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Custom Query, the screener language

Ready-made screens stop being useful the moment your idea is slightly different. Custom Query lets you write the screen yourself in a line of plain conditions — RS ST > 80 AND Turn >= 5 — and run it over the whole scanned NSE list.

App guideFNOTraderPublished
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What it is

A screen is a list of conditions every stock must pass. Custom Query is a small language for writing that list, with the same engine behind the Setups page, the Screener gallery and Ask AI.

Each condition is FIELD OPERATOR VALUE. Join conditions with AND, OR and NOT, and group them with brackets. Field names and operators are not case-sensitive; text values go in quotes. As you type, the box suggests field names and shows an English reading of what you have written, so a typo shows up before you apply it.

The Custom Query panel on Setups with a typed query, its plain-English reading, sample and predefined queries, and the matching stocks below.
The Custom Query panel on Setups with a typed query, its plain-English reading, sample and predefined queries, and the matching stocks below.

Operators

OperatorExample
CompareRSI > 60, PE <= 25, !=
Range1M between 10 and 30
ProximityPrice within 3% of 52W High, within 5% above EMA200
Field vs fieldEMA10 > EMA20, Price < 1.05*EMA200
Cross eventsPrice crossed above SMA20, RSI crossed below 40
TextIndustry contains 'Pharma', Stage in ('2A','2B')
PresenceGSM is empty, PE is not empty
Yes/no fieldsFNO, SuperTrend Flipped Up

Precedence is NOT, then AND, then OR. A OR B AND C means A OR (B AND C); bracket the OR group when it should gate everything else. A missing bracket is an error, never a guess.

The fields

The catalogue runs to more than 650 field names and aliases. The main groups:

Closed candles and bar offsets

This is the part people get wrong. Indicators are always read from the last closed candle. During the session, MACD is yesterday's MACD, Weekly RSI is last completed week's, Monthly MACD is last completed month's. The live price is what you compare against them. So mid-session, Price > BB Upper means today's price above yesterday's upper band.

Bar offsets reach back into history: 3 days ago (a close), 2 days ago high, 1 week ago high, 2 months ago range. On weekly and monthly offsets, 1 is the last completed week or month; the forming one is never a candle yet. Daily closes go back 21 bars, daily highs/lows/ranges 8, weekly 13 and monthly 12.

Worked examples

The difference between “near” and “above” trips up most first attempts. Say a stock's EMA200 is ₹1,000.

A few screens to adapt:

Gotchas

Where to find it

  1. Open the Stocks app on Setups and click Query (or Custom Query from the Scans overview).
  2. Type a query, or click a predefined one on the right, then Apply.
  3. Use ? Help for the full field list. Prefer English? See Ask AI.

Common questions

Can I write my own stock screener formula for NSE stocks?

Yes. Custom Query in the FNOTrader Stocks app takes conditions like RS ST > 80 AND Turn >= 5, combined with AND, OR, NOT and brackets, and runs them over the scanned NSE stock list.

Are weekly RSI and MACD in the screener calculated on the live candle?

No. Indicators always use the last closed candle: during the session daily values are yesterday's, and weekly or monthly values are from the last completed week or month.

How do I screen for stocks near the 200 EMA?

Use the proximity operator: Price within 5% above EMA200 finds stocks between the EMA and 5% above it. Price > EMA200 + 5% means more than 5% above, which is a different screen.

Does Custom Query support crossovers?

Yes. crossed above and crossed below are true only when the previous bar was on the other side, and they work on price, moving averages, RSI and other indicators.

What does Turn mean in the screener?

The 20-day average daily turnover in ₹ crore. Turn >= 5 means at least ₹5 crore traded per day on average.

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