This screen is where you enter, modify or delete alerts for symbols in your portfolios.  You can access the Alerts tab on the Portfolio and Alerts screen through the Alerts menu, Portfolio menu, the MENU button, by right clicking on a symbol or by clicking on the button on the main screen.  The following screen with all the alerts currently in the system, appears on the Alerts tab.  The left panel displays a treelike structure, similar to Windows Explorer showing you the symbols and the alerts beneath them.  The panel on the right, is where you can enter or modify the alert, highlighted in the left panel:

 

 

Initially, the left panel shows only one level (Expand one Level button) of the alerts for each symbol.  You can see more or less detail by clicking on the + or -to the left of a symbol or alert or by clicking on the Expand or Collapse buttons.

 

The top most level - Collapse All shows only the symbol:

 

 

The Expand All shows all the detail for the alerts for the symbol:

 

 

The alert and symbol you are working with will be highlighted in the left panel and its' symbol and details are displayed in the right panel.  The functions available in the left panel are:

 

New:  Enter a new alert for the highlighted symbol, for a new symbol or a Global alert.

Delete All:  Remove all the alerts for all symbols

Delete Orphans:  Remove all symbols that are no longer present in the portfolios.

Delete:  Remove the current highlighted alert or symbol.

 

Adding or editing an alert (Right Panel):

Enabled:  Check this box to enable (activate) or uncheck to disable (deactivate) the alert.  To enable or disable all alerts at one time, use the option available in the status bar or the Alerts menu on the main screen.

Global:  Check this box to enter a Global alert, i.e. an alert to trigger for all symbols being tracked.  Not all alert types are available for Global alerts.

Alert For:  Displays the symbol you are working with.  For a new alert, enter the symbol in this yellow box.  This box will not show if this is a Global Alert.

Option Chain button can be used to select an TD AMERITRADE option symbol

Type:  Select the alert type from the drop down list:

 

 

Low Price:

High Price:

 

Price Level - For a new alert this value is set to the current price from your portfolio. Enter a value or use the up/down spin control.

Based on - Specify whether the price to be used is the Bid, Ask or Last Price.  The Last inside Bid/Ask only option is used to trigger on last price but only if it is within the bid/ask price range. This can prevent some alerts from being triggered due to bad ticks or trades outside the market.

 

Trigger only if crossed - If this box is checked, the alert will only trigger if the value is actually        crossed on the way up or down (depending on the Alert Type). This option can also be set as a default for the Alert Type.

 

New News:

Enter how current (in hours) the news should be for an alert to trigger.  In addition, you can also select to filter only specific news to be alerted on.

 

Only check symbols for which the program has data - This option is for Global alerts. If this option is not checked, alerts will trigger for all symbols that the streaming news provider sends news for.  With the option checked, only symbols in the portfolios will trigger a news alert.

 

Enter the criteria to match the news on by Source and/or Heading.  If none of these boxes are checked, the news alert will be unfiltered and based only on the number of hours entered.

 

Column Alert:

Select the column for this alert from the drop down list.  Select the criteria -- greater than/equal to or less than/equal to  (Note, this is not selectable for all columns, for example, Volume - this value only goes up during the day).  The value for a new alert will be the current one for the column from your the portfolio.  Enter a value or use the up/down spin control and select if to Trigger only if crossed (see explanation above),  if applicable to the column.

 

Trendline Alert:

This type of alert can not be set here on this screen.  It can only be edited here after it is set.  It is set on an Intraday Chart by drawing a trendline and then right clicking on it to set it as a trendline alert.  Once it is set on a chart, it can be edited here:

Select if the alert is to be based on Bid, Ask or Last price, if it is to be triggered when the price goes above or below the trend line (the default will depend on if the trend line was drawn above or below the current last price) and if to Trigger only if crossed (see explanation above).  Finally, select the Line Style to be displayed on the chart for this trend line alert.

 

Daily High/Low Alert:

This alert will trigger when the last price hits the Daily High, Daily Low or either one, depending on the selection to Alert on. Check Trigger only if new high/low to only trigger the alert if it is a new high/low - i.e. the high or low is not the same as the previous triggered alert. Checking this box will eliminate redundant alerts.  If the box is not checked, the alert will trigger each time the price hits the high/low.  The alert is in addition to the option of highlighting daily highs and lows in the portfolios, which is selected on the Misc. tab of the Preferences screen.

 

52 Week High/Low Alert:

This alert will trigger when the last price hits the 52-Week High, 52-Week Low or either one, depending on the selection to Alert on.  Check Trigger only if new high/low to only trigger the alert if it is a new high/low - i.e. the high or low is not the same as the previous triggered alert. Checking this box will eliminate redundant alerts.  If the box is not checked, the alert will trigger each time the price hits the high/low.

 

Trailing Stop:

Similar to using Trailing Stops when trading, only that an alert is triggered rather than a trade being submitted.

 

When set up, the trailing stop alert takes the current Last/Bid/Ask (depending on the Alert setting) as the reference point.  With each new data point that comes in, the alert does one of two things:

 

1.  Checks if the new data point is above the reference point.  If it is, then it becomes the new reference point.

 

2.  Checks if the new data point is more than X points/percent (depending on the alert setting) below the reference point.  If it is, the alert is triggered.

 

The current trail stop (reference) point is shown in the  detail of the alert for the symbol in the left panel.

The "buy/above" alert is the opposite direction of the "sell/below" trail.

 

Trade Alert:

This alert will trigger when a trade occurs (a quote with volume).  Unlike the other alerts, this alert is an audio alert only. You can specify the minimum Trade Size for the alert to trigger on to minimize on the "noise". 

 

For all alert types, you can click and hold down the Alert Desc button to see an exact description of the alert and the action(s) that will occur when the alert is triggered:

 

 

Below the specified alert are the action(s) performed when the alert is triggered.  These options are initially taken from the Alert Defaults for the specific alert type and are described in detail on that screen.  You can change these actions for specific alerts or leave the defaults.

 

When selecting the Pop Up Alert Window, you can either use the standard system alert description or create your own note by clicking on the Alert Note button:

 

 

Select the option whether you want to Add the note to the system alert description or to Replace the note by it.  In the Alert Note text box, you can type any combination of text and placeholders (keywords) that you would like to be shown in the pop up alert window.  You can select the placeholders to add by right clicking anywhere in the text box.  When the alert triggers, the placeholders will be replaced with the approriate text or value:

 

 

Click Save Alert to accept this alert into the system.  If you selected the Auto-Save when Editing Alerts as your default preference, the alert will automatically be saved when you move to another alert or exit this screen.

 

Also see Paintbar alerts which work on chart indicators.