TradingView Strategies
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TradingView Strategies

Spreads Strategy

Turn a TradingView buy or sell alert into a vertical spread built from the live option chain: debit or credit, width, expiration, reversals and exits.

A spreads strategy turns each alert into a two-leg vertical spread. You never type strikes. When the alert fires, TradeLabs reads the live option chain and builds the spread from your settings.

Spreads work on Interactive Brokers, Tradier and Robinhood.

1. Choose what each alert opens

You choose what each alert opens BUY ALERT Bullish Buy alert opens Call debit You pay up front. Most you can lose is what you paid. Put credit You collect cash. Most you can lose is the width minus that cash. Just close Only closes the open bearish spread. Opens nothing. SELL ALERT Bearish Sell alert opens Put debit You pay up front. Most you can lose is what you paid. Call credit You collect cash. Most you can lose is the width minus that cash. Just close Only closes the open bullish spread. Opens nothing. Pick one per row. To trade only one way, set the other row to Just close.
  • Debit spreads cost money up front. You can lose at most what you paid.
  • Credit spreads pay you up front. You can lose at most the width minus what you collected.
  • Just close makes that alert close the open spread and open nothing. Use it to trade one way only.

2. How the legs are picked

How the two legs are picked when the alert fires 1 EXPIRATION Spread expiration: 7 The first date listed 7 or more days out. 0 means today. 2 FIRST LEG Strike position: ATM 595 600 605 610 Price 600.20 Nearest strike to the price, or N strikes away. 3 SECOND LEG Width: 2 strikes 595 600 605 610 Two listed strikes away: 600/610 on $5 strikes. 4 PRICE IT From the live quotes Entry limit price picks Bid, Mid or Ask. Both legs go out as one order. Strikes come from the chain at that moment, so the spread follows the price. Nothing is typed in by hand.

The Spread settings of a TradingView strategyThe Spread settings of a TradingView strategy The ruler under the settings previews the legs each alert will open.

3. Build the strategy

  1. On Strategies, click New strategy.

  2. Set Name to your alert’s name, Instrument to Spreads, and pick IBKR, Tradier or Robinhood.

  3. In Signal source, set Source to TradingView.

  4. Under Spread, set Buy alert opens and Sell alert opens.

  5. Set Width in strikes, Spread expiration in days, and Strike position.

  6. Set Entry limit price to Ask to fill fast, Mid to split the difference, or Bid to wait for a better price.

  7. Under Risk management, set a Stop loss and a Take profit.

A TradingView spreads strategy in the editorA TradingView spreads strategy in the editor Instrument Spreads, source TradingView.

4. What each alert does

What a spread alert does, based on what the strategy holds THE STRATEGY HOLDS THE ALERT Nothing on this ticker Opens its spread A spread facing the other way Closes it first, then opens once the close fills A spread facing the same way Opens nothing new. No stacking. An entry still waiting to fill Opens nothing new. A close still goes out.
  • Reversals are automatic. Holding a bullish spread when a sell alert arrives closes it first. The bearish spread opens only after the close fills.
  • No stacking. A repeat alert does nothing while the spread is held, or while its entry is still waiting to fill.
  • Closes always go out. Nothing blocks an alert from closing a spread you hold.

Stops and targets

Stop loss and take profit on a spreads strategyStop loss and take profit on a spreads strategy

Stop loss and Take profit are percentages of what the spread cost or paid. When one is hit, the whole spread closes. IBKR, Tradier and Robinhood all watch them for you. On IBKR they are measured from the price the spread actually filled at.

Credit spreads on SPX overnight

A credit spreads strategy for SPXA credit spreads strategy for SPX

With Allow extended hours on, IBKR trades SPX, SPXW, XSP, VIX and VIXW spreads in Cboe’s overnight session, Sunday 8:15 PM to Friday 9:25 AM Eastern. Stops and targets keep working overnight. Other tickers trade in regular hours only.

Heads up

Overnight option markets are wide. A tight stop can trigger soon after entry because the midpoint sits well away from the fill. Leave the stop room, or keep it for regular hours.

What cannot be traded

  • Futures symbols such as ES1! or NQ1!. Spreads are built from stock, ETF and index options.
  • Schwab. It does not take TradingView options or spreads.

Troubleshooting

Activity showsWhyFix
already holds a spreadThe same side is still openNothing. Close it or wait for the opposite alert.
entry waiting to fillThe last entry has not filled yetNothing. It blocks the repeat.
can’t read option chainsNo broker on the strategy reads chainsUse IBKR, Tradier or Robinhood.
is a futures contractThe chart is a futures symbolChart the stock, ETF or index instead.