summary: a step-by-step walkthrough of the algo dashboard — connecting your broker, creating strategies, configuring execution settings, and getting the webhook URLs that power automated trade execution in TradingView.

the algo dashboard lives at algos → dashboard in 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:

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.

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

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:

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.

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

once your broker is connected, you can:

connections can drop for several reasons — broker maintenance, session timeouts, or credential changes. if your status shows disconnected, reconnecting usually takes a few seconds.

connection fails immediately

if the login screen opens but the connection doesn't complete:

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.

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:

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.

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). but you can't share one webhook across multiple accounts.

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:

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.

if you've completed step 3 but trades aren't executing:

this is where you take your webhook URL and paste it into TradingView to connect the dots. once this step is complete, your algo is live.

the dashboard shows two things in step 3:

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 for TradingView. 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 this exactly and paste it into the alert message textarea of your TradingView alert:

click the copy button to grab the JSON — don't type it manually. one wrong character and the alert won't work.

that's it. when your algo fires a signal in TradingView, the alert sends the webhook to edgeful, edgeful routes the trade to your broker, and the order executes.

for a full walkthrough of TradingView alert configuration — including common alert mistakes, alert expiration, and managing multiple alerts — see → setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation

don't just set it and forget it — especially the first time. here's how to confirm everything is connected before you trust it with real money.

use a SIM/Demo account first

always test with a paper/demo account before going live. create a strategy pointed at your SIM account, set up the TradingView alert with that strategy's webhook, and let it run. if trades show up in your SIM account, the webhook chain is working.

check the edgeful notifications panel

every time edgeful receives a webhook and processes a trade, it logs it. if your alert fires in TradingView but nothing shows up in edgeful, the webhook isn't reaching us — double-check the URL. if edgeful received it but the trade didn't execute, the issue is on the broker connection side.

check TradingView's alert log

TradingView keeps a log of every alert that fires. go to your alerts panel and look at the log for your specific alert. if it shows the alert fired and the webhook was sent, TradingView did its job — the issue is downstream.

for a detailed walkthrough of reading the TradingView alert log, see → how to use the alerts log in TradingView

the quick verification checklist

if all 8 check out and trades still aren't executing, see → no notification in edgeful — webhook troubleshooting

your webhook URL is essentially a key to your trading strategy. anyone who has it can send signals to edgeful that will execute trades on your connected broker account.

don't share your webhook URLs. not in Discord, not in screenshots, not in emails. treat them like a password.

if you think a webhook URL has been exposed:

the old URL stops working immediately — no one can send signals to it after regeneration.

before setting anything up, it helps to understand how the pieces connect. the execution chain looks like this:

your algo fires a signal in TradingView → TradingView sends a webhook (HTTP request) to edgeful → edgeful processes the signal and routes the order to your broker → your broker executes the trade

the webhook URL is the link between TradingView and edgeful. it's a unique URL that edgeful generates for each strategy you create. when TradingView fires an alert, it sends a JSON payload to that URL — and edgeful handles the rest.

average execution time from when edgeful receives the alert is 300ms. any delay before that (between the signal firing and the alert appearing in TradingView's log) is on TradingView's side.

knowing this chain matters because when something goes wrong, you can narrow down where: is TradingView not firing the alert? is the webhook not reaching edgeful? is the broker connection down? each piece is independent.

"the webhook URL looks different when I paste it"

this is normal. TradingView may format or display the URL slightly differently than how it appeared when you copied it — the URL still works as long as you used the copy button.

"do I need to update the webhook when I change algo settings?"

no. the webhook URL stays the same. but if you change algo settings (like contract size, TP, SL), you need to update your TradingView alert to reflect the new strategy parameters. the webhook doesn't change — the alert content does.

"can I use the same webhook for multiple alerts?"

yes — you can point multiple TradingView alerts to the same webhook URL if they're all going to the same strategy and broker account. but each alert should be for a different instrument or algo.

"I switched from SIM to LIVE — how do I verify it's working?"

create a new strategy for your LIVE account in step 2. copy its unique webhook URL and paste it into your TradingView alert, replacing the old SIM webhook. the strategy table on the dashboard shows the account type (PAPER or LIVE) — confirm you're using the LIVE strategy's webhook.

"my TradingView alert expired and trades stopped"

TradingView alerts have expiration dates. when an alert expires, it stops firing — which means no webhook is sent to edgeful. go to your alerts panel in TradingView, recreate or extend the alert, and make sure the webhook URL and JSON message are still in place.