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Wiring a third-party indicator by hand#

When no preset covers your indicator, pick I'll configure it myself in step 0 of the wizard. You'll author the mapping by hand using the capture-and-map flow.

The shape of the problem#

You need to translate the indicator's raw alert payload into HookTrader's v2 envelope. For most indicators that means:

  • One mapping rule per event type (entry, tp1, tp2, …, sl, trail).
  • Each rule has a matcher (so the right rule fires for the right alert) and a field map (so values land in the right v2 fields).
  1. Create the strategy (step 1) and define the strategy itself (step 2). Don't worry about getting it perfect — you can tweak after seeing your indicator's payloads.
  2. Copy the webhook URL from step 3.
  3. In TradingView, create alerts for each event your indicator emits (entry long, entry short, tp1, tp2, sl, trail, …). Use the indicator's documented alert message format for each.
  4. Fire each alert at least once. Each one lands as a capture in step 3.
  5. For each capture, click Map to rule and:
    • Pick the matching v2 event type.
    • Set a matcher that's unique to this alert type. Most indicators use a discriminator field like alert: "tp1" or event: "entry_long" — that's the matcher.
    • Map raw fields to v2 fields. The wizard auto-detects side, qty, sl, entry, symbol based on field names and value ranges.
  6. Dry-run each capture to confirm it translates to a valid v2 payload.
  7. Activate.

Tips#

  • Use variants. If your indicator's entry / TP / SL alerts share an identical shape and only differ in a single field, open Show variants on the cluster — HookTrader seeds rules for each distinct value automatically.
  • Paste samples instead of waiting. If you've got the indicator's docs handy, paste a sample JSON for each event type via Paste payload. You can author the full mapping before firing a real alert.
  • Start with the entry. Get the entry mapping working end-to-end (open a paper trade) before authoring TP / trail / SL rules. Real entries flush out payload edge-cases your samples might miss.
  • Indicators that emit one alert with a discriminator are easier than indicators that emit one alert per event type — the matcher is simpler and you only need one TradingView alert.
  • Pine indicators that use strategy.entry() / strategy.exit() typically expose their alerts via strategy.alert() with a string payload — you'll need to author the payload yourself in Pine, then map it. Consider using the Signal Connector instead.

What can go wrong#

Symptom Likely cause
"No mapping rule matched" Matcher field/value doesn't match any incoming payloads. Open the capture and compare to the rule.
Validation fails on dry-run Field map is missing a required field (e.g. side on an entry). Add it.
Numeric field arrives as a string Add a coercion step in the field map (the dropdown has "to number").
Wrong symbol TradingView's {{ticker}} includes the exchange prefix on some indicators. Strip it in the field map.

Once it works#

If your indicator is popular and you've built a solid mapping, send it to us — we'll consider packaging it as a built-in preset so other users don't have to re-do the work. Use the bug icon in the dashboard header.

See also#