Choosing an alert type

Tickerly accepts six alert formats. Most strategies work with the standard one. The others exist for specific situations.

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If your strategy…	Use
Opens and closes positions normally, one at a time	Standard
Flips straight from long to short without going flat	Swing
Runs alongside another strategy on the same symbol	Hedge mode
Sets its own take profit and stop loss levels at entry	Full trade
Is an indicator, or needs a separate alert per direction	Directional
Needs to close everything on a symbol regardless of size	Close all

When in doubt, use the standard alert. It handles multiple take profits, moving a stop loss to break even, dynamic order sizes, trailing stops, and most complex entry and exit logic without any change.

Field requirements at a glance

	ticker	action	prev_position	quantity	pointer	Other
Standard	●	●	●	●	●
Swing	●	●	—	●	●
Hedge mode	●	●	●	●	●	hedgemode
Full trade	●	●	●	●	●	takeprofit, stoploss
Directional	●	●	●	●	●
Close all	●	—	—	—	●	closeall

● required — omitted

How they differ

Standard is the default. One alert per strategy action, with prev_position telling Tickerly whether to open or close.

Swing is the standard alert with prev_position removed. That makes every order an entry, which lets a single order flip a position from long to short. Use it only when your strategy actually does that — on a strategy that goes through flat, it removes a useful safety property.

Hedge mode adds hedgemode so long and short positions on the same symbol can exist side by side. It is the only way to run two strategies on one symbol without them closing each other's trades.

Full trade carries take profit and stop loss prices with the entry, so the exchange manages the exit. Tickerly is alerted on entry only. Use it when your strategy plots its exit levels and you would rather the exchange enforce them than depend on a second alert arriving.

Directional replaces one alert with four — enter long, exit long, enter short, exit short — each with fixed values. It is how indicators are automated, since indicators do not supply strategy placeholders.

Close all is not a strategy format but a utility. It closes whatever is open on a symbol without needing to know the size.

Combinations

Swing and hedge mode cannot be combined. Hedge mode handling requires prev_position, and a swing alert is defined by leaving it out.

MetaTrader does not need swing alerts

On MetaTrader 4 and 5, the standard alert already handles strategies that flip directly between long and short. Use the standard format there.

Full trade and hedge mode can be combined where the exchange supports both. Close all can be sent to any supported exchange at any time, whatever format the strategy's own alerts use.