# TradingView strategies

> Connect TradingView, create alerts that route by name, prepare them in the app, and build the strategy they fire into.

*Source: https://tradelabs.org/docs/reference/strategies/tradingview*

A TradingView strategy links your TradingView alerts to a TradeLabs strategy. When an alert fires, the signal routes through your TradeLabs account into the strategy whose name matches the alert, and that strategy places the trade.

There are no webhooks to wire by hand. You sign in to TradingView once, TradeLabs reads the alerts on your account, and it can prepare each one so it routes correctly.

![The TradingView source under Signals](/docs-assets/app-signals-tradingview.png)
*The TradingView source lists every alert on your account and shows which ones are ready to fire.*

| What TradingView can trade | Supported |
| --- | --- |
| Stocks | Yes |
| Options | Yes |
| Spreads | Yes |
| Crypto, futures, prediction markets | No |
| Memecoins, RSA | No — those instruments only take Discord or the serverside feed |

## What alerts can be used

You can automate both strategies and indicators as long as they produce clear alerts for trade entries. The alerts must not repaint.

Repainting is when an alert's condition is met while a candle is forming, but no longer holds by the time the candle closes, so the alert disappears. That can open positions you did not want. Trigger your alerts **Once Per Bar Close** to avoid it.

## Connect TradingView

Open the app, go to **Signals**, and open the **TradingView** source.

1. Click **Connect TradingView**. Enter your **TradingView email or username** and password, then click **Sign in**. TradeLabs opens Chrome and signs in for you.

2. If TradingView shows a captcha or 2FA prompt, use **Or sign in manually in the browser** and finish the sign-in yourself in the window.

3. Once you are signed in, the source shows your login under **Connection**. To add another login, click **Sign in another**. To refresh a login whose cookies have expired, use the re-sign-in action on its row.

> **Note**
>
> Alerts flow into your strategies through your TradeLabs account once you are signed in. There is nothing else to wire up.

## Create a TradingView alert

Set up alerts on TradingView first, then build the matching strategy.

*Create the alert, set the condition, trigger once per bar close, and name it to match your strategy.*

1. Sign in at [tradingview.com](https://www.tradingview.com/) and open the chart for the ticker you want to automate.

2. Open the Alerts panel (the clock icon on the right of the chart) and click the **Create Alert** button (the plus at the top of the panel).

3. Under **Condition**, pick the strategy or indicator you want to automate.

4. Set the trigger to **Once Per Bar Close** so the alert only fires on a confirmed signal.

5. Name the alert to match your TradeLabs strategy, then click **Create**. Matching names are how TradeLabs knows which strategy a signal belongs to.

### If you are using an indicator

> **Heads up**
>
> An indicator usually needs two alerts: one for buy signals and one for sell signals.

Name the buy alert with `indicator long` on the end and the sell alert with `indicator short`, keeping the rest of the name the same. For a strategy called "BB & RSI", name the alerts "BB & RSI indicator long" and "BB & RSI indicator short". TradeLabs strips the `indicator long` and `indicator short` suffix when it matches, so both route to the same strategy.

For a crossover indicator that does not declare separate buy and sell signals (an EMA, MA, or SMA cross), create one alert for the cross up and one for the cross down so both directions produce signals.

You can also use a plain price alert. Create a strategy called "SPY - Buy Level" and name the alert "SPY - Buy Level indicator long".

## Prepare your alerts

After you sign in, the TradingView source lists your alerts under **Your alerts**.

1. Click **Fetch alerts** to pull your alerts from TradingView. Each row shows checks for **Description**, **Expiration**, and **Webhook**, plus a **Ready** or **Needs fix** badge.

2. To fix one alert, click **Fix** on its row. To fix everything at once, click **Auto-fix all**, which works through each alert that needs a fix and shows a progress bar you can **Cancel** mid-run. An alert the fix could not repair comes back as **Fix failed** rather than Ready.

3. Click **Refresh** to pull the list again at any time. A search box filters the list by name, description, or ticker.

When an alert is **Ready** and its name matches an active TradingView strategy, the row shows which strategy it routes to.

## Build the strategy

Create the strategy your alerts route into. On the **Strategies** page, **New strategy** makes a blank one and opens it. **Templates** beside it opens the template browser instead. On an empty Strategies page the same two choices read **Blank strategy** and **Browse templates**.

![The Signal source section of a TradingView strategy, showing the Alert names field](/docs-assets/app-strategy-source-tradingview.png)
*The Signal source section of a TradingView strategy. Leave Alert names empty to match the strategy's own name, or list the alert names it should answer to.*

1. In **Basics**, set the **Name**. This is what TradingView alert names match against, so name it to match your alert and drop any `indicator long` or `indicator short` suffix.

2. Choose the **Instrument**: Stocks, Options, or Spreads.

3. In **Signal source**, set **Source** to **TradingView**.

4. In the **Alert names** field, leave it empty to match the strategy's own name, or list specific alert names (comma separated) that should route into this strategy. Matching is case insensitive.

> **Note**
>
> The AI settings tab does not appear for a TradingView strategy, and no AI key is needed. TradingView signals do not carry a conversation to read, so features like AI sells and automatic quantity are hidden.

### Options fields

When the instrument is Options, the editor shows these fields:

- **Ticker:** the ticker the strategy trades. Use `ALL` to accept any ticker, or list specific ones like `SPY, QQQ`.
- **Default expiration:** how far out the contract expires. Pick a number of days or a weekday from the picker.
- **Strike position:** where the strike sits relative to price, set as **In the money**, **At the money**, or **Out of the money**, plus a **Strike offset**.
- **Direction:** **Calls** buys calls on a buy signal, **Puts** buys puts on a sell signal, and **Both** responds to both.
- **Entry** and **Exit:** the order type for entering and exiting. **Market** fills immediately. **Limit** targets a price and is available on the brokers that support it.
- **Time in force:** **Day** keeps an order active for the trading day. **GTC** keeps it active until it fills or is canceled.

Set **Stop loss** and **Take profit** under the strategy's **Risk management** section. Choosing levels for both, tuned to your strategy and risk tolerance, is recommended.

### Save and edit

Strategy edits save as you make them, so there is no separate save step. Your strategy is available from both the app and the dashboard. To change a strategy later, open it from **Strategies** and edit any setting. Edits take effect right away.