Enabling Alerts for Studies and Drawing Objects

When you apply a study in a Chart Analysis window (such as an indicator or analytical drawing object), you can enable alerts so that when market conditions meet the alert criteria specified by the study or drawing object, the alert is triggered and logged in the Message Center. For more information, see About the TradeStation Message Center. You can also receive an audio or visual alert, or send a message to an email address. When customizing alert settings, you can choose to use the global messaging preferences set up in the Message Center or you can configure custom settings for each type of alert.

You cannot enable alerts for strategies. However, you can automate a strategy to generate trading orders when market conditions meet the criteria specified by the strategy. For more information on automating strategies, see Automating a Strategy.

To enable alerts in the Chart Analysis window, you must enable the alert for each individual study or drawing object and also configure your messaging options in the Message Center. For more details, see Notification Preferences.

Enabling an Alert for a Drawing Object

The drawing objects that support alerts are Standard Cycles, Fibonacci Cycles, Gann Fans, Horizontal Lines, Speed/Resistance Fans, Support/Resistance Lines, and Trendlines.

  1. Right-click on the drawing object and select Edit [Drawing Object] from the shortcut menu. The Customize [drawing object] dialog is displayed.
  2. Click the Alerts tab. The alerts that are available are determined by the drawing object you have plotted in your chart.
  3. Check the Enable Alert setting and select the desired alert you want to use from the drop-down list:
    • Breakout intra-bar
    • Breakout on close
    • Breakout intra/inter-bar
  1. Choose the type of Message Center notification settings you want to use. Configure launches the Notification Preferences dialog.
    • Use the global messaging preferences - Select this setting to use the same preferences from the Message Center.
    • Use custom settings - Select this setting to choose specific settings for the alert.
  1. Click Set as Default to use these settings as the default for all future drawing objects of this type.
  2. Click OK.

Enabling an Alert for a Study

The studies that support alerts are Indicators, ShowMe studies, PaintBar studies, and ActivityBar studies.

  1. Right-click on the study and select Edit [study name\ from the shortcut menu.
  2. Click the Alerts tab, then check the Enable Alert setting.
  3. Choose the type of Message Center notification settings that you want to use. Configure launches the Notification Preferences dialog.
    • Use the global messaging preferences - Select this setting to use the same preferences from the Message Center.
    • Use custom settings - Select this setting to choose specific settings for the alert.
  1. Click Default to use these settings as the default for all future studies of this type.
  2. Click OK.

If you already have your messaging preferences set up and simply need to turn on the alert, just right-click the study and select Enable Alert from the shortcut menu. A check mark appears next to the menu item indicating that the alert is active.

Related Topics

About Chart Analysis