Advanced Formula Basics

What You'll Learn

• The building blocks (values, functions, operators)
• How to combine conditions with AND/OR
• Practical patterns: crossovers, momentum, volatility, fundamentals
• Common mistakes and how to fix them fast
• Tips to keep scans fast and readable

What Are Formulas?

Formulas are advanced expressions you can use when the visual builder is not enough.

They can define:

• Conditions: Which stocks to include in results.
• Columns: What data to display for each stock.

They use a simple language (SKIF) designed for stock analysis.

Quick Wins (Copy/Paste)

Try these in Advanced Formula mode:

Copyrsi(14) < 30            # Oversold

Copyc > sma(50) and v > 1M  # Uptrend with liquidity

Copymarket_cap > 10B and rsi(14) > 50  # Large caps with positive momentum

Basic Building Blocks

Simple Indicators

Copyrsi(14)

14-period Relative Strength Index

Copysma(20)

20-period Simple Moving Average

Copymarket_cap

Market capitalization

Default Column Formulas

When you open a watchlist, these columns appear by default:

• c - Close price
• roc(1) - 1-day percentage change
• v - Volume
• market_cap - Market cap
• rsi(14) - RSI (14 periods)
• atrp(14) - Average True Range as percentage

These are the building blocks — combine them to create filters.

Comparison Operators

Find stocks matching conditions:

Copyrsi(14) < 30

RSI below 30 (oversold)

Copymarket_cap > 1B

Market cap greater than $1 billion

Copyc > sma(50)

Price above 50-day moving average

Available operators:

• < Less than
• > Greater than
• <= Less than or equal
• >= Greater than or equal
• = or == Equal to
• != Not equal to

Logical Operators

Combine multiple conditions:

AND (both must be true)

Copyrsi(14) < 30 and market_cap > 1B

Oversold stocks with large market cap

OR (either can be true)

Copyrsi(14) < 30 or rsi(14) > 70

Oversold OR overbought

NOT (invert condition)

Copynot (rsi(14) > 50)

RSI not above 50 (same as rsi(14) <= 50)

Combining with Parentheses

Copy(rsi(14) < 30 or rsi(14) > 70) and market_cap > 1B

Extreme RSI levels in large caps only

Math Operators

Perform calculations:

Copy(c - sma(20)) / sma(20) * 100

Percentage distance from 20-day MA

Available operators:

• + Addition
• - Subtraction
• * Multiplication
• / Division
• % Modulo (remainder)

Common Functions

Price & Volume

• c - Close price
• o - Open price
• h - High price
• l - Low price
• v - Volume
• roc(n) - Rate of change over n periods (percentage). Prefer this for price momentum and leader scans.
• change(x, n) - Absolute delta over n periods. Mostly useful for non-price series like change(obv(), 1).

Moving Averages

• sma(n) - Simple Moving Average
• ema(n) - Exponential Moving Average

Momentum Indicators

• rsi(n) - Relative Strength Index
• macd() - MACD line (default 12,26,9)
• macd_signal() - MACD signal line
• macd_hist() - MACD histogram

Volatility

• atr(n) - Average True Range
• atrp(n) - ATR as percentage of price
• bb_upper(n, k) - Bollinger Band upper (n periods, k std devs)
• bb_lower(n, k) - Bollinger Band lower

Fundamental Data

• market_cap - Market capitalization
• pe_ratio - Price-to-Earnings ratio
• ps_ratio - Price-to-Sales ratio
• revenue_ttm - Trailing 12-month revenue
• revenue_growth_yoy - Revenue growth versus the same quarter last year (fraction, so 0.15 = 15%)
• eps_growth_yoy - EPS growth versus the same quarter last year (fraction)
• gross_margin - Gross margin percentage
• operating_margin - Operating margin percentage
• current_ratio - Current ratio
• debt_to_ebitda - Debt / EBITDA ratio
• fcf_yield - Free cash flow yield percentage
• rule_of_40 - Rule of 40 score

Numeric Literals

Use standard notation:

Copymarket_cap > 1000000000

Or convenient suffixes:

• M - Million
• B - Billion
• T - Trillion

Copymarket_cap > 1B

Same as 1,000,000,000

Crossovers

Detect when one value crosses another:

Copycross_above(c, sma(50))

Price just crossed above 50-day MA

Copycross_below(rsi(14), 30)

RSI just crossed below 30

Important: Crossovers detect the event, not the sustained state.

Operator Precedence

Order of operations (high to low):

1. Parentheses ( )
2. Functions rsi(14), sma(20)
3. Multiplication/Division *, /, %
4. Addition/Subtraction +, -
5. Comparisons <, >, <=, >=, =, !=
6. NOT not
7. AND and
8. OR or

Use parentheses when unsure:

Copy(rsi(14) < 30) and (market_cap > 1B)

Common Errors (And Fixes)

Unknown identifier

CopyError: Unknown identifier 'rsi14'

Fix: Add parentheses → rsi(14)

Missing operator

Copyrsi(14) 30

Fix: Add comparison → rsi(14) < 30

Mismatched parentheses

Copy(rsi(14) < 30

Fix: Close all parentheses → (rsi(14) < 30)

Invalid function arguments

Copysma()

Fix: Provide period → sma(20)

Formula Patterns (Start Here)

Oversold Bounce Setup

Copyrsi(14) < 30 and c > sma(200) and market_cap > 1B

Fundamental Growth Screen

Copyrevenue_growth_yoy > 0.15 and eps_growth_yoy > 0.20 and gross_margin > 50 and pe_ratio < 25

Momentum Breakout

Copyc > sma(20) and sma(20) > sma(50) and v > sma(v, 20) * 1.5

Volatility Contraction

Copyatrp(14) < 2 and market_cap > 500M

MACD Bullish Crossover

Copycross_above(macd(), macd_signal()) and c > sma(200)

Tips

• Start simple: Test individual conditions first
• Build incrementally: Add complexity one piece at a time
• Use the default columns: They show the most useful formulas
• Check validation: Red error text appears as you type
• Test on small watchlists: Faster feedback than full market scans

What's Next?

• Cookbook Recipes - Ready-made strategies
• Your First Scan - Apply your formulas
• Troubleshooting - Common issues