summary: when your algo doesn't trade, the first thing to confirm is which broker platform you're connected to — ProjectX vs. Tradovate / NinjaTrader — because the right contract symbol (and therefore the right fix) depends on it. then work through the 3 diagnostic questions below.

already have an exact error string? jump straight to the algo error message decoder — every common error is indexed there with a direct fix.

before any other troubleshooting, confirm the broker your TradingView alert is routing to. the contract symbol your alert needs to use is different on each platform, and the wrong symbol is the #1 cause of silent algo failures.

rule of thumb: Tradovate / NinjaTrader = front-month. ProjectX = continuous.

if your alert symbol matches the rule for your platform, move on to the 3 diagnostic questions below. if it doesn't — fix the symbol first, then send a test alert and confirm it routes through. for the full breakdown, see which broker accounts work with edgeful algo automation? and futures contract rollovers.

when a trade doesn't execute, the problem is always in one of 3 places. work through these in order:

1. did the trade get visualized on TradingView?

open your TradingView chart with the algo indicator applied. can you see entry, take profit, and stop loss levels plotted for the session in question? if not, verify that the algo's settings and filters are configured correctly. ensure the current market data meets the criteria you've set, such as timeframes, symbols, and entry/exit filters. the algo will only visualize trades that fit your configured criteria.

2. did you receive an alert from TradingView?

open TradingView's alerts panel (clock icon on the right sidebar) and check the log tab. does the alert for that trade appear? the log tells you whether TradingView itself triggered the alert — which is different from whether edgeful received it. see reading the TradingView alert log for a walkthrough of what each column means.

3. is the trade listed in edgeful's automation notifications?

go to the trade notifications page in edgeful. do you see an entry for that trade?

if the trade isn't even showing on your chart, the algo couldn't determine a valid trade using your current settings. this is the most common scenario — and the easiest to fix. the 4 biggest causes: (a) your filter min/max excludes the actual range, (b) you're on the wrong session or the session's size distribution is different from what your filter expects, (c) your chart is on the wrong contract for your broker platform (see the platform rule above), or (d) you're on a stale front-month after a rollover (Tradovate / NinjaTrader only).

→ follow: no trade visualized on your chart

the algo found a valid setup and plotted it on your chart, but TradingView didn't trigger an alert. this means there's a mismatch between your algo settings and your alert configuration — the alert is locked to the indicator settings from when it was created, and editing the indicator doesn't update old alerts. on Tradovate / NinjaTrader, contract rollovers also invalidate alerts because the alert is tied to the specific front-month symbol at creation time.

→ follow: TradingView alert didn't fire

→ also: reading the TradingView alert log — how to prove whether an alert triggered at all

the alert triggered in TradingView (you can see it in the alerts log), but nothing showed up in edgeful's trade notifications. this means the webhook URL isn't connecting TradingView to edgeful properly.

→ follow: no notification in edgeful — webhook troubleshooting

if the trade shows up in edgeful's notifications but wasn't executed by your broker, the issue is downstream — broker connection, margin, account limits, or a contract-symbol mismatch with the broker. check for a "REJECTED" status in the notification log. the reason will be listed there.

common causes: broker disconnected, insufficient margin, contract mismatch (e.g., continuous symbol routed to Tradovate, or specific front-month routed to ProjectX), or account position limits (especially on prop firm accounts).

for the exact error string you're seeing in the notification log — "rejected," "failed," "pending," "contract not found," "cannot sell when position is 0," etc. — use the algo error message decoder. each error has its own section with a direct fix.

if the rejection message says "Tradovate rejected your trade. Please go into your Tradovate dashboard and check the order rejection reason" — that means the rejection reason lives inside Tradovate, not edgeful. see "Tradovate rejected your trade" — how to find the rejection reason and fix it for the full walkthrough on pulling up the reason in your Tradovate dashboard and the most common fix.

→ see: which broker accounts work with edgeful algo automation?

once you know which of the 3 paths applies, there are a few specific failure modes that cause the most confusion. worth knowing they exist up front:

if you've worked through the steps above and the issue isn't resolved, reach out via the in-app chat in edgeful. include: which broker platform you're on (ProjectX vs. Tradovate / NinjaTrader), the contract symbol your alert is on, which of the 3 diagnostic questions you got stuck on, and any screenshots from TradingView or the edgeful notification log — it'll help the team diagnose faster.