How TradingView Alert Automation Works: From Alert to Broker Order

The chain at a glance

Each step depends on the one before it, so a gap anywhere stops the order. The product details in this table come from our TradingView, TradersPost, and PickMyTrade reviews.

The alert and the webhook

A webhook is TradingView's way of passing an alert to another service: when the alert triggers, TradingView sends an HTTP POST request to a URL you provide. The free Basic plan has no webhook alerts, so automation starts at Essential. See our TradingView review for plan details.

The alert carries a message, and the routing tool reads its instructions from it. Both routing tools we review use a JSON message. With PickMyTrade, for example, you generate the message in PickMyTrade and paste it into the TradingView alert. For a TradingView strategy, the action comes from the strategy itself through a placeholder ({{strategy.order.action}}); for an indicator, the message states buy, sell, or close explicitly.

Alert limits matter once orders depend on them. TradingView allows 3 price alerts on Basic, 20 on Essential, 100 on Plus, 400 on Premium, and 1,000 on Ultimate. Alerts last 1 month on Basic and 2 months on Essential and Plus, and don't expire on Premium or Ultimate, so on the lower plans it's worth checking when an alert that places orders is due to expire.

What the routing tool does, and doesn't do

The routing tool sits between the alert and the broker. It receives the webhook, reads the message, applies the settings you've configured, and instructs a broker account you've connected. In TradersPost, for example, a Strategy comes with its own webhook URL, and a Subscription connects that strategy to one broker account with settings such as position size. PickMyTrade reads the JSON in each TradingView alert and places the matching order.

It isn't a broker and doesn't generate signals. TradersPost's terms say it doesn't execute, clear, or settle trades and doesn't guarantee that a signal will be transmitted or executed, and PickMyTrade's terms describe it as "not a registered broker or investment adviser." TradingView isn't the only possible source, either: TradersPost, for instance, also accepts signals from TrendSpider, QuantConnect, Zapier, IFTTT, and custom webhook workflows.

Where the order is actually filled

The broker fills the order, in your own account; the routing tool's job ends at instructing it. That means fills follow the market, not the alert: stop and trailing orders execute at whatever price the market gives them. How long the chain takes from alert to fill isn't established in our reviews, and this guide makes no claim about it.

Settings that travel with the signal

The alert says what to do; how big the order is and what's attached to it come either from the message or from settings stored in the routing tool. PickMyTrade, for example, applies its predefined take-profit and stop-loss settings when a value isn't in the alert. What each tool supports differs:

• Sizing: a fixed quantity is the simplest option. Some tools also calculate size from risk: PickMyTrade documents a risk percentage based on the stop loss and account balance, and a risk-percentage alert without a stop loss fails. TradersPost sizes futures by Fixed Quantity only.
• Take profit, stop loss, and brackets: support depends on the tool and on the broker behind it. On TradersPost, for example, the legs that can be attached to a futures entry differ by broker, ProjectX has none, and orders sent to Tradovate or ProjectX need a price in the signal for limit and bracket orders.
• Multiple accounts: one signal can be sent to several accounts. Each account gets its own order, so results can differ: PickMyTrade's documentation says fills and stop-loss exits can differ by a tick or two between copied accounts.

Futures: contracts expire, positions don't roll

Futures contracts expire, and an alert on a continuous contract symbol doesn't change that. Neither routing tool we review rolls an open position: closing or rolling it before expiry is left to you. What they do is switch which contract a continuous symbol points to, on their own schedules. TradersPost switches two days before expiry and PickMyTrade four days before, and either can differ from TradingView's own front-month contract around roll periods. PickMyTrade recommends trading exact contract symbols rather than continuous ones for that reason.

Limits to plan around

• Alert expiry: on Basic, Essential, and Plus, alerts expire after 1 or 2 months.
• Timeframe and rate limits: TradersPost, for example, isn't intended for strategies below the 1-minute timeframe, and its webhooks are rate-limited.
• Position state: the routing tool may not tell your strategy what happened. TradersPost gives strategy logic no broker order IDs, position state, or account information, so the strategy has to track its own state, and avoiding conflicting signals is your responsibility.
• Default behavior: check what a new signal does to an open position. On PickMyTrade, with pyramiding off, which is the default, a new buy or sell alert closes any open position first.
• Connection requirements: some broker connections need more than a login. PickMyTrade's Interactive Brokers connection, for example, needs Trader Workstation to stay open and logged in during trading hours.

Prop-firm accounts

A routing tool listing a prop firm doesn't mean that firm allows automated trading on your account. TradersPost calls its firm summaries a "best-effort summary of each firm's published rules — not a guarantee," and PickMyTrade answers "No" when asked whether it guarantees a firm allows automated or copy trading. Before connecting a funded or evaluation account, confirm with your firm, for your account type and connection, that automated trades are allowed.

Costs across the stack

Each link can carry its own cost, and no single subscription covers them all:

• TradingView: a paid plan, Essential or above, for webhook alerts.
• The routing tool: its own subscription. Both tools we review say in their terms that they don't offer refunds, including for unused or partial months.
• The broker: whatever your broker charges.
• Market data: any data subscription your broker or platform requires.

Not every setup incurs every cost, and this guide doesn't add up a total for any of them.

Choosing a routing tool

Routing tools differ in the brokers they connect to, how they size and protect orders, how they handle several accounts, and how they price access. Which matters most depends on your broker, your strategy, and how many accounts you trade. For a side-by-side look at two of them, see TradersPost vs PickMyTrade: Broad Routing or Tradovate-Focused Automation?

Where to go next

• Choosing between two routing tools? TradersPost vs PickMyTrade
• Checking TradingView's plans and alert limits? TradingView review
• Want the full detail on one routing tool? TradersPost review · PickMyTrade review

These pages compare or review tools; this guide doesn't rank them.