If you’re tired of chasing moves after they happen, a disciplined screener + watchlist workflow is your edge. In 2025, the market still rewards preparation: identify strength early, stalk clean consolidations, and only act when price confirms. Below is a step-by-step playbook to build breakout-ready watchlists using TradingView’s Stock & Crypto Screeners—plus a few pro filters to reduce noise.
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What “breakout” means (and why many traders miss it)
A breakout is a decisive move through a well-defined level—often a prior high or the top of a tight base—accompanied by above-normal volume and broad momentum support (trend, relative strength, breadth). Most traders either enter too early (during noisy chop) or too late (after the thrust). Your screener’s job is to find leaders near inflection, not stretched runners.
Core setup: build a clean screener foundation
Open the Stock Screener (or Crypto Screener) at the bottom panel in TradingView.
Global filters (baseline):
- Exchange / Universe: Pick your market (e.g., NASDAQ/NYSE) or switch to the Crypto Screener for coins.
- Price: ≥ $5 (equities) to avoid illiquid penny noise. For crypto, you can skip price and lean on volume/liquidity.
- Average Volume (30/90d): ≥ 1,000,000 shares for stocks; for crypto, prefer 24h Volume in the top decile on your exchange.
- Relative Volume: ≥ 1.3–1.8 (today’s activity vs. average). This is your fuel filter.
Tip: Save this as your “Baseline – Liquid Universe” preset. Then clone it for specialized breakout recipes.
Recipe A — Classic 52-Week High Breakout (stocks)
Goal: Leaders pressing highs with trend confirmation.
Add filters:
- Price vs 52-Week High: within 0–3% of high (or use “New 52-Week High” if you prefer only fresh breaks).
- SMA(50) vs Price: Price > SMA50
- SMA(200) vs Price: Price > SMA200
- RSI(14): 55–70 (momentum, but not wildly overbought)
- Sector (optional): Focus on currently strong groups (semis, software, energy, etc.).
Why it works: Trend alignment (50/200) + proximity to highs = genuine leadership, not mean-reversion noise.
Recipe B — Tight Base → Expansion (stocks or crypto)
Goal: Catch the coiled spring before it launches.
Add filters:
- Price range compression: Use ATR(% of price) on the chart (via indicator) to visually confirm a multi-week squeeze. In the screener, approximate with Low Beta or Lower 20-Day Volatility if available.
- Price vs SMA(20/50): Price within ±2% of SMA20 and above SMA50 (keeps structure tight and constructive).
- Relative Volume: ≥ 1.5 (when it starts moving, you’ll see it).
Chart check: You should see 3–6 weeks of narrowing highs/lows, flat to rising 20/50 MAs, and clear resistance to break.
Recipe C — Relative Strength Leaders (stocks & crypto)
Goal: Names outperforming their peers before price tags a new high.
Add filters:
- Performance vs Index (1–3 months): Top 20–30%.
- RSI(14): 50–65 (early strength, not blown out).
- Price vs 52-Week High: within 5–8%.
- Technical Rating: “Buy” (optional, as a sanity check).
Why it works: RS leaders often break out first and pull the rest of the sector with them.
Crypto twist: adapting filters to coins
- Switch to Crypto Screener.
- Exchange: Choose the venue you actually trade (e.g., Binance, Coinbase, Bybit).
- Quote: USDT or USD pairs for clean liquidity.
- 24h Volume / Relative Volume: Elevate thresholds—crypto moves are faster; you want the most active pairs.
- Moving Averages: Price > EMA50 & EMA200 on your chosen timeframe (4H or Daily for swing traders).
- Pro tip: For perps, also eyeball Funding Rate and Open Interest on your chart/heatmap tools. They’re not screener fields, but great confirmation.
Turning results into a breakout-ready watchlist
- Sort by Relative Volume first, then Price vs 52-Week High (ascending distance).
- Multi-timeframe scan: Open each symbol’s chart quickly (Daily + 4H) to confirm structure.
- Tag & group: Use TradingView’s watchlist color tags (e.g., A setups, B setups, Needs volume).
- Set alerts at the level: Right-click the resistance line → Add Alert (once-per-bar or only on close; choose sound/notification/webhook as your plan allows).
- Journal the plan: Entry trigger (above X), invalid level (below Y), stop, initial targets. Write it down.
Three filters that cut false breakouts
- Crowded earnings risk (stocks): Exclude tickers reporting this week unless your strategy is earnings-specific.
- Gap-and-fade trap: Avoid names up >8–10% pre-break unless there’s news + broad confirmation.
- “Thin float” lottery: If you’re not specifically trading low floats, filter for market cap and average volume to avoid slippage spikes.
Scaling the process (alerts & automation)
- Screener Alerts: If your plan supports it, set recurring alerts on your saved screener to ping you when new symbols meet the criteria.
- Webhook to your notes app or bot: Route alerts to a Discord/Slack/Telegram channel for quick triage.
- Weekly reset: On weekends, prune stale setups, refresh sector views, and promote A-quality names to the top of the list.
A simple breakout checklist (copy/paste)
- Trend alignment? Price > 50/200 MA
- Structure? Tight base or near 52-week high
- Momentum? RSI 55–70 (not extended)
- Fuel? Relative Volume ≥ 1.5
- Plan? Trigger, stop, targets written
- Risk? Size for max loss ≤ 1R (or a fixed % of equity)
Final word
Breakouts are less about prediction and more about readiness. With a clean screener, a focused watchlist, and alerts at your level, you’ll stop chasing and start letting price come to you.
Not financial advice. For educational purposes only.
