies such as pair trading and momentum for decades, and both are documented in academic research. PairScanner makes them accessible to individuals, without code. See the strategies explained.

PairScanner computes six quantitative strategies every day: pair trading, momentum, relative reversal, short-term reversal, statistical peers and lead-lag. Each one rests on published academic work and has its own explanation page, with an example and its sources: the six strategies.

For the 1,000 most liquid US stocks and the best-known names, PairScanner computes every evening the trend (50- and 200-session averages), momentum (RSI), volatility and volume, finds support and resistance, draws trendlines and looks for simple patterns, including candle patterns. Everything is drawn on the chart and explained in one sentence, with a ? on every term. See technical analysis.

For every stock, PairScanner builds 10,000 possible futures by drawing random blocks of 5 sessions from its returns of the last 5 years, over 1 month, 3 months or 1 year. It derives the chance of ending higher, the chance of losing more than 10% and the range where 9 futures out of 10 land. By default, the past trend is removed. It is not a forecast. See the Monte Carlo simulation.

Pair trading buys a stock that lagged behind and sells a linked stock that ran ahead, to gain when their gap closes, whether the market rises or falls. Born at Morgan Stanley in the 1980s, the strategy was documented by Gatev, Goetzmann and Rouwenhorst (2006). PairScanner tests thousands of pairs every day. See the pair trading guide and the distance method.

Momentum bets that what rose the most over several months keeps going for a while; reversal bets that an unusual gap over a few days will partly close. Both effects are documented and play out over different horizons, which makes them complementary. PairScanner computes both: momentum and short-term reversal.

For pair trading, yes: every relationship is tested on five years of history, then validated on a period the calculation has not seen, and PairScanner shows its past success rate, with no fees. For the five other strategies, PairScanner shows the change measured on today's data, with no success rate; the average effect of each one is documented by the studies cited on its page.

Not necessarily. Every signal states its direction, buy or sell, and you can keep only the buy signals. Pair trading combines a buy and a sell by design, which makes it independent of the market's direction.

As of October 1, 2026, PairScanner tracks 4,122 assets: US-listed stocks and ETFs, spot forex including gold and silver (XAU/USD, XAG/USD), and major cryptocurrencies. A Cross-asset tab also compares different asset classes, for example gold and mining companies. European and Asian exchanges are not covered at this stage.

Prices come from a professional financial data provider, as closing prices adjusted for dividends and splits, over five years of history. For stocks, PairScanner adds context: official filings with the SEC and news activity. The tool publishes computed results and does not display raw prices.

Every day after the Wall Street close, PairScanner recomputes the six strategies. For pairs, an intraday Z-score also refreshes about every 30 seconds from quotes delayed by roughly fifteen minutes. Momentum renews its selection once a month. The time of the latest computation is always displayed.

Every number shown by PairScanner is defined on a public page, open without an account: cointegration, Z-score, half-life, success rate and many more. The definitions are written for someone discovering quantitative trading. See the metrics dictionary.

Yes. Every pair and every signal of the other strategies can be followed with the star and appears in the Watchlist tab. The bell turns the e-mail alert on or off: a Z-score threshold of your choice for pairs; the end of the horizon or a reversal of the change for the other strategies.

No. PairScanner is an information tool: it publishes the same statistical calculations every day for all users, without regard to anyone's personal situation. PairScanner promises no results, provides no investment advice and places no orders.