How to set up Technical Alerts

Introduction

Technical Alert is a powerful feature that helps traders stay informed about market movements by using specific technical indicators, price, and user-drawn trendlines in conjunction.

Unlike standard price alerts, technical alerts allow you to track complex conditions by setting combinations of parameters. 

These parameters can include interactions between price, trendlines, and various technical indicators, including Exponential Moving Average, Moving Average Convergence Divergence, Bollinger Bands, and Relative Strength Index.

Parameters of Technical Alerts

Price: The current market price that is used as a parameter to trigger alerts when it crosses specific levels or interacts with other indicators on the chart.

Value:
Numerical values of indicators’ components or price. Some use their own scale, while others like trend and price indicators align with the price scale for setting alert levels.

Trendlines:
A user-drawn shape (Trendline, Ray, Arrow) on the chart used to identify potential crossovers and patterns, signaling possible market movements or trend changes.

Parameter Interactions

Technical Alerts can be set for crossings where the first operand is an indicator or price, and the second operand can be an indicator, price, constant value, or line-based chart shape. However not all crossings are meaningful due to scale differences or logical incompatibilities. Overlay indicators (e.g., EMA, BB) can cross each other, price action, or chart shapes, while subchart indicators (e.g., MACD, RSI) can only cross their own components or constants. 

Crossing Types

Here’s how you can configure the different conditions using Technical Alerts to track interactions between indicators, trendlines, and price levels:

• Value Crossings: Alerts can be triggered when an indicator or price crosses a predefined numeric threshold.
• Indicator Crossings: Alerts can be set for interactions when one indicator crosses another, or when these indicators interact within their own components.
• Trendline Crossings: Set alerts to trigger when a user-drawn trendline is crossed by any of the following: Price, Exponential Moving Average (EMA), or Bollinger Bands (BB).

Available Indicators

Exponential Moving Average (EMA)
A trend-following indicator that gives more weight to recent prices.

Bollinger Bands (BB)
A volatility indicator consisting of three lines: upper, middle, and lower bands. 

Relative Strength Index (RSI)
An oscillator that measures the speed and change of price movements. RSI values range from 0 to 100, indicating overbought or oversold conditions in the market.

Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)
A momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two EMAs. It includes the MACD line, signal line, and histogram, showing potential buy or sell signals based on crossovers.

How Does It Work?

The alert form operates with the two conditions, as given: when (condition 1) crosses (condition 2) within the selected timeframe.

Your technical alert will be functioning only within the selected timeframe (M1, H1, D1, ect.). Make sure to set it up with the timeframe you need.

Technical Alerts can be set up in two ways: with price and indicator-based conditions and by using trendlines.

Once the alert is set, it will appear on the list of alerts. The list of alerts provides you with an option to sort technical alerts out of the standard price alerts.

Your technical alert will only be visible on the chart if the corresponding indicator with the same parameters is added.

On-chart indicators with alerts are marked by a bell icon next to their name in the upper left corner, while subchart indicators display the bell icon next to their name below the chart.

Setting Up Alerts with Price and Indicators

Choose this setup when you want to trigger alerts based on the interaction between price levels and technical indicators like the Exponential Moving Average (EMA).

How to Set Up:

1. Open a trading instrument
2. Tap the bell icon in the right upper corner
   
3. Tap “Technical Alert” to open the alert form.
4. In the "When" field, choose either the price or the specific indicator (EMA, RSI, MACD, BB).
5. In the "Crosses" field, select the target parameter (another indicator, price or a value).
6. Configure the alert trigger conditions based on your trading strategy.

Example: An alert can be set to trigger when the EMA crosses a specified price level or when the RSI reaches a certain value threshold.

Setting Up Alerts with Trendlines

Choose this setup when you want to trigger alerts based on interactions involving trendlines that you draw directly on the chart. Trendlines serve as dynamic levels on the chart that can be crossed by price or indicators.

How to Set Up:

• Open the shapes menu on the chart and draw a trendline, ray or arrow in the desired position.
  
• Tap the alert button from the shape's menu to open the alert form.
• In the alert form, the trendline will automatically appear in the "Crosses" field, as it must always be the element being crossed.
• In the "When" field, choose the primary parameter, such as price or an indicator (EMA, Bollinger Bands), that will interact with the trendline.

Example: An alert can be set to trigger when the EMA crosses a trendline you’ve drawn on the chart, or when the price breaks through a specified trendline level.

Modifying Indicator Settings

In the alert setup, you can customize your indicators by tapping the pencil icon in the field of a selected indicator. This allows you to adjust the indicator's timeframe and choose the data source (close, open, high, low), or select the specific indicator components.

Invalid Technical Alert Setups

When setting up Technical Alerts, certain parameter combinations are restricted due to their inherent incompatibilities.

1. Identical Parameter Interactions: Setting alerts with identical parameters (e.g., Price with Price, EMA with EMA) is not permitted due to the immediate trigger risk.
2. On-Chart Indicators with Oscillators: On-chart indicators like EMA, Bollinger Bands, and Price cannot be combined with oscillators such as RSI or MACD.
3. Oscillator-to-Oscillator Interaction: Combining two independent oscillators, like RSI and MACD, within the same alert is not allowed.
4. Trendlines with Oscillators: Trendlines cannot be used in conjunction with oscillators like RSI or MACD.