Halt scanner for stocks with real-time halt and resume alerts
A halt scanner lists US stocks that are halted right now, with the halt time, the price it froze at and the countdown to the reopen. Ours streams halts and resumptions on licensed real-time data next to float, relative volume and gap %, alerts you by browser, email and push, and saves every halt trade in your journal so you can see whether you make money on them.
What a stock halt scanner shows you
Two kinds of halts move small caps. A volatility halt (LULD, limit up limit down) pauses a stock for five minutes when the price moves outside its band, and the pause is extended in five minute steps if the band is hit again. A news halt is called by the exchange before material news, and it can last much longer. You trade both differently, so a halt scanner has to tell them apart and not just print a ticker.
On every halted or just resumed row you see what you need to decide in the seconds that matter.
- Halt type and time, volatility or news, and the halt price.
- Countdown to the expected reopen for volatility halts, and a flag when it was extended.
- Direction, up or down, so you know whether the stock halted on a spike or a drop.
- Float, relative volume and gap % for the day, so a 3M float stock that halted twice reads differently from a 90M float stock.
- Price and volume before the halt, so you can judge how thin the book was.
Halt scanner alert on the names you actually trade
You do not want an alert for every halt in the market. Set the filters first: price range, float limit, minimum gap %, halt type. Then turn the saved scan into an alert that fires on new halts and again on the resume. A halt scanner alert at 9:47 ET on a 5M float stock that halted up through $8 is useful. Forty alerts an hour on penny stocks is noise you will mute.
Set up a trading halt scanner in four steps
- Open the scanner and start a new scan with the halted stocks list.
- Set price, float and gap % limits so the list holds the stocks you would really trade. Save it so it loads every morning.
- Turn the scan into an alert for new halts and for resumes. Alerts arrive in the browser, by email and by push.
- Log the trade or import your broker CSV after the close. The journal keeps the scan state at entry, including whether the stock had already halted that day.
Halts happen in the first hour more than any other time
Most small cap volatility halts cluster after the 9:30 ET open and in the first 30 to 60 minutes, when low float names move fastest. That is the window to have a saved halt scan running next to your low float scanner and your momentum scanner, so you see the same name on both lists with the halt flag on it.
Premarket and after hours
Volatility halts apply during regular hours, so a stock that runs on news at 7:00 ET does not halt the way it would at 10:00 ET. The premarket gap scanner shows those. After the close, news halts and the next day's setups are visible on Pro, where scanning runs until 20:00 ET.
Who pays for a halt scanner
- Small cap momentum traders who play halt resumes and need the reopen timer and price on screen, not on a second site.
- Traders who avoid halts and want a warning, so they do not hold a position they cannot exit and cannot manage through a reopen.
- Part-time traders who cannot watch the tape all morning and rely on push alerts.
- Prop desks that want every trader on the same saved halt scans, with daily loss limits per trader on the prop trading desk plan.
Halt trades carry gap risk, size them that way
A stock can reopen far above or below the halt price. Your stop does not work during the halt, and the first print after the reopen can be well past it. Many traders cut size on halt plays for exactly this reason. Work the numbers with the position size calculator before the trade, assuming the reopen can skip your stop.
Find out whether your halt trades pay
After 30 or 50 trades, the day trading journal answers what a scanner cannot: do you make money buying the resume, selling the halt up, or avoiding the second halt altogether. The AI day review reads only your own journal and points out repeating mistakes.
DayTradingSoftware is a software tool, not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss.
Halt scanner options compared
| DayTradingSoftware | Halt alert inside a scanner suite | Standalone halt app or exchange page | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time halts and resumes | Yes | Yes | Yes, often halts only |
| Float, RVOL and gap % beside the halt | Yes | Varies by plan | Usually limited |
| Filter by price, float, halt type | Yes | Varies | Basic |
| Alerts by browser, email and push | Yes | Varies | Push on apps |
| Journal with scan state at entry | Yes | Usually not | No |
| Price | $49 or $149 per month, from $24 per month yearly | Part of a $89 to $254 per month scanner | Exchange pages free, apps vary |
Compare the larger scanners with prices in our best premarket scanner roundup and the Scanz alternative page.
FAQ
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What is a halt scanner
A halt scanner is a tool that lists US stocks that are paused from trading right now, with the halt reason, the halt price and the time of the pause. Day traders use it to trade the reopen or to avoid holding a stock through one. Ours adds float, relative volume and alerts to each row.
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How long does a volatility halt last
A volatility (LULD) halt lasts five minutes. If the price is still outside its band when trading tries to reopen, the halt is extended by another five minutes. News halts have no fixed length and can run from minutes to the rest of the day.
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Can I get an alert when a stock halts
Yes. Save a scan with your price, float and gap filters, then turn it into an alert for new halts and for resumes. Alerts arrive in the browser, by email and by push.
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Do halts happen in premarket
Volatility halts do not apply the same way outside regular hours, so most are seen after the 9:30 ET open. The scanner still runs from 4:00 ET and shows premarket gappers that may halt after the bell.
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Is a halt a buy signal
No. A halt tells you the stock moved fast or news is pending. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell and not investment advice.