Alerts: Price Alerts

Price alerts can be entered for any symbol.  An alert is triggered when the price of a symbol moves above or below a specified alert price level.  Many symbols can be monitored at the same time by setting alerts on each symbol.  Price break-outs on any of the symbols will trigger an alert.

Alerts can be set on the Last price, Bid price, Ask price, Tick Volume, and Total Volume.  To enter or view an alert, click the Alerts button from the main button bar, or select File | Open | Alerts from the menu.  The Alerts window displays a Log tab and a List tab.  Click the Log tab to view the Alerts Log. 

The Alerts Log displays a list of the last 500 alerts that have been triggered.  Use the vertical scroll bar to scroll up and down through the list.  Each entry in the list shows the Symbol, time of the alert occurrence, the alert price, and the alert type. Click the Clear button to clear the list.  The list will rebuild as new alerts are triggered.  The Alerts Log is not saved when the program is exited.  Two check boxes are included on the Alerts Log screen that control the number of audible sound Alerts and the number of Alert entries allowed in the Log.  Place a check in the ‘Log 1st Price’ check box to limit the Alert Log to list only the first occurrence of a Price alert in the log.  Place a check in the ‘Log 1st Block’ check box to limit the Alert Log to list only the first occurrence of a Tick Volume (block trade) alert in the log.  Place a check in the ‘Beep only 1st’ check box to limit any alert sound to just the first alert occurrence for each specific alert.  Both of these check boxes are intended to limit the Log and the Sounds associated with alerts to just the first alert occurrence, instead of for continual alert occurrences. Place a check in the 'Show Log' check box to cause the Alerts window to automatically open when an alert is triggered.

Adding and Editing Alerts
Click the List tab to view a list of the current alerts.  Click the Add button to enter a new alert.  An entry window will prompt for a new symbol.  Type a symbol and then press Enter.  The symbol will then be added to the alert list box. Enter alert prices in the Last, Bid, Ask, Tick Volume, and Daily Volume entry boxes as needed.

Two alert prices can be entered for the Last, Bid, and Ask prices.  The first alert price tests for prices that are greater than or equal (>=) to the entered alert price. The second alert price tests for prices that are less than or equal (<=) to the entered alert price.  An alert for Tick Volume or Daily Volume will trigger if the symbol's volume is greater than or equal to the entered alert price.

To edit the price of an existing alert, select the symbol from the list box. The alert prices for that symbol will be displayed in the entry boxes.  Change the alert prices and then click OK.

Removing Alerts
To remove an alert, select the symbol from the alerts list box and then click on the Delete button. To remove the price alerts for all the symbols in the list box, click on the All button.

Alert Message
Click the Message check box to disable or enable the Alert Message feature. If enabled, an Alert Message will appear in the Ensign Windows title bar when an alert has been triggered. The message will include the symbol and alert price.

Alert Sounds and Beeps
Several options are available for making sounds when a price alert is triggered. Select Silent to request no alert sounds. Select Beep to hear a simple beep when a price alert occurs. Select WAV to play a Windows .WAV sound file when a price alert occurs.

Use the Browse buttons to locate and select a .WAV file on the computer to be played for the High and Low alerts. If desired, a customized .WAV file can be recorded and saved to the computer for each alert type. If a .WAV file is not specified, then the Windows 'Default' sound will play when an alert is triggered. Or, if all else fails it will beep.

High alerts and Volume alerts will play the .WAV file shown in the >= entry box.
Low alerts will play the .WAV file shown in the <= entry box.

Note: The Price Alert Sound options also apply to 'Line Alerts'. For example, if a line is drawn on a chart, and the line is set to an 'Alarmed' state, then a sound will play if an alert is triggered on the line. If Silent is selected, then no sound will occur.

Setting Alerts from a Quote Page
High and Low Alerts can be set from any Quote page window.  The price for the alert has to be a current price shown on the quote page.  You cannot specify a specific price.  For example, to set a High Alert, click on the ‘High’ price field for a particular symbol, and then right click the mouse. Select Alerts from the pop-up menu.  Then select from Set High, Set Low, Remove All, Remove High, or Remove Low.  Select Set High to create a High Alert for the symbol using the current High of the day. The new high alert will be posted into the Alert List and Alert Log.  Alerts can be set and removed in this manner directly from any quote page window.  Remember to click on a price field in the quote page before setting the alert. The price field that was selected will be used as the price for the alert.

Viewing Charts from the Alerts Window
The Alerts Log and Alerts List contain listings of all the current alerts.  To display the default time frame chart for any symbol in these lists, simple double-click any alert symbol. The chart will then be displayed.  This allows you to scan the Alerts Log and Alerts List for symbols that are triggering alerts, and then conveniently display the chart for any symbol.  Charts can be opened in different time frames by selecting an alert symbol, and then clicking the T time frames button. Select a time frame to open the desired chart.

Setting an Alert from a Chart
To set a price alert directly on a chart, move the chart cursor to the desired price level and then press Ctrl-A on the keyboard, or right-click the mouse and select Alerts | Set from the pop-up menu.  An alert line will appear on the right edge of the chart.

One alert can be set above the current price, and one alert below the current price. The color of the alert line will match the font color of the chart.  To remove a High price alert from a chart, select Alerts | Remove High from the pop-up menu.  To remove a Low price alert from a chart, select Alerts | Remove Low from the pop-up menu.  To remove all price alerts from a chart, press Ctrl-R on the keyboard, or select Alerts | Remove All from the pop-up menu.  The chart price alerts will be included in the 'Alerts' list for Ensign Windows.  This list can be viewed by clicking the Alerts button from the main button bar.