In the screener, if you select “Quick Rank” but leave it blank, the prior posts from marco indicates that it chooses stocks in a “random fashion”. Yet it chooses the stocks the same each time and when I did this accidentally recently the back test turned out really good. I was trying to figure out what “accidental” rank it was using but it wasn’t evident. If Quick rank is left blank, what exactly is it using to do the sort? Any one know?
It’s random but won’t change each run. It simply returns the stocks in the order that they are stored the database. If you want a random ranking enter “Random” in Quick Rank
What is the order in which they are stored in the database?
is it oldest first or newest first?
I guess, it is alphabetical.
is this true Marco?
Not sure. I thought so, I’d have to double check. Does it really matter?
I am getting biased results based on the number of names picked for a screen and I am trying to figure out if there is an IPO bias in there. In other words, are names added to the universe in an order that the top names are the ones most recently added, and is it possible that they are added more recently if they just went public. Thanks!
I really doubt it. To make sure try screening for IPOs. You can do that with this: Close(250)=NA . This screens for stocks that had no price 250 bars ago (about a year)