For months, Smart Scanner had a table. Rows, columns, acronyms: score, P/E, PEG, relative volume, market cap. It worked — the numbers were correct, the indicators were calculated properly — but it had a problem no metric measures: it was intimidating. For someone just getting close to the markets, a table full of technical columns looks more like the exam sheet for a class you never took than a tool to learn with.
So we decided it was time for a change from the ground up, not a fresh coat of paint on the same table. We replaced it entirely with a solar system.
Discovering stocks the way you'd discover stars
The idea is simple to explain and, we hope, even simpler to use: instead of one row per stock, every stock is a sphere orbiting a sun. You explore the market the same way you'd look up at a clear night sky — you zoom in, zoom out, turn the view, and the ones that shine brightest are exactly the ones worth looking at first. You don't need to know how to read a table of indicators to understand "that sphere is closer to the sun" or "that one is bigger than the rest."
That's exactly what we were after: taking the initial fear out of the equation. The real technical analysis is still there underneath — RSI, MACD, range breakouts, analyst target prices — but it's no longer the first thing you see. The first thing you see is something you can explore without feeling like you're about to get it wrong.
How it works, simply
We split the stock universe into three groups, each with its own solar system:
- Penny — cheap stocks, under $2. High volatility, high risk, and also where you learn fastest to respect risk management.
- Monster — the ~20 biggest, most valuable companies in the market. The ones you probably already know by name.
- Standard — everything else: neither tiny nor giant, the bulk of the market.
Within each group, the sun is yellow and always the same — it represents the group, not a stock. The planets orbiting it do change every day, following three fixed rules:
- How close it orbits the sun reflects that day's ranking, calculated by combining upside to the analysts' target price and relative volume (how much is trading today versus normal). Closer means better positioned today.
- The sphere's size reflects the company's size (market cap) — on a logarithmic scale, so a difference of billions doesn't make the smaller ones invisible.
- The color marks its tier within the group: green for the best, tomato for the middle, red for the last.
Click any sphere and, instantly, all of its information — price chart, technical indicators, financial statements, and a commentary that interprets that specific stock's own numbers — appears further down the same page. No reload, no losing sight of the solar system.
Why we believe simplifying is the revolutionary part
There's a constant temptation with tools like this: add more. More indicators, more columns, more settings. It's easy to confuse "more complete" with "better," and end up building a dashboard that impresses whoever already knows how to read it and pushes everyone else away.
We bet on the opposite. We want technical analysis to stop feeling like a barrier to entry and start feeling like something you explore by playing — you rotate the scene, you zoom, you find a sphere that catches your eye because of its color or size, and from there you jump into understanding why it's there. You learn in the reverse order of a traditional course: curiosity first, the "why" after. In our experience, that order is what actually makes the knowledge stick.
See how it works
Try it yourself
The solar system is already live on Smart Scanner — pick a group, spin the scene, and click the first sphere that catches your attention. If it's your first time opening it, a 4-step tutorial is waiting at the top, explaining what everything means without assuming you already know.
As always: this is educational content, not investment advice. What we're after is helping you read a stock better — what you do with that information is entirely up to you.