How to ask better questions
More specific in, sharper answer out. A 5-minute read that turns vague prompts into precise ones.
5 universal principles
These apply to every question type. Each one is anchored in a real failure mode.
Name the ticker
Use the symbol (TCS.NS, AAPL), not the company name.
Why: Avoids ambiguity (HDFC = HDFC Bank? HDFC Life?).
State the market
Say 'Indian', 'US', or 'Crypto' in the query.
Why: Screener defaults to India when ambiguous.
Add a timeframe
'Last 5 days', 'today', 'over 30 days' — not 'recently'.
Why: Triggers the right tool (temporal vs snapshot).
One intent per message
Multi-intent works, but two short follow-ups beat one long combo.
Why: The chatbot remembers the last turn — use it.
Don't ask predictions
Replace 'will X go up?' with 'is X technically oversold?'
Why: The agent describes state; it doesn't forecast.
Questions by trading style
The same list sits behind the Questions button in the chat box. Each one is phrased the way the agent answers well; click to open it in the chat, then change the ticker or the numbers.
Day trader
Today's sessionOpening range, VWAP, the hour the volume came, today's filings.
- →Which Indian stocks broke above their opening range today on above-average volume?
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks are up more than 2% today and still holding above VWAP?
- →Which Indian stocks broke below their opening range today on heavy volume?
- →Is RELIANCE.NS's move holding? Show today's VWAP, the opening range and the hourly chart.
- →When did the volume come in for HDFCBANK.NS today, and is it still above VWAP?
- →What are today's pivot levels (S1, pivot, R1) and the opening range for TATASTEEL.NS?
- →Which Indian stocks filed results or order wins today, and how have they moved since?
- →How is BTC trading on the hourly chart right now: VWAP, EMA20/50 and RSI?
- →Which coins have rising open interest and positive funding over the last 24 hours?
- →Run the VWAP pullback strategy on Nifty 500: trending above VWAP, pulled back to it, hourly RSI washed out, MACD turning up.
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks fit the opening-range breakout strategy right now, with the stop for each?
Swing trader
Days to weeksA catalyst, a daily setup, then the hourly chart for the entry.
- →Run the swing funnel on Nifty 500: a positive event this week, ROE above 12%, above the 50 and 200 DMA, RSI 50-70, breaking out on volume.
- →Which Indian stocks announced order wins or acquisitions in the last 5 days that the price hasn't reacted to yet?
- →Which Indian stocks are within 3% of their 52-week high on volume at least 1.5x average today?
- →Which Indian stocks are pulling back to the 20-day EMA in an uptrend, above the 50 and 200 DMA, with RSI between 40 and 55?
- →Find Indian stocks with a bullish reversal: down over the last five sessions but up yesterday and today, with RSI turning up.
- →Is RELIANCE.NS a swing entry here? Check the daily setup, then the hourly chart for an entry and a stop reference.
- →Which Indian companies reported results this week and show profit growth above 20% year on year? How did the price react?
- →Which coins are strongest against BTC over the last 20 days with funding still below 0.05%?
- →What's the crypto regime right now: dollar, BTC dominance, risk appetite, fear and greed, stablecoin supply and spot ETF flows?
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks have just reclaimed the VWAP anchored at their last results or order win?
Positional trader
Weeks to monthsThemes, results season, sector leadership, the filings behind a move.
- →Give me today's market digest for India: results, orders and deals, dividends and buybacks, negative news.
- →Which macro themes are moving the Indian market this week, and which sectors do they help or hurt?
- →Which Indian sectors have the highest share of stocks above their 200-day average right now?
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks are within 5% of their 52-week high with ROE above 15% and revenue growth above 15%?
- →Which Indian companies announced buybacks, bonus issues, splits or special dividends in the last two weeks?
- →Analyze SBIN.NS for a 2-3 month position: trend, key levels, fundamentals and recent filings.
- →What did management say about demand and margins in HINDUNILVR.NS's latest investor presentation?
- →Which Indian stocks with a market cap between 5,000 and 20,000 crore have ROE above 18%, debt-to-equity below 0.5 and trade above the 200 DMA?
- →How are BTC and ETH positioned right now: funding rate, open interest change over 24 hours and long/short ratio?
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks have held above the VWAP anchored at their last results for ten sessions?
- →List the strategies you can run on Indian stocks for intraday, swing and positional trading, with what each looks for.
Investor
YearsFundamentals, valuation, dividends, what the annual report says.
- →Is ITC.NS worth holding for the next 3 years? Look at fundamentals, valuation and the long-term chart.
- →Compare TCS.NS and INFY.NS on fundamentals: growth, margins, ROE and valuation.
- →Which Indian large caps have ROE above 18%, debt-to-equity below 0.5 and a dividend yield above 2%?
- →Which Nifty 500 stocks are down more than 25% from their 52-week high but still growing profits above 15%?
- →Which Indian companies announced dividends in the last two weeks, and how much per share?
- →Which Indian stocks trade below their sector's average P/E with ROE above 15% and low debt?
- →What does FEDERALBNK.NS's latest investor presentation or annual report say about growth strategy and key risks?
- →What negative news, penalties or rating downgrades hit Indian companies this week?
- →Is BTC a reasonable long-term hold from here? Use the 2-year chart, the dominance trend and spot ETF flows.
Per-agent prompting
The chatbot routes to one of 5 specialists. Phrasing nudges it to the right one.
Best when you want a buy/hold/sell take on stocks you can name.
Good prompts
- ✓Analyze RELIANCE.NS
- ✓Is TCS a buy right now?
- ✓Compare HDFCBANK and SBIN on fundamentals + technicals
- ✓Should I hold ITC for 6 months?
- ✓Deep-dive on AAPL with sentiment
Less effective
- ✗Tell me about Indian banks — no ticker → routes to screener
- ✗Which tech stock is best? — no ticker → clarify
- ✗Analyze Tata — ambiguous (Motors? Steel? Consumer?) → clarify
Tips
- •Up to 3 tickers → side-by-side comparison card.
- •Add personal context for sharper takes: "I hold INFY at ₹1,700 — avg down or sell?"
- •Append "with news" to pull researcher in parallel.
Use when you want stocks matching specific filters (RSI, P/E, ROE, sector, …).
Good prompts
- ✓Indian stocks with P/E under 20 and ROE over 25%
- ✓US tech with revenue growth > 15% and debt/equity < 1
- ✓Top 10 NSE stocks by volume today
- ✓Banks with PB < 1.5 and dividend yield > 2%
- ✓Indian small-caps (mcap 1,000–5,000 Cr) with Piotroski ≥ 6
Less effective
- ✗Find good stocks — too vague → clarify
- ✗Stocks crossing above 50-SMA in last 5 days — temporal → better as live_market
Tips
- •Always include the universe + at least one numeric filter.
- •Plain values: "ROE > 25%", "P/E < 20", "mcap > ₹5,000 Cr".
- •Sector names work: "Banking", "Auto Components", "IT Services".
- •Zero results → the screener tells you which filter killed it. Loosen that one.
Use when the question needs history or a cross-row computation.
Good prompts
- ✓Indian large-caps that crossed above their 50-day SMA in the last 5 days
- ✓Stocks with MACD positive for 5 consecutive days
- ✓Top 3 gainers per Indian sector today
- ✓Indian large-caps with unusual volume (3× avg) and flat price (±1%) today
- ✓Z-score of RSI within each Indian sector — 5 most extreme outliers
- ✓Compare Banking vs IT sector in India — avg RSI / PE / ROE
Less effective
- ✗Indian stocks RSI < 30 — snapshot → routes to screener (faster)
- ✗Stocks that will go up — prediction → refused
Tips
- •Say the definition you mean ("crossed above the 50-day SMA in the last 5 sessions", "3 red closes in a row"): the agent writes the scan to your words and states what it applied.
- •Sandbox auto-corrects common column typos. No need to know schema names.
- •"Today" on India = the latest of 2 daily snapshots, not real-time tick.
Use when you want what's happening, not what the indicators say.
Good prompts
- ✓Any news on HCL Tech in the past week
- ✓What's happening with Indian IT sector this week
- ✓Summarize this article: <url>
- ✓Read these two URLs and tell me the key takeaways: <url1>, <url2>
- ✓Latest announcements from Indian PSU banks this month
Less effective
- ✗News for stocks — no ticker/sector → clarify
- ✗What will the budget impact? — prediction → refused
Tips
- •Specify the time window ("this week", "today", "past month").
- •Paste URLs directly — the agent reads and synthesizes each.
- •If the feed is empty or irrelevant, the agent says so. It won't fabricate news.
Use when you want to learn something, not screen data.
Good prompts
- ✓What is the Piotroski score?
- ✓Explain RSI vs Stochastic
- ✓What does it mean when MACD is positive but RSI is below 30?
- ✓Where do I start with ₹50k?
Tips
- •Compound concepts ("MACD positive + RSI < 30") get explained as a combined signal.
- •"Where do I start" answers give a framework, not stock picks.
Clarify — when the agent asks back
Triggers on genuinely ambiguous queries. Examples: "Find good stocks" (no market, no criteria); "Analyze HDFC" (HDFC Bank? AMC? Life?); "5 small-caps that will 10×" (refuses the promise, asks for real criteria).
Tip: read what the agent asked — the missing fields are usually listed. Adding those 1–2 details turns a vague query into an answered one.
Multi-turn — following up
The chatbot remembers your last turn. Use it.
| Previous message | Useful follow-up |
|---|---|
| Analyze TCS and INFY | Find news for these |
| Indian oversold large-caps | Analyze the top 3 |
| Compare HDFCBANK and SBIN | Which is more oversold? |
| Top 10 stocks by volume today | Which has the best ROE? |
Words the agent resolves
these, those, them, they, the top N, the third one, this stock, that one
Doesn't carry context well
- Topic switch mid-session → use New chat
- Very long sessions — older turns may get truncated
- Right after a clarify — the agent waits for your specifics first
What NOT to ask
Polite refusal, not a half-answer. The agent tells you exactly what it couldn't do — no fake numbers, no made-up tickers.
| Class | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Prediction | Will Reliance hit ₹3,000 next month? | Ask 'what's the technical setup?' instead. |
| Guaranteed returns | 5 stocks that will 10× | No tool can promise returns. |
| Personalized advice | Should I sell my whole portfolio? | We don't know your risk / horizon / holdings. |
| Options Greeks / F&O | NIFTY 23000 PE Greeks | Cash-segment equities only. |
| Mutual fund / ETF holdings | What's inside Parag Parikh Flexi Cap? | No MF holdings data. |
| Tick-by-tick India | Live price every second for SBIN | Indian = 2 snapshots/day. |
| Tax computation | How much LTCG do I owe? | We quote the rate, not file taxes. |
Data freshness
So you don't get surprised by the cadence.
Indian stocks (NSE/BSE)
2 EOD snapshots/day via Groww + daily fundamentals (FMP)
Not tick-by-tick. Cards show "as of" timestamp.
US stocks (S&P / NASDAQ / NYSE)
Near-real-time via FMP / yfinance during market hours
EOD outside hours.
Crypto
Continuous via yfinance / FMP
~25 major coins.
News
Live web search at query time
Filtered to financial sources.
Now try a sharper question
Open the chat with a specific ticker, market, and timeframe — see the difference.