Scheduled screens and change alerts
Run a saved screen on its own at market times you choose, keep a history of every run, and get a message only when the result changes the way you asked.
Overview
A schedule runs one of your saved screens by itself, for example every day after the close or every 30 minutes during market hours. Each run is stored, so you can see what changed since the previous run: new matches, rows that dropped out, and rows still matching.
You get a message only when something you ticked actually changed. There is never a "nothing changed" message, and the first run is a baseline that sends nothing.
Before you start
- You need a saved screen; see Saved screens.
- How many schedules you can have, how often they may run and how many runs are kept depend on your plan. The schedule dialog shows your limits.
Steps
Schedule a screen
- Open Research → Saved Screens.
- Open the row menu of a screen and choose Schedule….
- Under When, pick a time such as After the close (16:20 ET) or Every 30 minutes during market hours, or choose Custom (cron) and enter five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, weekday.
- Leave Market days only ticked to skip weekends and exchange holidays. The dialog lists the next five runs.
- Under Tell me when, tick what should send a message: a new row starts matching, a row stops matching, or a matching row's value crosses a threshold. Optionally set a minimum number of changed rows.
- Choose Save schedule.
See what changed
- In Research → Saved Screens, open the row menu and choose Run history.
- Pick a run to see its new matches, the rows that dropped out and the rows still matching.
- Choose Run now and compare to store a fresh run immediately (no message is sent for a manual run).
Pause, resume or remove a schedule
Use Pause schedule or Resume schedule in the row menu, or Remove schedule inside the schedule dialog. Removing a schedule keeps the saved screen and its run history.
How changes are counted
A row is "the same row" across runs when its symbol, expiry, strike and call/put match. Prices, volume and greeks are ignored for that, so a moving price never makes a row look new. A threshold cross counts only when the previous run was on the other side of the threshold.
Half days and holidays
Runs follow US market time (ET). On a holiday a market-days-only schedule does not run. On a half day (for example the day after Thanksgiving, which closes at 13:00 ET) every run that would fall after the early close is replaced by one run at 13:15 ET, so an after-the-close schedule still runs once.
Example
Sample IV screen (an invented name) is scheduled After the close (16:20 ET) with A new row starts matching ticked. On Monday it matches XYZ calls; on Tuesday it also matches ABC 271217C00050000. Tuesday's run sends one message: "Sample IV screen: 1 new". On Wednesday nothing changes and nothing is sent.
FAQs
Why did I not get a message?
Either nothing you ticked changed, the change count was below your minimum, or it was the first run. Run history shows the reason under each run.
Which channels are used?
Change messages follow your notification preferences. Until those are set up for your account they arrive by e-mail.
Does a schedule use my plan at the time it runs?
Yes. If your plan changes and no longer allows the schedule's frequency, the schedule pauses and says why.
Troubleshooting
The schedule shows "Paused" with a reason
The screen failed several times in a row (for example it no longer matches the screen format), your plan no longer allows its frequency, or the account is not active. Fix the cause, then choose Resume schedule.
All schedules show "On hold"
An administrator has paused scheduled runs for everyone. Your schedules are kept and resume when the pause ends; you can still run screens by hand.
A run says only the first 1,000 rows were stored
Very broad screens are capped. Add a filter so the comparison covers every row.