TC2000 Scanner Setup: Build Custom Scans in Under 10 Minutes (2026)

TC2000 by Worden Brothers has been voted the best trading software by Stocks & Commodities Magazine for 25 consecutive years, and its scanning engine is the primary reason. The platform processes roughly 1,000 stocks in about 2 seconds, making it one of the fastest stock screeners available to retail traders. But speed means nothing if you cannot configure scans that find what you are actually looking for.

This guide walks through TC2000's scanning system from the ground up — starting with EasyScan's preset filters, moving to the PCF (Personal Criteria Formula) language for custom conditions, and ending with practical scan templates you can use immediately. If you have 10 minutes and a TC2000 subscription, you will have your first custom scan running by the end of this article.

For a broader assessment of TC2000's full feature set and pricing, see our TC2000 Scanner review.

EasyScan: The 2-Minute Starting Point

EasyScan is TC2000's visual scan builder. It is designed for traders who want to screen stocks without writing formulas. You open EasyScan, select conditions from dropdown menus, set thresholds, and click Scan. The results populate in under 3 seconds across the entire US stock universe (NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX).

TC2000 ships with 100+ pre-built scan templates organized by strategy type: breakouts, pullbacks, high volume, gap plays, moving average crosses, earnings movers, and more. These are not toy examples — they are curated by Worden Brothers and updated regularly. For most traders, starting with a preset scan and modifying it is faster than building from scratch.

How to Run Your First EasyScan

1. Open TC2000 and click the Scan button in the top toolbar
2. Select EasyScan from the scan type dropdown
3. Choose a preset — try "Stocks up on high volume" as a starting point
4. Click Run Scan — results appear in seconds
5. Click any result to load its chart instantly

The power of EasyScan is the spacebar navigation. Once results are loaded, press the spacebar to flip through charts one by one. Experienced TC2000 users regularly review 1,000 charts in 20-30 minutes using this method — a pace that is impossible on platforms without this feature.

The Condition Builder: Point-and-Click Custom Scans

EasyScan's preset scans are useful starting points, but the condition builder is where TC2000 gets genuinely powerful. You can combine multiple conditions using AND/OR logic to create sophisticated screens without writing a single formula.

Building a Momentum Breakout Scan

Here is a practical example — scanning for stocks breaking out of a consolidation range on above-average volume:

1. Open EasyScan and click New Scan
2. Add condition: Price > 20-day high (breakout above recent range)
3. Add condition: Volume > 150% of 50-day average volume (confirmation)
4. Add condition: Price > $5 (filter out penny stocks)
5. Add condition: Average Volume (50-day) > 500,000 (liquidity filter)
6. Click Run Scan

This four-condition scan typically returns 10-30 results on any given trading day. Each condition narrows the universe, and TC2000 processes the full combination in under 3 seconds. You can save this scan and re-run it daily — or set it to auto-refresh during market hours on the Premium plan.

PCF Formulas: Unlocking TC2000's Full Power

PCF (Personal Criteria Formula) is TC2000's proprietary formula language. It looks intimidating at first, but the syntax is straightforward once you understand the building blocks. PCF lets you create conditions that the visual builder cannot express — custom indicator crossovers, multi-timeframe conditions, and proprietary calculations using TC2000's unique indicators.

PCF Syntax Basics

PCF formulas use standard operators and TC2000-specific functions:

C          = Current close price
C1         = Previous close (1 bar ago)
C5         = Close 5 bars ago
V          = Current volume
V1         = Previous volume
H          = Current high
L          = Current low
O          = Current open
AVGC20     = 20-period average of close (SMA 20)
MAXH52     = 52-week high
MINL52     = 52-week low

Practical PCF Scan Examples

Stocks within 5% of 52-week high:

C >= MAXH52 * 0.95

Volume surge — today's volume is 3x the 20-day average:

V >= AVGV20 * 3

Golden cross — 50 SMA crossing above 200 SMA:

AVGC50 > AVGC200 AND AVGC50.1 <= AVGC200.1

RSI below 30 (oversold condition):

RSI14 < 30

Bollinger Band squeeze — bandwidth narrowing to a threshold:

(UPBAND20 - LOBAND20) / AVGC20 < 0.05

The .1 suffix on any value references the prior bar, enabling crossover detection. This is the key mechanism for catching moving average crosses, indicator threshold breaks, and other event-based conditions.

TC2000's Proprietary Indicators

What genuinely differentiates TC2000 from competitors like Trade Ideas ($127-$254/month) or Finviz ($39.50/month for Elite) are three proprietary indicators that are unavailable on any other platform:

MoneyStream

A volume-based indicator that tracks institutional money flow by weighting volume at the close relative to the day's range. When MoneyStream diverges from price — e.g., price is flat but MoneyStream is rising — it suggests accumulation by larger players. In a PCF scan, you can filter for stocks where MoneyStream is making new highs while price has not yet broken out.

Balance of Power (BOP)

Measures the balance between buying and selling pressure by analyzing where the close falls relative to the open, high, and low. A rising BOP indicates buyers are in control. Combining BOP conditions with breakout scans adds a layer of conviction filtering — you are looking for breakouts that have genuine buying pressure behind them, not just a gap on thin volume.

Time Segmented Volume (TSV)

Segments volume into time periods and identifies whether money is flowing in or out of a stock during specific portions of the trading day. TSV can reveal that while net volume appears neutral, the opening hour saw heavy buying while the afternoon saw distribution — context that raw volume numbers cannot provide.

These proprietary indicators are exclusive to TC2000. If they are part of your analytical framework, no amount of customization on TradingView or Finviz will replicate them — they are built on proprietary volume decomposition algorithms that Worden Brothers has refined since 1988.

Historical Condition Testing (Premium Feature)

Version 20 of TC2000 introduced Historical Condition Testing, available on the Premium plan ($49.99/month). This lets you backtest any scan condition against past market data to see how frequently your criteria triggered and what happened to stocks that matched.

For example, you can test your "volume surge + breakout" scan against the last 12 months and see: how many stocks matched each day, what percentage gained 5%+ within the next week, and what the average return was. This is not a full backtesting engine with entry/exit rules and position sizing — it is a scan validation tool that tells you whether your screening criteria actually identify stocks that move.

For traders who rely heavily on scanning as their primary trade identification method, this feature alone justifies the upgrade from Basic ($24.99/month) to Premium ($49.99/month).

The Real Cost of TC2000: Subscription + Data Fees

TC2000's base pricing is competitive — $24.99/month for Basic, $49.99/month for Premium, $99.99/month for Premium+ — but the real cost is higher due to real-time data add-ons that most active traders need:

An active stock trader on the Premium plan with real-time stock and options data pays: $49.99 + $14.99 + $9.99 = $74.97/month. That is meaningfully more than the $49.99 headline price, and it is important to factor this in when comparing against competitors that bundle real-time data into their base subscription.

TC2000 vs. Trade Ideas: Choosing the Right Scanner

The most common comparison for serious scan-focused traders is TC2000 vs. Trade Ideas. Here is the honest breakdown:

TC2000 wins on charting depth, proprietary indicators, and cost. Trade Ideas wins on AI-powered signals and automated execution. If you trust your own analysis and want the best charting + scanning combination, TC2000 is the clear choice. If you want AI to surface opportunities and have the budget for it, Trade Ideas is the specialist. See our full TC2000 vs. Trade Ideas comparison for the detailed breakdown.

Five Scan Templates You Can Build in Under 10 Minutes

1. Pre-Market Gap Scanner

Find stocks gapping up 3%+ on above-average volume before the open:

C > C1 * 1.03 AND V > AVGV20 * 2

2. Oversold Bounce Candidates

RSI below 30 with price above the 200-day SMA (still in a long-term uptrend):

RSI14 < 30 AND C > AVGC200

3. Tight Consolidation (Volatility Squeeze)

Bollinger bandwidth below 5% — coiling for a potential breakout:

(UPBAND20 - LOBAND20) / AVGC20 < 0.05 AND V > 500000

4. New 52-Week High on High Volume

C >= MAXH52 AND V > AVGV50 * 1.5 AND C > 10

5. Moving Average Pullback (9 EMA Touch)

Price touches the 9 EMA from above during an uptrend (21 EMA still rising):

L <= AVGC9 AND C > AVGC9 AND AVGC9 > AVGC21 AND AVGC21 > AVGC21.5

Each of these scans takes 2-3 minutes to enter into TC2000's EasyScan or the PCF formula box, and runs in under 3 seconds. Save them with descriptive names and you have a daily scan rotation ready.

Bottom Line

TC2000's scanning engine is genuinely best-in-class for US equity traders who want speed, depth, and proprietary indicators. The EasyScan interface makes basic screening accessible to beginners, while the PCF formula language gives experienced traders the customization needed for sophisticated strategy-specific scans. The 240+ technical indicators and 129+ fundamental variables — available on the same chart — create a scanning and analysis environment that few competitors match.

The limitations are equally clear: US markets only (no futures, forex, or crypto), real-time data costs add $15-35/month on top of the base subscription, and there is no API for programmatic access. If your trading universe extends beyond US stocks and options, TC2000 is not the right tool. But for the 80%+ of retail traders whose primary focus is US equities, TC2000 at $24.99-$49.99/month (plus data) delivers scanning power that is difficult to beat at any price.