Last Updated: 2026-10-27
The useful output of a chart session is a reproducible observation, not a screen full of indicators. This walkthrough separates the instrument, the completed candle and the alert condition. It uses a synthetic price example and does not place an order.
1. Identify the data
Select the venue prefix as well as the ticker. Record spot versus perpetual, quote currency, timeframe and timezone. A chart of one exchange's BTC/USD is not the fill history of another exchange's BTC/USDT contract. Compare the chart's latest timestamp with the period you intend to study; a stale or different feed changes the meaning of an alert.
Save a layout with the symbol, interval and just the indicators needed for the question. A daily chart can provide a longer view alongside an hourly chart, but the two views are not independent confirmations: they reuse price data. For an annotated candle example, see how to read crypto charts.
2. Read a completed candle before interpreting it
Synthetic one-hour candle: open $100, high $106, low $98, close $104. Its body runs from $100 to $104; its wicks reach $98 and $106. The close is 4% above the open, while the high-low range is $8. That range does not tell you whether $98 occurred before $106. A strategy whose stop and target are both inside the candle therefore needs additional execution assumptions or finer data.
During the hour, the current price is not yet the final close. Note the observation time. Do not compare a live indicator with a historical chart as if both used only completed bars.
3. Define an indicator observation
A moving average summarizes past prices. A price crossing it does not establish that a trend will continue. Start with a plain rule such as: "observe the first completed hourly bar closing above the chosen average after the previous completed bar closed at or below its average." Specify the average type, length, source and instrument. Changing any of those changes the rule.
For example, previous close $99 against average $100 and current close $101 against average $100.50 satisfy that observation. A later close $102 against average $101 is still above, but is not a fresh crossing if the previous bar was already above. These numbers illustrate the distinction; they are not a tested trading setup or a unique signal.
4. Make the alert match the observation
Use the official alert documentation to choose the condition and timing. Record the instrument, interval, rule version and whether evaluation waits for bar close. When a script or inputs change, check how the running alert must be recreated; do not assume editing a chart updates every saved alert.
Begin with a notification that cannot trade. Record the completed-bar time, the time the condition fired and the time the notification arrived. Candle opening time is not message transmission time, so subtracting it from arrival does not measure network latency.
5. Keep the order boundary explicit
Trading connections depend on the supported account and instrument. Confirm Paper Trading versus a live account before using an order panel. Drawing a line is not placing a stop, and a simulated fill does not establish queue priority or venue execution.
For a webhook, the delivery guide specifies POST messages and warns of delivery failures. Keep credentials out of messages. A production receiver also needs authorization, a message identifier, expiry, duplicate handling and reconciliation after uncertain responses. Those are separate engineering requirements, not features proved by a screenshot of an alert.
Keep a session record with the exact feed, rule, screenshot time, expected observation and observed notification. If they differ, inspect the data and timing before adding another indicator. For subscription capacity, use the workflow-based plan review, not an old table copied into a tutorial.
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