summary: the setup article. how to connect your broker, create strategies, and copy the webhook URL + JSON message you'll use to build your TradingView alert.
this article covers: broker connection, strategy creation, and managing strategies inside the algo dashboard. for TradingView alert configuration — the webhook URL field, the message field, chart timeframe, recreating after settings changes — see → setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation. for multi-account or prop firm setups (running across 2+ accounts, prop firms, multiple algos per account) see → using edgeful algos with prop firms and multiple accounts for the scenarios matrix. new to algo automation? start at the → algo automation quickstart.
the redesigned dashboard
the dashboard is personalized to you now. when you first log in to edgeful, an onboarding quiz asks a few quick questions about your trading style, instruments, and setups — and pre-populates your dashboard with the reports and tools you'll actually use.
if you haven't taken the quiz yet, or want a full tour of what's new in the redesign, read what's new in edgeful: the completely redesigned dashboard & trading experience first. the rest of this article assumes you're working from a populated dashboard.
before you start
the algo dashboard lives in the algos section of the left sidebar. it walks you through 3 steps: connect your broker, create a strategy, and activate it with a webhook URL in TradingView.
before you touch the dashboard, make sure you've already:
watched the algo education videos on the get started page
backtested and optimized your algo in TradingView's strategy report (formerly the strategy tester)
confirmed you're happy with the win rate, profit factor, and drawdown
if you automate an algo before optimizing it, you're at major risk of losing money. the dashboard is the last step — not the first.
TradingView plan and data requirements
this catches a lot of people off guard — TradingView webhooks require a paid plan. the free plan and the Basic plan don't support webhook URLs in alerts.
you need at least TradingView Essential (formerly Pro) or higher. if you try to paste a webhook URL into an alert on the free plan, the webhook field won't be available.
if you're not sure which plan you're on, check your TradingView account settings. and if you're looking for a discount, see → TradingView premium discounts and promo codes
a paid plan isn't enough on its own — you also need real-time CME futures data. TradingView shows CME futures (ES, NQ, YM, RTY, etc.) on a ~10-minute delay by default, even on a paid plan. until you add a separate CME real-time data package in your TradingView account settings, your alerts fire on delayed prices and your entries land late — which can lose trades even when your broker, strategy, and webhook are all set up correctly. this is a TradingView add-on, separate from any real-time data you pay for through your broker. how to enable it: → enabling real-time CME futures data on TradingView.
step 1 | connect your broker
this is where you link your brokerage account to edgeful. without this, there's nowhere to send trades.
choose a broker
click one of the two buttons at the top of the dashboard:
connect Tradovate/NinjaTrader — for Tradovate and NinjaTrader brokerage accounts
connect ProjectX — for ProjectX accounts (including Topstep and other firms that use ProjectX as their infrastructure)
log into your broker
a secure login screen will open. sign into your account and approve the connection. once your broker is connected, you'll be automatically redirected back to edgeful.
confirm your connection
if the connection is successful, your broker will show as connected (in green) in the connected trading accounts table. this table shows your account name, broker, account type (live or paper), account number, balance, and connection status.
supported brokers
for the full list of supported and unsupported brokers, see → which broker accounts work with edgeful algo automation?
for prop firm-specific details — rules on automation, multi-account setup, and the prop firm simulator — see → using edgeful algos with prop firms and multiple accounts
managing connected accounts
once your broker is connected, you can:
edit the broker nickname — click the pencil icon in the edit/remove column. naming your accounts clearly (e.g., "Apex Live 01," "Tradovate SIM") makes it much easier to manage multiple strategies later.
remove a broker — click the trash icon to disconnect the account from edgeful.
reconnect — if the connection drops (status shows red "disconnected"), click the red reconnect button in the table to re-establish the link.
connections can drop for several reasons — broker maintenance, session timeouts, or credential changes. if your status shows disconnected, reconnecting usually takes a few seconds.
troubleshooting broker connections
connection fails immediately
if the login screen opens but the connection doesn't complete:
double-check your credentials. some brokers use a username that's different from your email — try both.
make sure you're connecting to the right platform. if your prop firm uses Tradovate as its clearing broker, click "connect Tradovate/NinjaTrader" — not "connect ProjectX."
Topstep / ProjectX errorCode=3
the most common ProjectX connection error. try your username instead of email (or vice versa), and double-check your API key hasn't expired. for the full troubleshooting steps, see → which broker accounts work with edgeful algo automation?
2FA (two-factor authentication) breaking the connection
this one catches people off guard. if you enable 2FA on your Tradovate account after you've already connected it to edgeful, the connection can break — your access token becomes invalid and trades won't execute, even though the dashboard might still show the account.
the fix: disable 2FA temporarily, remove the broker from edgeful, reconnect, then re-enable 2FA if needed. if you're using 2FA from the start, make sure to complete the full authentication flow during the initial connection.
broker shows "disconnected" after working previously
connections expire periodically. click reconnect in the table. if that doesn't work, remove the broker and re-add it. you won't lose your strategies — they stay intact, you just need to re-link the account.
step 2 | create a strategy
now it's time to link your algo to edgeful by creating a strategy. this is the bridge between your broker account and TradingView — it generates the unique webhook URL and execution settings that make automation work.
click "create strategy"
you'll first need to scroll through and accept the terms of service for automated trading. after that, you'll set up your strategy:
name your strategy with a clear name that describes what it does or what account the strategy is automating to (e.g., "NQ ORB 0.5RR," "ES gap fill live"). good naming matters when you're running multiple strategies — it's how you tell them apart in the table.
add a short description to help you remember what the strategy is doing.
choose the broker account you want this strategy to run trades on. this is the account you connected in step 1.
choose your entry and exit order type — market or limit. the exit order type sets your take profit only — your stop loss is always a market order, so it has the highest chance of getting you out of a losing trade when price hits your stop. market orders fill immediately at the current price (guaranteed fill, possible slippage). limit orders fill at your price or better (price control, but might not fill). for a deep dive on the tradeoffs, see → execution, slippage, and order types in algo automation
all four fields are required. the "Create Strategy" button stays disabled until every field is filled out — name, description, broker account, and entry order type. if the button isn't clickable, check that you haven't skipped any of them (the description field is easy to miss).
confirm your strategy
once created, your strategy appears in the strategies table. it shows: strategy name, account type, connected brokers, strategy status, entry order type, webhook URL, and actions.
your strategy status should show as enabled (in green). if it's "enabled," it will trigger trades as soon as an alert comes in after completing step 3.
important: click the copy icon (the dual-box icon) next to "view webhook" to copy your full webhook URL. you'll need this in step 3. don't try to manually copy the URL from the "view webhook" preview — it's masked and won't work. always use the copy button.
one strategy per account
each broker account needs its own strategy with its own webhook URL. if you're running 3 accounts, you need 3 strategies and 3 separate TradingView alerts — each with its unique webhook.
you can run different algos on different accounts (e.g., ORB on your live account, gap fill on your sim account). you can also run multiple algos on the same account — they share the one webhook URL for that account, with each algo getting its own TradingView alert pointing at it — as long as no two of them trade the same ticker at the same time. running two algos on the same ticker in one account during overlapping sessions creates conflicting orders (e.g. ORB and IB both on NQ): edgeful only tracks the position each algo opened, so one algo's exit can close or net against the other's. if you want to run two algos on the same ticker, send each one to a different account — the one exception is two algos whose sessions never overlap, since each algo closes out at the end of its session (the → running multiple algos article covers that rule in full). you also can't share one webhook across multiple accounts.
running multiple accounts or prop firms? see → using edgeful algos with prop firms and multiple accounts for the full scenarios matrix (5 accounts, ORB+IB on one account, SIM+live, etc.). for the full rules on what can run on the same chart, account, and ticker, see → running multiple algos — rules and conflicts.
how position size is set
the strategy itself doesn't have a size setting — position size is set on the edgeful algo indicator in TradingView, not in this dashboard. whatever you set as contracts-per-trade on the indicator is what edgeful forwards to the broker. full walkthrough: → position sizing and how edgeful uses strategy.position_size.
editing and managing strategies
edit a strategy — click the pencil icon in the actions column to change the name, description, broker account, or order type.
delete a strategy — click the trash icon. this removes the strategy and invalidates its webhook URL. any TradingView alert using that webhook will stop executing.
disable vs. delete — if you want to pause a strategy without deleting it, set the strategy status to disabled. edgeful will NOT send trades to your broker while it's disabled. set it back to enabled when you're ready to go live again.
regenerate webhook — if you suspect your webhook URL has been compromised, click the regenerate button. this creates a new URL and invalidates the old one. you'll need to update your TradingView alert with the new URL. for more on when to regenerate vs. when the real fix is elsewhere, see → how the algo automation chain works.
note — the dashboard isn't where you change algo settings. session, ORB size, TPs, SLs, contracts per trade, and everything else are set on the indicator in TradingView — not here. when you change any of those, the strategy and webhook URL stay the same, but you do need to delete and recreate the TradingView alert so it picks up the new values. full handoff: → applying algo settings changes — what to do after you optimize and make algo setting changes.
can't delete or disable a strategy
if clicking the trash icon or toggling the status gives you a "failed to delete strategy" or "failed to load strategy data" error, the dashboard can't complete the action on that specific strategy.
the workaround: remove the broker connection in step 1 instead. deleting the broker account automatically removes all strategies associated with that broker. once it's gone, re-add the broker — your account reconnects clean, and you can create new strategies from scratch.
here's how:
go to step 1 on the algo dashboard
find the broker account that's linked to the stuck strategy
click the trash icon in the edit/remove column to remove that broker
once removed, click connect Tradovate/NinjaTrader or connect ProjectX to re-add the same broker account
create a new strategy in step 2 and copy the new webhook URL into your TradingView alert
if you need to stop trades immediately while sorting this out — pause or delete the TradingView alert that's sending signals to that webhook. that stops executions right away, even if the dashboard actions aren't cooperating.
if removing the broker also fails, reach out to us through the chat widget and we'll get it sorted on our end.
step 3 | grab your webhook URL and JSON message
step 3 gives you the two values you'll paste into TradingView. copy both, then move over to TradingView.
webhook link
a table listing each strategy and its webhook. click "view webhook" to see the URL, or use the copy button to grab it. if you have multiple strategies, make sure you're copying the right webhook for the right alert.
TradingView message
the JSON payload that tells edgeful what trade to execute. copy it exactly — one wrong character and the alert won't work.
{ "ticker": "{{ticker}}", "action": "{{strategy.order.action}}", "sentiment": "{{strategy.market_position}}", "quantity": "{{strategy.order.contracts}}", "price": "{{close}}", "time": "{{timenow}}"}
next step — build your TradingView alert. the full walkthrough (paste the webhook URL into the Webhook URL field, toggle the webhook notification on, paste the JSON into the message field, match your chart timeframe, alert expiration, recreating after settings changes) lives in its own article: → setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation
verifying your webhook is working
don't just set it and forget it — especially the first time. the full 5-minute SIM pre-flight walkthrough lives in its own article: → test your webhook before going live.
the quick verification checklist
broker shows connected (green) in step 1
strategy shows enabled (green) in step 2
webhook URL was copied using the copy button (not manually highlighted)
TradingView alert has the webhook URL in the webhook field
TradingView alert has the correct JSON payload in the message field
TradingView alert is set to trigger on strategy conditions
TradingView alert hasn't expired
your TradingView plan supports webhooks (Essential or higher), and you have a CME real-time data package active so alerts don't fire on delayed data
if all 8 check out and trades still aren't executing, start the diagnostic flow at → my algo didn't trade — start here.
strategy not triggering trades
if you've completed step 3 but trades aren't executing:
check strategy status — make sure it shows enabled, not disabled. if it's disabled, edgeful won't send trades to your broker.
verify the webhook URL — the most common issue. make sure you copied the full URL using the copy button (dual-box icon), not by highlighting the masked preview. the masked version is incomplete and won't work.
check your broker connection — go back to step 1 and confirm your broker still shows connected in green. if it's disconnected, reconnect it.
check the entry order type — if you're using limit orders and the market moved too fast, the order might not have filled. this isn't a bug — it's how limit orders work. consider switching to market orders if fill certainty matters more than entry price.
related articles
start here:
→ algo automation quickstart — start here — the hub
other spokes:
→ setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation — TradingView alert configuration
→ enabling real-time CME futures data on TradingView — required so your alerts don't fire on a ~10-minute delay
→ using edgeful algos with prop firms and multiple accounts — multi-account scenarios matrix
→ test your webhook before going live — 5-minute SIM pre-flight
→ position sizing and how edgeful uses strategy.position_size — one input controls contracts per trade
→ applying algo settings changes — what to do after you optimize and make algo setting changes — what to do after you change algo settings
→ understanding the algo notification log — read the trade log
→ my algo didn't trade — start here — troubleshooting
→ how the algo automation chain works — under-the-hood reference
→ algo error message decoder — every common error string
broker reference: