Update Frequencies

The update frequency controls how often your scanner re-evaluates every instrument in its watchlist. Choosing the right frequency is one of the most important decisions when setting up a scanner – it determines how quickly you are alerted and how much processing power your scanner uses.

Available frequencies

Stratifyre offers the following update frequencies, from fastest to slowest:

TICK

• Speed: Millisecond-level updates
• How it works: The scanner evaluates conditions on every new quote or trade that arrives. This is the fastest possible frequency.
• Best for: Ultra-short-term setups where every millisecond counts, such as scalping breakouts or detecting sudden volume surges.

Caution

TICK frequency generates a very high volume of evaluations, especially across large instrument lists. Make sure to set an appropriate cooldown period to avoid alert overload. TICK scanning may also be restricted to higher-tier plans depending on the number of instruments.

SECOND

• Speed: Once per second
• How it works: The scanner checks conditions every second, using the most recent data point within that second.
• Best for: Fast intraday scanning where tick-level granularity is not necessary but sub-minute speed is important.

MINUTE (default)

• Speed: Once per minute
• How it works: At the close of every one-minute bar, the scanner evaluates all instruments. This is the default frequency and the most popular choice.
• Best for: General-purpose intraday scanning. Works well for most momentum, breakout, and mean-reversion setups on intraday timeframes.

5 MINUTE

• Speed: Once every 5 minutes
• How it works: Evaluates at the close of each 5-minute bar.
• Best for: Traders who want intraday alerts without the noise of minute-by-minute updates. Good for swing-style intraday setups.

10 MINUTE

• Speed: Once every 10 minutes
• How it works: Evaluates at the close of each 10-minute bar.
• Best for: Similar to 5-minute but with fewer evaluations. Useful when your criteria are not highly time-sensitive.

15 MINUTE

• Speed: Once every 15 minutes
• How it works: Evaluates at the close of each 15-minute bar.
• Best for: A popular choice for traders who blend intraday and swing approaches. Reduces noise while still catching meaningful moves.

30 MINUTE

• Speed: Once every 30 minutes
• How it works: Evaluates at the close of each 30-minute bar.
• Best for: Swing traders who want periodic intraday check-ins. Also useful for options traders monitoring positions.

HOURLY

• Speed: Once per hour
• How it works: Evaluates at the close of each hourly bar.
• Best for: Multi-day setups and position traders who do not need minute-level precision. Great for strategies with longer holding periods.

DAILY

• Speed: Once per day
• How it works: Evaluates once after the market close, using the completed daily bar.
• Best for: End-of-day screening. Ideal for swing traders, position traders, and anyone who reviews setups after the close.

Choosing the right frequency

The right frequency depends on your trading style and how quickly you need to act on an alert:

Trading Style	Recommended Frequency	Why
Scalping	TICK or SECOND	You need to act within seconds of a signal
Day trading	MINUTE or 5 MINUTE	Fast enough for intraday setups without excessive noise
Swing trading (intraday entry)	15 or 30 MINUTE	Catches intraday moves without constant updates
Swing trading (daily entry)	DAILY	One check per day is all you need
Position trading	DAILY	Positions are held for weeks or months; daily is sufficient

Tip

When in doubt, start with MINUTE. It is fast enough for most intraday setups and generates a manageable number of alerts. You can always increase the frequency later if you need faster notifications, or decrease it if you are getting too many alerts.

Performance considerations

Higher frequencies require more processing power and generate more evaluations. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Instrument count matters. A TICK scanner watching 10 instruments is very different from a TICK scanner watching 1,000. The more instruments you scan at high frequencies, the more resources are consumed.
• Plan limits. Some plans may limit the number of high-frequency scanners you can run or the total number of instruments across TICK and SECOND scanners. Check your plan details for specifics.
• Cooldowns are essential at high frequencies. Without cooldowns, a TICK scanner could generate thousands of redundant alerts per minute. Always configure a cooldown that makes sense for your trading workflow.
• Lower frequencies are more efficient. If your strategy does not require sub-minute precision, choosing MINUTE or a longer frequency reduces resource usage and keeps alerts clean.

Market hours awareness

Scanners are aware of market hours for each asset class and will only evaluate instruments during their active trading sessions:

• US equities – Scanners run during regular trading hours (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM ET) by default. You can optionally enable extended hours to include pre-market (4:00 AM - 9:30 AM ET) and after-hours (4:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET) sessions.
• Futures – Scanners run during the nearly 24-hour trading sessions defined by each exchange.
• Crypto – Scanners run 24/7/365 since cryptocurrency markets never close.

This means a DAILY scanner on US equities will evaluate once after the 4:00 PM ET close, while a DAILY scanner on crypto will evaluate once every 24 hours at midnight UTC.

Note

Historical warmup applies regardless of frequency. When you activate a scanner, Stratifyre loads up to 30 days of historical data so that indicators like moving averages and RSI produce accurate values from the very first evaluation.

Changing the frequency

You can change a scanner’s update frequency at any time without recreating it:

1. Navigate to your scanner in the Scanners dashboard.
2. Click Edit.
3. Select a new frequency from the dropdown.
4. Click Save.

The scanner will immediately begin using the new frequency. If you switch from a slower to a faster frequency, you may want to tighten your cooldown period to prevent a surge of alerts.