summary: what's actually happening under the hood every time your algo fires — the webhook chain, how exits are delivered, and where slippage comes from.

this article covers: the conceptual reference for algo automation — how the webhook chain runs end-to-end, how TP and SL exits are delivered, where slippage comes from, how the algo handles manual trades, and when regenerating a webhook is (or isn't) the right call. this is background, not a setup walkthrough. new to algo automation? start at the algo automation quickstart.

the setup articles walk you through how to configure things. this article explains what's actually happening — so when something looks off, you know where to look.

every time your algo triggers, this sequence runs:

the average time from signal to execution is around 300ms. that number depends on TradingView's alert processing speed, network conditions, and your broker's execution queue.

you don't need TradingView open for this to work. once the alert is created, TradingView monitors it server-side. for the full alert setup, see setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation.

this is one of the most common questions — and the answer surprises people.

your take profit (TP) and stop loss (SL) are not sent to your broker when the entry fires. they're completely separate alert events.

in edgeful automation, your TP can be a market or limit order — you pick during strategy creation. SL is always a market order; there's no limit option for the SL. either way, there's no resting order sitting at your broker waiting for price to hit it. TradingView monitors the chart and fires a separate alert when price reaches each level.

webhook vs. alert — quick clarification. the webhook is the persistent URL that connects your strategy in TradingView to your broker via edgeful. it's set up once when you create the strategy. the alerts are the individual events — entry, TP, SL — that fire when price conditions are met and travel through that same webhook to reach edgeful and your broker.

so the flow for a TP exit looks like this:

SL works the same way — a separate alert through the same webhook — but the close order is always a market order, regardless of how you configured your entry or TP.

if you're using the ORB 2TP version, you'll have 2 separate TP alerts: TP1 closes half your position, TP2 closes the rest. you'll see all of these as individual rows in the notification log.

so there's no way to "include" TP in the entry alert. the entry and the exit are independent alert events, each triggered by TradingView when their conditions are met — all flowing through the same webhook for that strategy.

for the full tradeoff between market and limit on entry and TP — and how slippage and fill risk shake out — see execution, slippage, and order types in algo automation.

since SL is always a market order — and TP is a market order if you configured it that way — most exits fill at the prevailing market price. there are a few places where small delays add up:

most of the time this is negligible. but in fast-moving markets — especially around news events — you may see a tick or two of slippage on your exits.

if your TP is configured as a limit order, the dynamics flip: you don't get slippage on the fill (you get your TP price or better), but the order might not fill at all if price doesn't trade through your level. that's fill risk instead of price risk. either way, this is a known characteristic of the TradingView webhook architecture — it's why your backtest results and live results won't always match exactly.

every strategy you create on the algo dashboard gets its own unique webhook URL. that URL is tied to the specific algo type (ORB, IB, gap fill, engulfing) and your broker account.

if you're running the same algo on multiple tickers using the same broker account, you use the same webhook for all of those TradingView alerts. one strategy → one webhook → multiple ticker alerts pointing to it.

but if you're running different broker accounts — say a SIM and a LIVE, or two separate funded accounts — each one needs its own strategy and its own webhook. see running multiple algos — rules and conflicts for more on multi-account setups.

the algo is not aware of trades you place by hand. it only tracks and manages the positions it opens through its own webhook chain. that has a few practical consequences when you start mixing manual trades into the same account.

the cleanest mental model: treat the algo's position and your manual position as two separate books in the same account. if you want the algo to run untouched, let it run untouched. if you want to trade manually on the side, just know that those contracts live outside the algo's awareness.

these two actions look similar but do very different things.

regenerating a webhook creates a new URL for an existing strategy. the old URL gets invalidated immediately. use this if you think your webhook URL has been compromised or shared accidentally — it gives you a fresh URL without rebuilding your strategy.

switching brokers (or switching to a different broker account) requires a brand new strategy. you can't just regenerate the webhook on the old one — the webhook is tied to the broker account it was created with.

the process for switching:

after regenerating or switching, you always need to recreate your TradingView alerts — the old alerts still point to the old URL.

regeneration is a deliberate action — don't reach for it just because something isn't firing. in most cases the fix is elsewhere (contract rollover, expired alert, indicator setting change). use regeneration when you've lost control of the URL itself or you've exhausted every other explanation.

regenerate when:

the silent-failure gotcha: once you regenerate, your old TradingView alerts still fire normally — but the webhook they're pointed at no longer exists. edgeful rejects the request and nothing reaches your broker. TradingView doesn't flag an error, so the alerts panel still looks green while no trades are going through. always recreate your alerts with the new URL immediately after regenerating, then send yourself a test alert to confirm the full path is live end-to-end.

if your alerts stopped firing and you haven't regenerated or changed brokers, the more common cause is a futures contract rollover — see contract rollover: why your algo silently stopped trading.

one behavior that catches people off guard: TradingView alerts lock in your indicator settings at the moment the alert is created.

if you change your TP, SL, session times, or order type on the indicator — your existing alerts don't update. they're still running with the old settings.

after any settings change: delete the old alert, create a new one. the new alert picks up the current settings. make sure you paste the same webhook URL. for the full handoff after a settings change — validating, applying, recreating the alert, SIM-testing, and going live — see applying algo settings changes — what to do after you optimize and make algo setting changes. for the alert config walkthrough on its own, see setting up TradingView alerts for algo automation.

"can I get TP as a limit order instead of a market order?"

yes — in strategy creation, you can pick market or limit for your TP automation. SL is always a market order; there's no limit option for the SL. limit TPs give you price control but introduce fill risk — if price doesn't trade through your TP level, the order doesn't fill. for the full tradeoff, see execution, slippage, and order types in algo automation.

"I regenerated my webhook but the URL looks the same — is that normal?"

if you changed your broker or account and then clicked regenerate, the URL is still tied to the original strategy. you need a new strategy for the new broker/account — that's what generates a truly new webhook.

"my broker isn't supported — can I still use the alerts?"

yes, but you'll need to execute trades manually. set up TradingView alerts for your entry, TP, and SL levels, and place the trades yourself when the alerts notify you. you get the algo signals without automated execution.

"can I trade manually on the same account the algo is running on?"

yes — just remember the algo only manages its own positions. manual trades sit outside its awareness: it won't apply TP/SL to them, it won't close them, and it won't grow or shrink its own position if you add or trim contracts by hand.

start here:

other spokes:

related concepts: