TradingView alerts

TradingView alerts to cTrader, risk-checked before the broker

A TradingView alert delivered to your Propcockpit endpoint becomes a Signal: sized from your risk per trade, checked against what is left of your day, and sent to your cTrader account with its stop loss - or refused, in the same words a click would be.

What happens to an alert

1. TradingView fires the alert and posts its message to your webhook URL.
2. Propcockpit reads the message as a Signal: an action, a symbol, a side, a stop loss, and a size.
3. A stop stated as a distance becomes a price at the market it is judged against, using your broker’s own pip for that instrument. The Signal is then sized from its risk - a percentage or an amount of money - and the distance to the stop, exactly as the order ticket sizes a manual order; an alert that carries a volume in lots is sent at that volume.
4. It is checked against your Risk rules: the Buffer left in the day, Max total drawdown, Max open risk. An order that would not fit is refused, and the refusal names the rule and the number.
5. An order that fits is sent to your cTrader account through the official Open API, carrying its stop to the broker, where it holds if any connection drops.

Which prop firms allow it on cTrader

Before you connect an alert, check your firm’s rule: several firms do not allow automated or signal-driven orders on their cTrader accounts, and breaking the rule is between you and the firm, whatever tool placed the order. This is each covered firm’s rule as its own help centre states it.

In the firms’ own words

FTMO

"As long as your trading is legitimate (in line with proper risk management), conforms to the real market conditions, and does not resemble forbidden practices", FTMO has no reason to restrict a strategy, "whether it's discretionary trading, algorithmic trading, EAs, etc." A third-party EA may already be used by other traders, which counts toward FTMO's maximum capital allocation. FTMO's own cTrader runs cBots in cTrader Cloud.

FundedNext

On cTrader, "FundedNext does not allow any automated or algorithmic trading", whatever the account size. Tools that only modify the stop loss, take profit or lot size are classed as EAs too.

FundingPips

Third-party EAs are "permitted only when used strictly as a trade or risk manager". "If the EA is your own, developed by you, full automation is permitted with proof of ownership." Copying trades in from signal providers or trade copier services is prohibited. The 1K Instant account allows third-party EAs and copiers; the Monthly Competition allows no EAs at all.

Alpha Capital Group

"EA functionality is not currently available for cTrader, DX Trade, or TradeLocker accounts." On MT5, "Automated EAs that execute trades independently, without human oversight, are strictly prohibited"; trade-management EAs need approval first.

Fintokei

Allowed: "your own EA or automated system, fully created and configured by you", or a commercial or free EA customised with your own parameters "as long as the logic is yours and transparent". Forbidden: "Copying trades from a signal provider, another trader, Telegram/Discord channel", and letting a third-party provider trade on your behalf. The article does not name a platform.

A firm can change its rule at any time, and the date beside each row is the day we last read it. The firm’s own page is the answer if the two ever disagree.

The alert message

The body is JSON: your endpoint’s secret, the action, the symbol from TradingView’s placeholder, the side, a stop and a size. With the stop as a percentage of the price and the target as a multiple of it, one message works on every chart and at every price:

{
  "secret": "whsec_...",
  "action": "open",
  "symbol": "{{ticker}}",
  "side": "buy",
  "sl_percent": 0.3,
  "tp_rr": 2,
  "risk_percent": 0.5,
  "on_existing": "skip",
  "signal_id": "pc-k3f9qz-{{ticker}}-{{time}}-open",
  "sent_at": "{{timenow}}"
}

Buys at the ask with the stop 0.3% under it and the target twice as far over it, sized so that reaching the stop loses half a percent of the balance. When this endpoint already holds the symbol, or has an order resting on it, it does nothing.

• The stop is one of sl_pips, sl_percent or a price in sl. A pip is what your broker says it is for the instrument, and the distance is measured from the price the order is judged at: the ask for a buy, the bid for a sell.
• The target is tp_rr (a multiple of the stop), tp_pips or a price in tp, or none.
• The size is risk_percent (add "risk_percent_of": "initial" to take it of the Initial capital your firm issued), risk_amount in your account’s currency, or volume in lots.
• On Pro and Premium, "sl_trigger": "bar_close" with a level and a timeframe arms the stop loss on candle close: a wick through the level does nothing, a candle closing through it closes the trade, and the broker stop stays as the hard backup.

{
  "secret": "whsec_...",
  "action": "open",
  "symbol": "{{ticker}}",
  "side": "sell",
  "sl_percent": 0.4,
  "tp_rr": 1.5,
  "risk_amount": 50,
  "signal_id": "pc-r8m2dw-{{ticker}}-{{time}}-open",
  "sent_at": "{{timenow}}"
}

{
  "secret": "whsec_...",
  "action": "open",
  "symbol": "{{ticker}}",
  "side": "long",
  "sl_percent": 0.3,
  "tp_rr": 2,
  "risk_percent": 1,
  "risk_percent_of": "initial",
  "size": "fit",
  "on_existing": "skip",
  "signal_id": "pc-t4v7hn-{{ticker}}-{{time}}-open",
  "sent_at": "{{timenow}}"
}

The webhooks documentation lists every field - limit and stop orders with an expiry, skipping a symbol already held, a comment for the broker - every refusal, and what it means.

What it does not do

It does not skip the gate. A Signal that would break a rule is refused whether it came from an indicator or a hand. It does not copy trades between accounts. It does not run a strategy: TradingView decides when to fire, Propcockpit decides whether the order fits, and the broker holds the stop. And it is a webhook, so an alert that TradingView fails to deliver is an order that was never asked for; the delivery log on the Webhooks page shows every one that arrived.

Setting it up

1. On Webhooks in Propcockpit, make an endpoint. You get a URL and a secret; the secret is shown once.
2. In TradingView’s alert, put the URL in Webhook URL.
3. Put the JSON body in the alert’s Message.

Signals through webhooks are on the Pro and Premium plans; see pricing.

Questions

Can a TradingView alert place an order on cTrader?

Yes, through Propcockpit: a TradingView alert sent to your Propcockpit webhook endpoint is a Signal, and a Signal is sized from your Risk rules, checked against what is left of your day, and sent to the broker with its stop - or refused, for the same reasons a click would be.

Does an alert bypass the risk check?

No. A Signal goes through exactly the same gate as an order placed by hand: it is sized from your rules, checked against your Buffer, and refused in the same words. An alert cannot do what the order ticket would refuse.

What does the alert message need to contain?

A JSON body with your endpoint's secret, an action (open, close, modify or flatten), the symbol, the side, a stop loss - as a distance in pips or percent, or as a price - and a size: a risk percentage of the balance or of the Initial capital, an amount of money, or lots. The documentation shows every field with worked examples.

Can I use TradingView alerts on my prop firm's cTrader account?

It depends on the firm, and the firm's rule is the one that counts. Allowed: FTMO. Your own strategy only: FundingPips and Fintokei. Not allowed on cTrader: FundedNext and Alpha Capital Group. Each firm's own words and source are in the table on this page.

Which plans include TradingView alerts?

Signals through webhooks are on Pro and Premium.