Alert Guidelines

Hours

You can set up and activate alerts or alerts created from templates at any time (including outside of standard market hours) and they will display in the Alerts tab.

However, because alerts require updated Level 1 quote information to function, they will not initialize until the next trading session.

Wide Spreads

Alerts on symbols with wide spreads may not fire if the spread is too wide.

After Hours

• Alerts with Day Alert checked become inactive at the end of the standard session (4:00 p.m. ET), but they remain in the Alerts tab pending further action such as editing, activation, deactivation or removal.
• Alerts without Day Alert checked, and which have not expired or triggered, will remain active into after hours sessions and will be active the following day.

Index Alerts

Alerts for indices should only be set up using the variables Trade Price, Change from Open, and Change from Close. Although you can create alerts for indices using other variables such as Bid or Ask, these alerts will never trigger because the variables do not exist for indices.

After an Alert Triggers

• Alerts established with conditions that have already been met or are imminent will not activate and you will be presented with an opportunity to make changes to your alert.
• After any alert has triggered, it will automatically be deactivated. The same alert cannot trigger more than once without being reactivated first.
• If you are not logged on when an alert triggers, a message indicating that the alert triggered in your absence will display in the Messages window at login.