// learn · Signals & indicators
Crypto momentum scanner: what it is, and how to use one for free
A momentum scanner ranks coins by how fast price, volume and volatility are accelerating, not by price alone. It answers "what's heating up right now", the opposite question from a price chart, which only tells you what already happened.
What it actually measures
A real scanner blends several signals instead of one: short-term price change (1h/24h/7d), volume spike relative to a coin's own average, market-cap-adjusted moves (so a small cap popping isn't drowned out by BTC), and distance from all-time high. A coin that spikes on volume tells a different story than one drifting up on thin volume, a good scanner separates the two.
Why the edge fades fast
Momentum is public information the moment it appears on any scanner. Bots and full-time traders act on it in minutes. That doesn't make scanning useless, it means the job is triage, not certainty: a scan narrows thousands of coins to a shortlist worth a closer look, it isn't a signal to buy blind.
Free scanners vs a free feed
Most scanners (TradingView's crypto screener, exchange-native screeners) are self-serve: you open the tool, set filters, and read the table yourself, useful, but it's on you to check it. Peaky Radar runs the scan continuously and posts the picks that clear the bar to a Telegram channel, so the shortlist arrives instead of you having to go look for it. See exactly what each signal type means and which indicators feed the score.
Reading a scan result
- Volume confirms the move. Price up with volume up is a real signal. Price up with flat volume is often noise.
- Check the market cap. A large-cap coin needs real capital flow to move 10%. A micro-cap can do it on one whale trade.
- ATH proximity cuts both ways. Near a new high can mean strength, or exhaustion. Context (news, sector rotation) decides which.
- Size for being wrong. A momentum scan finds candidates, it doesn't remove the risk of any one of them reversing.
Educational market information, not financial advice. Signals are curated awareness, not recommendations. Markets carry risk of loss, do your own research.