Interested in local paging alerts for tradestation?

[sdchris]

I'm trying to gauge interest in personal pager usage that has really helped my trading. I think it will be valuable to the TradeStation community as well.

I set up an on-site paging system that TradeStation can send alerts to. It is nice to be able to step away from the computer when the market has slowed to a crawl on a low volume day and go play with the daughters for a few minutes or take care of some other business - and know I can have a little vibrating pager tell me when some action is happening. Often I keep it on even when in front of the screens, because I get
a priority alert (more than a sound) for some things.

There is a minimal delay, it is faster than sms, or alphanumeric paging. I find that since I'm not constrained by the number of pages I send out, I more freely use alerts and have set up TS so it's as easy as putting a horizontal line or trendline on one of my charts and it defaults to alerting on a crossover. I also have indicator based alerts that I use frequently such as 5 minute stochastic crossovers on /ES

I also have the pager notify me about trade triggers from other traders, but I'm not sure I can generalize this to something useful for the general stock trader because of the huge number of sources for trading tips/alerts. Stock twitters may be the answer there...


The profile of the person who I think would find this useful: an independent trader who does other things throughout the day, like other office work or being in other areas of the house while on the phone, etc. They may not like paying for unlimited sms/text plans. Or - they may not like interacting with telecom companies at all (Can you tell I have a history there?)


How much would it be worth to you? What features would it need to have?

I'm looking for answers in the range of $200 to $800. If most traders would only pay the low end of the range it may simply not be a viable product.

From the big picture I don't think that it's a difficult sell - it pays for itself in a couple of trades that would have been missed. But I'm no marketing expert and so any "price elasticity" feedback is welcome.

If you're interested in something like this please send me email - I'm trying to figure out whether there is a critical mass of customers to make it worthwhile. I think economy of scale could make it a very accessible and useful tool for the TradeStation community - I think of it as loosening the computer leash. After all, most of us highly value the flexible, independent lifestyle that comes with trading on your own.

Thanks in advance for any feedback about this, and good luck on your trading!

 

[chilltrader]

I use IGIndex. Alert SMS and emails are free.

 

[Charlton]

I don't see why anyone using TS needs to pay to do this

First set up an indicator with whatever alert conditions you want

If Close > High[2] then
Alert( "My Alert Message") ;

Second configure the alerts. You can choose email and SMS preferences.


1. From the View menu , select Launch Message Center.
2. In the Message Center, click the Preferences icon.
3. Select the Email check box.
4. Click Configure. The Messaging dialog box displays.
5. In the From Email Address box, enter your return email address (who the email will be from).
6. In the To Email addresses box, enter the email address(es) that you want to use.
Note: Separate multiple addresses with a semi-colon.
7. Under Using, enter the SMTP server name or IP address for the email system that you are using.
Note: You can only use the default email program on the computer you are using with TradeStation.
8. If needed, select My SMTP Server requires authentication to enter the Account name and Password for your system.
9. Under Settings, select the message format that you want to use. To change the Maximum number of characters per email for the selected email format, enter a new

OR third

You can turn off the TS e-mail and send custom e-mails from within your code. For example:

Vars: EmailMessage("");
If Date = CurrentDate and Time = 1100 then begin
EmailMessage = NumToStr(Time,0) + " Buy 1 ES at Market";
Condition99 = Pager_Send(Pager_DefaultName,EmailMessage);
end;

Example:
Pager_Send("Fred K","Buy @ 254") sends "Buy @ 254" to Fred K

There's lots of information on this in either the TS help or the TS forum

Charlton

 

[sdchris]

Gentlemen - I think you are missing the point

What are you RECEIVING the alerts on (hardware)? TradeStation comes with built-in capability to send email alerts - but unless you have a cell phone or alphanumeric pager subscription where is it going to go? And unless the plan allows for unlimited messages, I find I don't freely use the alerts as much.

Chris

I don't see why anyone using TS needs to pay to do this

First set up an indicator with whatever alert conditions you want

If Close > High[2] then
Alert( "My Alert Message") ;

Second configure the alerts. You can choose email and SMS preferences.


1. From the View menu , select Launch Message Center.
2. In the Message Center, click the Preferences icon.
3. Select the Email check box.
4. Click Configure. The Messaging dialog box displays.
5. In the From Email Address box, enter your return email address (who the email will be from).
6. In the To Email addresses box, enter the email address(es) that you want to use.
Note: Separate multiple addresses with a semi-colon.
7. Under Using, enter the SMTP server name or IP address for the email system that you are using.
Note: You can only use the default email program on the computer you are using with TradeStation.
8. If needed, select My SMTP Server requires authentication to enter the Account name and Password for your system.
9. Under Settings, select the message format that you want to use. To change the Maximum number of characters per email for the selected email format, enter a new

OR third

You can turn off the TS e-mail and send custom e-mails from within your code. For example:

Vars: EmailMessage("");
If Date = CurrentDate and Time = 1100 then begin
EmailMessage = NumToStr(Time,0) + " Buy 1 ES at Market";
Condition99 = Pager_Send(Pager_DefaultName,EmailMessage);
end;

Example:
Pager_Send("Fred K","Buy @ 254") sends "Buy @ 254" to Fred K

There's lots of information on this in either the TS help or the TS forum

Charlton