TradingView Alerts Guide: Setup, Limits, Not Working
A TradingView alert watches a condition on TradingView's servers and notifies you when it becomes true. This guide covers the alert types, which plan you need, alerting on an indicator versus a strategy, notification channels, why alerts fail to fire or fire late, and how to rebuild them after an indicator update. One point runs through all of it: an alert is a message. Any order that follows is placed by you.
Alert types: once per bar close versus the rest
When you create an alert on an indicator, the dialog asks how often it may trigger. The choice decides how many messages you get and how reliable each one is.
| Option | When it fires | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Only once | The first time the condition is true, then the alert stops | A one-time level or event |
| Once per bar | The first time the condition is true inside each bar, possibly before it closes | Early warnings you will confirm yourself |
| Once per bar close | At the close of each bar on which the condition is true | Signals that should be final |
| Once per minute | At most once a minute while the condition holds | Price conditions on fast charts |
The important distinction is between "once per bar" and "once per bar close". Most indicators compute on the current bar's live price, so a condition can become true, trigger, and become false again before the bar ends. With "once per bar" you get that early message and the mark may vanish. With "once per bar close" TradingView waits for the bar to finish, so the alert matches what the indicator shows in history. The trade-off is time: on a 30-minute chart a bar-close alert can arrive up to 30 minutes after the condition first appeared.
Which plan you need and what limits apply
Price alerts on a symbol are available on every plan, including the free one, in small numbers. Alerts whose condition is an indicator or a strategy require a paid plan, Essential or higher. How many alerts can be active at once, and whether an alert can be open-ended rather than expiring, depend on the plan; check TradingView's plan page rather than a forum post.
An invite-only indicator can be displayed on the free plan, but alerting on it still needs a paid plan; see the invite-only indicator guide. And since each symbol and timeframe combination needs its own alert, the limit is reached faster than most people expect; delete alerts you no longer use.
Creating an alert on an indicator versus a strategy
On an indicator. Load it on the right symbol and timeframe, then open the alert dialog from the clock icon or the indicator's menu. Under Condition, pick the indicator rather than the symbol, then the event the author provides, such as "long entry". Choose the frequency and expiration, write a message naming the symbol and timeframe, choose the channels and create it.
On a strategy. A strategy script places simulated orders in the Strategy Tester. Its alert is created from the strategy's menu and fires on order fill events: whenever the strategy would open, add to, or close a position. For most strategies the fill, and so the alert, happens at the close of the bar that produced the signal.
In both cases the alert is a snapshot: TradingView copies the script, its inputs, the symbol and the timeframe into the alert and runs that copy on its servers. Changing inputs afterwards does not change the alert, and an alert made on a 15-minute chart will not report a 30-minute signal, so create one per timeframe you watch.
Notification channels and how to make them reliable
- Mobile push through the TradingView app, which must be signed in to the same account and allowed to notify in the phone's settings; battery saving or focus modes can delay pushes.
- Email to the address on the account; check the spam folder after the first alert.
- Pop-up and sound, only while TradingView is open.
Pick at least two channels for anything you care about. The alert log in the alerts panel records every trigger with its time; if the log shows the trigger but the phone shows nothing, the problem is on the phone, not in the alert.
Why alerts don't fire, or fire late
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Never fires | Expired, or "Only once" already used | Check status and expiration in the alerts panel; restart or re-create |
| Never fires | Condition set on the symbol or wrong plot, not the indicator event | Re-create and pick the author's named event |
| Never fires | Chart timeframe differs from the signal's timeframe | Create the alert on the documented timeframe |
| Never fires | Alert limit reached, so it was never saved | Delete unused alerts; check the plan page |
| Fires late | "Once per bar close" delivers at the bar's end | Expected; the delay equals the remaining bar time |
| Fires, then the mark disappears | "Once per bar" on a condition that reversed within the bar | Switch to "once per bar close" |
| Fires but no push | Phone permission off, app signed out, or a different account | Check phone settings and the app account; confirm in the alert log |
The alert runs on TradingView's servers, so a closed laptop is not the cause. If an alert fires on a bar where the indicator later shows nothing, it was a mid-bar trigger on an unconfirmed condition, not a server fault; the same issue affects backtests, as explained in the Strategy Tester guide.
Re-creating alerts after an indicator update
Because each alert holds its own copy of the script, an author's update does not flow into existing alerts. TradingView may stop alerts on a republished script or leave them running on the old version; either way, rebuild them:
- Note the alerts you have: symbol, timeframe, event, frequency, channels.
- Remove or stop the old alerts so you don't receive two versions of the same signal.
- Reload the chart so the updated indicator is in use.
- Create each alert again on the documented timeframe, with "once per bar close" unless the author says otherwise.
- After the first trigger, check the alert log against the chart.
The same routine applies after you change inputs yourself. For Pullwave's futures indicator, the alert settings to use are in the guide, and what it draws is described in the SOL perpetual futures indicator article.
FAQ
Q. Can I create an alert on an indicator with TradingView's free plan?
No. Price alerts are available on the free plan in limited numbers, but an alert on an indicator or strategy requires Essential or higher. Active-alert limits depend on the plan; see TradingView's plan page.
Q. What is the difference between "once per bar" and "once per bar close"?
"Once per bar" fires the first time the condition is true inside a bar, possibly before it is final. "Once per bar close" fires only when the bar closes with the condition true, so the alert matches what the indicator shows afterwards, at the cost of up to one bar of delay.
Q. My alert fired but there is no signal on the chart. Why?
The condition was true mid-bar and reversed before the close, which happens with "once per bar" or "only once" on live-calculating indicators. Switch to "once per bar close".
Q. Do TradingView alerts place orders for me?
No. An alert sends a message and nothing else. Reading the chart, deciding, sizing the position and placing the order on your exchange are all done by you.
Note: This article is general education, not investment advice. Backtest results describe the past only and do not guarantee future results. Futures can be liquidated and you can lose your capital. Start small.