Alert Functionality (Premium Desktop Feature)
Alert Functionality
Alerts can greatly improve trading effectiveness by notifying you on a potential trade opportunity and help you decide when to manage, enter or exit a trade.
Set up Alert notifications based on Last Price, Volume, $ Change, % Change, or % Offset.
If you’ve logged into the platform with either Streaming Quotes or RealTime Quotes through a linked brokerage account *within the last 30 days* – Alerts will be Real Time.
Alert Icons
- Add (+) New Alert – This icon is located on the symbol Quote Box
- Hollow Bell – Active Alert, not triggered
- Shaking Bell – Triggered alert, not yet viewed
- Solid Bell – Alert triggered today, already viewed
- Paused (z) or Used Alert – located in Alert Management Page
Set Your Alert
Click the Alert Icon, located on the symbol Quote Box. The symbol, Score Icons, Last Price, $ and % Change automatically fill in. To complete the rest:
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- Select Method: 23 to choose from! See list below
- Select Operator: Above/Equal To or Below/Equal To
- Enter Value: $, % or Quantity (Quantity example: 11,000,000 or 11M)
- Select Expiration: Valid up to 6 months. Click on Calendar Icon to navigate months
- Add Notes, if desired
- Click Save
An Information notification appears: Alert Successfully Saved
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Alert Management
Manage your Alerts by going to: Research Tab>Alerts.
From this page, you can modify or remove alerts, view unread triggered alerts in one location and view prior alerts.
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- Select Method: See List on right
- Select Operator: Above/Equal To or Below/Equal To
- Enter Value: $, % or Quantity (Quantity example: 11,000,000 or 11M)
- Select Expiration: Valid up to 6 months. Click on Calendar Icon to navigate months
- Add Notes, if desired
- Click Save
An Information notification appears: Alert Successfully Saved
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Active Alerts
This table lists all active alerts including:
Trigger notification – A bell icon appears if alert was triggered
Delayed Alert icon, if applicable
Settings – Method, Operator, Value
Expiration Date – Alerts can be active for up to 6 months
Notes
Ability to modify or remove from list
Alert Notifications
In addition to platform notifications, as long as you allow notifications, alerts can be sent to your computer or mobile device even if you are not logged into the platform.
Hollow Bell
The Hollow Bell indicates this Alert is Active, but has not been Triggeredwill appear next to the symbol whether on the QuoteBox in Research or on a Watchlist .
Ringing Bell
The Ringing Bell icon indicates the alert has been triggered and notification sent out. The highlighted area on the Quote Box or where it appears on a Watch List allows you to access the alert notification by clicking on the bell.
This display will show until the alert is read either from a Watch List, Quote Box or the Alert History section of the Alert Page.
Solid Bell
Once an Alert is read or “Marked As Read” on the Alert Notification page, the icon becomes a Solid Bell.
Clicking on the icon will still display the triggered alert until the next Market Day.
Alert History
This section displays triggered alerts for the time period selected: Today or All. The highlighted entries are Unread Notifications – the notices were not clicked on from the platform.
Click “Mark All as Read” to update entries.
A note about Real-Time & Delayed Alerts
Note: There are two ways 15 minute Delayed Alert Notification applies with Alerts:
1. If it’s been more than 30 days since a linked brokerage account with RealTime Quotes has been logged into – OR – the platform does not have Streaming Quotes.
2. OTC stocks will show as delayed, regardless of RealTime or Streaming Quotes
One of two notices will appear for each Alert
Link Trades in Journal
Trades can easily be linked in the Journal. This is helpful to keep related trades grouped together for easier tracking and analysis.
Some common applications include:
- Covered Calls – keeping stock and selling Calls with different Expirations
- Adjustment/Repair Trades
- Other previously Unmatched trades
This feature is best used in the Life of Trade View in the Journal.
The following steps will allow you to Link Trades:
1. After selecting your account and sorting by symbol, expand one of the trade tabs you want to link to another trade group or set.
Click the ‘Link Icon‘
2. A pop-up window will list the Selected (Expanded) Trade, any related trade and Available Trade Sets for that symbol in that account.
Note: You can link trade sets both prior to and following your current, selected trade.
Example: You want to link a May 2019 expired Call to April 2019 and June 2019 Covered Call trade set.
3. Click “Link To This Trade Set” for trade set(s) to link selected trade to, then click “Close“.
In this example, we linked an Expired May 10 2019 short call to an April and June Covered Call trade set.
After linking the trade, notice the total Profit (Loss) Amount updated, but the trade duration did not.
This is because the May Call falls in between the original April trade entry and the June expiration.
If you have more trade sets to link, repeat the previous steps as outlined.
Final note: If you link a trade in error, simply expand the same trade tab and ‘uncheck’ the Link This Trade Set box.
Adding an Account
Accessing a live account is easy. Currently Choice Trade, Tradier, Schwab, E*TRADE are offered through this platform. More brokerages will be added.
To add an Existing Brokerage Account or add a Virtual or Manual Account:
1. Clicking on the “+” icon will display the screen below
2. Select your Brokerage, Virtual or Manual Account from the drop-down
3. Read & Accept Terms and Conditions
4. Click “Continue”
Live Accounts will prompt you to enter your credentials on the next screen.
Virtual** and Manual Accounts will automatically activate.
To add a New Live Account, click on the “Open New Account” box on upper right of the above screen.
Select the account you want to add by clicking the selected brokerage.
Click the “Done” button.
You’ll be directed to the brokerage website to guide you through the process of completing an application.
**TradeStation requires a completed account application to create a Virtual Account.
Journal Account Multi-Selector
Reviewing your Journal Accounts is made easier by using the Multi-Select tool on the Journal Tab. Control your Journal Account Views by selecting from Live, Virtual, Manual accounts or Notes or any combination of these.
Use the “Toggle All” button to switch or toggle your selection. Example: If you have your virtual selected and not your real accounts, Toggle will switch to real account and unselect virtual account. This can be a great way to analyze your results and compare real and virtual.
You can further sort by Symbol, Tags, Notes or Date Range within an Account by using the following tabs in the Journal:
NOTE: Any filtering, including account selection, will refine your analytics results too. Want to find your results from a specific account. Select just that account and analytics will refect accordingly.
Reconcile Trade Notice
The Tags including the P/L Summary, Graph and new Insight tabs rely on updated Journal entries which includes reconciled trades.
The following notice appears in the Journal when trades needs to be reconciled:
All trades in the trading account(s) selected will display with the option to change back to Regular View:
Individual trades are reconciled by clicking on the “Reconcile” tab outlining the Journal Entry.
The Journal Tab will update showing the trade had a profit/loss or adjustment in the underlying.
Updating Journal Entries
Logging into your account will update Journal entries for up to the last two months. However, trades that expired will need to be Reconciled. If the system is unable to match trades, a Yellow ‘Close’ tab will result, requiring manual action to close.
Follow the steps as shown below to reconcile your trades.
Note: Step 2 is not required, however, if you are just learning to use the Journal and it’s features, sorting by Symbol, especially if you have multiple trades, simplifies the process.
User Menu
Take a tour, have a question, change the theme – all from one place.
The User Menu is one of the 6-point Navigation system of this trading platform. You can access The Help Center from here, ask a support question, check your account, suggest a feature idea or provide feedback on the platform, even change the platform ‘theme’ (example “light” or “dark”) and more.
Create Notes to Keep Organized
Notes are easily created throughout the Platform.
Anywhere you see a Smart (Action) Icon , you can create a Note to be added to the Journal Tab.
Simply click on the icon and select “Journal” for the Symbol and current price to be captured.
The Research Tab also has a Journal Icon located on the Symbol Summary Box on the left side of the screen.
Use as a Clipboard
Notes can be used as a Clipboard to help you with your Trading system. Use it for Ideas, Market Conditions, even for Trading Education Classes.
Simply create a Note as previously indicated, then remove the $stock symbol and pricing information.
Now you have a Clipboard to keep customized notes.
You can further customize your Notes with your own tags. Read more about creating your own #tags
Notes can be Edited at any time in the Journal Tab
Click on the ‘pencil icon’ to add or edit your notes, add#tags, outlook etc. For more info on adding tags: Click HERE
Then click “Save“.
If you no longer need this note, simply click on the pencil icon, then “Delete Entry“
The Journal give you the ability to view only Notes. On the left panel of the Journal Tab, select “Notes” from the Account Selector.
You are further able to refine your search by specifying text contained in the Notes. Select “Notes” in the middle panel of the Journal, then type in text that would appear in the Note entry. Click on “Filter”.
When finished, click “Clear“.
Tag Results-Table Summary Totals
Located below the Analytics Tab in the Journal, the Tag Result Table Summary displays trade performance by Date Range, Total P/L, Average P/L, Number of Trades (Count), % Profitable and Average Number of Days in Trades.
This data is dynamically updated by available filters including:
Type of account(s) (Manual, Virtual &/or Live)
Specific trading account(s)
Date Range
Stock symbol
Tags
Not only does this table provide valuable information, you can use it to compare strategies, track improvement in your overall trading, etc.
Insight Tab in Journal
The Insight Tab, along with Tags and Graphs update dynamically with the account(s), symbol(s), tag(s) and/or date range selected.
Insight breaks down Overall Performance by Winning and Losing trades in addition to:
- Number of closed trades
- Percent (Winning/Losing Trades)
- Total $ Profit/Loss
- Average Total Profit/Loss
- Biggest (Winning/Losing Trade)
- Average Days in Trade