summary: you just got the all access plan — here's the step-by-step path from first login to your first automated trade.
before you start
you'll need 3 things ready: your edgeful account (all access plan), a TradingView account (Premium plan recommended — you need alerts and deep backtesting), and a supported broker account. if you're automating to ProjectX specifically, you'll also need a ProjectX API key.
the whole setup takes about 30 minutes if you have all 3 accounts ready.
how edgeful automation works (the short version)
before you start clicking through the dashboard, it helps to understand the execution chain. automation runs across 3 systems — TradingView, edgeful, and your broker — and they connect in a specific order:
your algo indicator on TradingView fires a signal → TradingView alert sends a webhook to edgeful → edgeful routes the order to your connected broker → your broker executes the trade
a few things to internalize about this chain:
your broker connects to edgeful — not to TradingView. TradingView never talks to your broker directly. edgeful is the middleware that receives the webhook from TradingView and places the order at your broker.
each strategy you create in edgeful gets its own webhook URL. the URL is tied to a specific broker account and algo — not to your user account.
TradingView alerts point at the edgeful webhook URL — they do not point at your broker.
every step below fits into this chain. if you understand the chain, nothing downstream is confusing.
step 1: get your algo indicators in TradingView
edgeful's algo indicators (ORB, IB, gap fill, engulfing) are invite-only TradingView scripts. to access them:
go to your edgeful account settings
enter your TradingView username (not your display name or email — it's the one in your profile URL:
tradingview.com/u/[your-username])once submitted, open TradingView → indicators → invite-only scripts tab in the left sidebar
the edgeful algo indicators should appear there
if they don't show up right away, log out of TradingView and back in. make sure you're using the correct TradingView username and that you're logged into the right account on both platforms.
still not showing up? see my algo indicators aren't showing up in TradingView.
step 2: configure TradingView for edgeful
add an algo indicator to your chart and customize the settings — session, timeframe, entry conditions, stop loss, and take profit. use regular candlesticks (not heikin ashi — they cause order rejections).
for futures, use the continuous contract (e.g., NQ1!, ES1!) for backtesting and the current front-month contract (e.g., NQM2026) for live trading.
full setup walkthrough: setting up TradingView for edgeful algos.
step 3: backtest before going live
don't skip this. open the strategy tester/strategy report tab at the bottom of your TradingView chart and run a backtest over 12+ months of data on a continuous contract.
look at net profit, max drawdown, win rate, profit factor, and number of trades. you want at least 30–50 trades for meaningful results. if the numbers look good, bring them into the algo analyzer in edgeful for deeper analysis before going live.
you'll need a TradingView Premium plan or higher to access the full deep backtesting feature.
step 4: connect your broker to edgeful
open the algo automation dashboard in edgeful and connect your supported broker. edgeful automation works with Tradovate, NinjaTrader, and ProjectX (ProjectX covers Topstep and other firms that use it as their infrastructure).
click the relevant connect button in the dashboard, sign into your broker through the secure login screen, approve the connection, and you'll be redirected back to edgeful. your account should then show as connected (in green) in the connected trading accounts table.
this is where your broker links to edgeful — not to TradingView. without this, edgeful has nowhere to send the trades that arrive via webhook.
full broker setup guide: which broker accounts work with edgeful algo automation?
step 5: create a strategy in edgeful, then set up your TradingView alert
this is the step that wires everything together. connecting your broker in step 4 only links it to edgeful — it doesn't yet tell edgeful which algo is sending signals, or where those signals come from. you do that by creating a strategy in edgeful, which generates a unique webhook URL. then you point a TradingView alert at that URL.
step-by-step:
in the edgeful algo automation dashboard, click create strategy. give it a name, description, select the broker account you connected in step 4, and choose your entry order type (market or limit)
once created, your strategy appears in the strategies table with its own webhook URL. click the copy icon next to "view webhook" to copy the full URL — the masked preview is incomplete and won't work if you try to copy it manually
also copy the TradingView message (JSON payload) shown alongside the webhook URL on the dashboard — edgeful uses this to identify which strategy the alert belongs to
in TradingView, open your chart with the edgeful algo indicator applied and click create alert (or right-click the indicator → "add alert on strategy")
set the alert to trigger on strategy conditions (not on a price level or indicator)
paste the webhook URL into the webhook URL field and paste the JSON into the message field
set the alert expiration as far out as your plan allows, then save
that's the full chain. when your algo fires in TradingView, the alert sends a webhook to the URL you pasted — which goes to edgeful, not to your broker. edgeful reads the webhook, matches it to your strategy, and routes the order to the broker account you linked in step 4.
each strategy you create gets its own webhook URL — it's tied to a specific broker account and algo type, not to your user account. if you're running different algos on different broker accounts, each one needs its own strategy and its own TradingView alert.
TradingView alerts run on their servers — you don't need the browser tab open for alerts to fire. you just need an active TradingView subscription (Essential or higher — webhooks aren't supported on free or Basic plans) with your alerts configured.
step-by-step: setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation.
step 6: start with paper trading
before going live with real capital, run the algo on a SIM/demo account first — either through Tradovate's demo environment or TradingView's paper trading mode. run it for at least a few days to verify the signals are hitting and trades are executing as expected before any real money is involved.
step 7: go live
once you're confident in your backtest results and SIM performance:
switch your TradingView chart to the current front-month contract
delete your SIM alert and create a new one pointed at your live broker's webhook URL
verify your broker shows the correct contract
start with smaller position sizes and scale up as you build confidence
ongoing maintenance
a few things to stay on top of once you're live:
contract rollovers — futures contracts expire quarterly. when they roll, delete your old alert and create a new one on the new contract. see futures contract rollovers
monthly backtests — re-run your strategy tester/strategy report monthly to confirm performance is holding
algo analyzer — use the algo analyzer periodically for drawdown analysis and Monte Carlo simulations
common questions
does TradingView need to stay open?
no. TradingView alerts run on their servers — you don't need the browser or app open. you just need an active TradingView subscription with your alerts configured.
does TradingView connect directly to my broker?
no. TradingView never talks to your broker. the chain is: TradingView alert → webhook → edgeful → broker. your broker is connected to edgeful in step 4, and TradingView alerts point at the edgeful webhook URL from step 5.
can I use the algos manually instead of automating?
yes. you can use the indicators visually and manage entries yourself — automation isn't required. the algo shows entry, TP, and SL levels on your chart regardless of whether you've connected a broker.
what if my indicators aren't showing up?
resources
→ algo education library — edgeful.com/algos-automation/education
→ video walkthroughs on YouTube