What are Monitored Markets and how do I claim a territory?

Steps

1. Click Monitored Markets in the sidebar.
2. Click + Claim Territory at the top right.
3. Type the trade into Keywords (the box shows e.g. dentist) and the city into Location, picking from the suggestions as you type.
4. Optional: under Problems to track (optional, leave empty to track everything), click the problems you want the scans to filter on. Leave them all off to watch the whole market.
5. Click Claim & Run First Scan Later. The button stays greyed out until both Keywords and Location have something in them.
6. The form closes and the new territory appears as a card reading No baseline scan yet. Run one now. Click Run Baseline Scan on that card.

While a scan runs, the card replaces the button with Scanning market… and the page updates itself when it finishes. From then on the button reads Re-Scan Now, and the card shows Last scan with the date and time, followed by re-scans every 7 days.

Claiming a market from a search you already ran

If you have just run a search for the market you want to watch, you do not need to type it again. On the results page, the bar above the leads has a 📡 Monitor This Market Weekly button. Click it and the search's keywords, location and problem filters become a territory, and the button changes to ✓ Territory Claimed: See Monitored Markets.

That button only appears on a completed live search. It is not shown on a list you brought in with Resurrect a List, because an imported list is not a market and there is nothing live to re-scan, and it is not shown on a search that a territory scan created, because that market is already monitored.

What each scan costs

Claiming a territory is free, but its scans are not: each one is a full live search, so it uses one of your plan's monthly searches and moves the searches meter at the bottom of the sidebar. The page says so under the Monitored Markets heading. When the month's searches are gone, scheduled scans are skipped and Re-Scan Now is refused until the allowance resets on the 1st, and the territory itself is kept. See What does a territory scan do, and does it use my monthly searches?

What each scan leaves behind

• Every scan is saved as an ordinary search in your Search History, under the territory's keywords and location. View Leads on the card opens the most recent scan. Open earlier scans from Search History.
• Changes since the previous scan appear as alerts on the territory card, newest first. See Which buying-window alerts can a territory raise?
• The note under the claim form says it plainly: Each weekly scan is a full live search + audit pass. The first scan sets the baseline; alerts start from the second. The first scan has nothing to compare against, so it never raises alerts.

Claiming a territory does not reserve that market for you, and there is no limit on how many you claim. See Is there a limit on territories, and is a territory exclusive to me?