Price alerts can notify you when the price of a specific symbol reaches a certain level. You can insert a price alert directly in the Alerts window, or from a price page, chart or options matrix.
You can define the kind of price that triggers the alert (Last, Open, High, Low, Close, Bid, Ask etc.), the price level at which the alert will be triggered, and if the price should rise above or drop below this level to trigger the alert.
Additionally, you can choose between three types of price alerts:
▫ Price: This is the "normal" price alert and the default setting. You will be notified when the current price reaches the trigger price that you defined, and the alert will be automatically deactivated after it has been triggered.
▫ Trailing Stop: The trigger price will follow the price movement at a pre-set distance (for example 2 points), as long as the price moves away from the price level defined in the alert. Once the symbol's price changes direction, the trigger price level will hold and the alert will be triggered and deactivated once it is hit.
▫ Adjust when triggered: Similar to normal price alerts, you will be notified when the current price reaches the defined trigger price. Then, the trigger price will be recalculated at a new level defined by a pre-set distance (for example 5% above the current price) and the alert will be active again.
Once a normal or trailing stop price alert has been triggered, it is automatically deactivated. The columns => or =< of the price alert will then be shaded by default (you can also choose a custom color for triggered alerts):
The column Time shows the last date and time that a price alert has been triggered. You can also sort by that column, so that recently triggered alerts are displayed on top. To enable a deactivated price alert again, see Enabling, Disabling and Deleting Alerts.
To customize the visible columns, fonts, colors and update styles used for price alerts, see Customizing the Alerts Window for Price Alerts.
▪ On the View menu, click Alerts.
▪ In the Alerts window, click on the Price tab.
▪ Right-click on the last (empty) row of the alerts list and choose Insert Symbols.
▪ The Symbol Search dialog is displayed.
▪ Enter your search term in the first field on the left side and change the search settings, if necessary. For more information, see Searching for Securities in the Symbol Search Dialog.
▪ Click on the green button or press the Enter key to start the search.
▪ Select the symbol for which you want to get a price alert.
▪ Click OK. The symbol is inserted into the Alerts window.
▪ In the column Field, choose the price field on which the alert should be triggered. By default, the Last price is used. The column Current Price will automatically display the updated value for this field.
▪ In the columns => or =<, enter the trigger price for the alert:
=> |
When the price for the chosen field of the symbol is equal or greater than this value, the alert will be triggered and the action(s) defined under => Action(s) will be carried out. |
=< |
When the price for the chosen field of the symbol is equal or smaller than this value, the alert will be triggered and the action(s) defined under =< Action(s) will be carried out. |
▪ To enter a trigger price, you can either:
- Right-click in the column => or =< and choose Today’s High/Low, Today’s Open, Yesterday’s High/Low or Yesterday’s Close as the trigger price.
- Double-click in the column => or =< and type a custom price.
- Click in the column => or =<, type a percent sign % and enter the desired percentage that should be added to or subtracted from the current price level. The percentage will automatically be converted into a price. For example, if you enter 10% in the column => and the current price is at 10, the => trigger price will be set to 11.
Note To remove a set trigger price, right-click and choose Clear.
▪ In the columns => Action(s) or =< Action(s), define which action(s) will be carried out when the price alert is triggered. See Setting the Action on Triggering an Alert.
▪ In the column Mode, choose the type of price alert you want to create (for examples, see comparison below):
Price |
Default setting. You will be notified when the current price reaches the trigger price that you defined. The alert will be automatically deactivated after it has been triggered. |
Trailing Stop |
The trigger price will follow the price movement at a pre-set distance as long as the price moves away from it. When the symbol's price changes direction, the trigger price level will hold. You will be notified when the current price reaches the trigger price. The alert will be automatically deactivated after it has been triggered. |
Adjust when triggered |
You will be notified when the current price reaches the trigger price that you defined. The trigger price will then be recalculated at a new level defined by a pre-set distance above/below the current price and the alert will be active again. |
▪ For the types Trailing Stop and Adjust when triggered, enter the distance to the current price in the column Distance:
- Double-click in the column Distance and type a custom value.
- Right-click in the column Distance and choose Use distance to upper trigger or Use distance to lower trigger to automatically calculate the difference between the current price and the trigger price (upper trigger: column =>, lower trigger: column =<) and use this value as distance.
▪ In the column Abs./Perc., choose whether the distance value should be interpreted as an absolute value (Abs.) or as a percentage (Perc.).
▪ In the columns => Note or =< Note, add a note for this price alert. This text will also be used in notifications (see Notification Action).
▪ Right-click on the symbol in the price page and choose Insert Alert > Price Alert.
▪ In the Alerts window, complete the price alert settings for this symbol (see above). If you have entered text in the column Text of the price page, it will be automatically copied to the columns => Note and =< Note of the alert.
Note In the same way, you can also insert a price alert from the price page view of a time and sales document.
▪ Position the mouse pointer on the chart at the price level where the price alert should be triggered.
▪ Right-click on the chart and choose Insert > Price Alert.
▪ In the Alerts window, complete the price alert settings for this symbol (see above).
▪ Right-click on the symbol in the options matrix and choose Insert Price Alert.
▪ In the Alerts window, complete the price alert settings for this symbol (see above).
Comparison of the different types of price alerts
To better understand the differences between normal Price alerts, Trailing Stop alerts and Adjust when triggered, the following table shows a comparison of their behavior regarding the trigger price and of what happens after they have been triggered.
Type of alert |
Trigger price |
After alert was triggered |
Price |
Never changes |
Automatically deactivated |
Trailing Stop |
Follows the price when price moves away from the trigger price, not changed when price moves towards the trigger price |
Automatically deactivated |
Adjust when triggered |
Does not change while alert is active, but is adjusted every time the alert is triggered |
Trigger price is adjusted, and alert is activated again |
The example below illustrates this different behavior. For this example, assume that the current price of the symbol for which you create the alert stands at 12 and the initial upper trigger in the column => is set to 14 for all three alert types. For the Trailing Stop and Adjust when triggered alerts, the distance is set to 2 points.
Behavior of Price alerts:
▫ The trigger price will not change, no matter in which direction the price moves.
▫ When the current price rises to 14, the alert will be triggered and you will be notified.
▫ The upper trigger price will now be deactivated.
Behavior of Trailing Stop alerts:
▫ When the current price falls, the upper trigger price will follow the price movement at a distance of 2 points. For example, when the price falls to 10, the upper trigger price will be changed to 12.
▫ When the current price rises, the upper trigger price will hold. For example, when the price first falls to 10 and then rises to 11, the upper trigger price will stay at 12.
▫ When the current price continues to rise to 12, the alert will be triggered and you will be notified.
▫ The upper trigger price will now be deactivated.
Behavior of Adjust when triggered alerts:
▫ The trigger price will not change, no matter in which direction the price moves.
▫ When the current price rises to 14, the alert will be triggered and you will be notified.
▫ The upper trigger price will now be changed to 16, which is 2 points higher than the current price of 14, and the alert will be activated again.
▫ When the current price continues to rise to 16, the alert will be triggered again, and the trigger price will be adjusted once more.
▫ This type of alert is never deactivated, unless you disable it manually (see Enabling, Disabling and Deleting Alerts).