Using IG alerts to identify trading opportunities
Entry posted by JamesIG
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The IG web trading platform has several alert functions which can be used to notify you of potential trading opportunities and market volatility.
We have different alerts for all types of traders, from the technical analyst to the long-term investor. Before we get into the different alert types it’s worth making sure your Notification Preferences on MyIG are set up correctly and notifications are turned on within your mobile settings area. The blog article on the right may be of help if you would like a walk through of turning on notifications.
Setting up Price Change alerts
A Price Change alert will notify you of either a percentage move or a points-based movement over a set time frame. These alerts are great for applying to assets in your open positions window, as well as markets you are looking to trade on.
- Percentage or points-based movement
- Variable time frame of 5 minutes, 1 hour or 1 day
- Add a message if you wish
- These will continually trigger until you remove them from the ‘Alerts’ fly out on the left-hand side. Therefore, if you set up an alert to be notified if Spot Gold moves by 1% in a day, and there are three days’ worth of 1% movements back to back, you’ll be alerted for each of these moves.
Price Change alert ideas
- Set up a Price Change alert for a 2% move in a day for a major index such as the S&P or Wall Street. This sort of move in a single day would probably suggest a key market event has happened.
- Set up a Price Change alert for an x% move in a stock you have on your watch list. Maybe a significant move would present a swing trade opportunity.
Setting up Price Level alerts
A Price Level alert will notify you when a specific price point has been breached by the market. You can be notified if either the buy or sell price passes your desired threshold.
- Be alerted to a specific price movement, e.g. If the buy price of gold reaches 1290
- Add a short message if you wish
- These are only triggered once
Price Level alert ideas
- Set a Price Level alert on the VIX Volatility Index if the price reaches 17, 20, and 25. A VIX movement above 20 generally suggests market volatility and potentially opportunity to trade. Historically the median of the VIX is around 17, and anything below this suggests markets are likely to be a little flat.
- Setting up support and resistance levels but want to re-evaluate the markets when those price points are reached? Use a Price Level alert.
Setting up Indicator alerts
You can set up indicator alerts from the dealing platform under the alerts tab. You need to pick a resolution and price for the alert to look at, and then you can start adding indicators.
- Use indicator alerts to be notified of your criteria being hit from your technical analysis
- Choose to be alerted once, or multiple times
- Add up to 4 indicators from a choice of 11 to the same alert
- Add indicators on the charts by right clicking to get a rough idea of when/if your alert will trigger.
Indicator alert ideas
These alerts can be as simple or as complicated as you like. You can find a lot of information on technical analysis on IG.com, YouTube, or by searching for strategies related to ‘x’ indicator. For example;
- A crossover strategy: when two moving averages cross, for example the short term 50 MA moving above the 200 MA, it may indicate an upward price trend.
Setting up macroeconomic alerts from the Economic Calendar
You can access IGs Economic Calendar from within the dealing platform down the left hand fly out. Once the calendar has opened in a new tab select the date and use the ‘check’ tick column if you want to be notified about an event. Clicking the cog at the top of the column allows you to set the specific notification preferences for these alerts (for example, notify before or after the event, and how you want to be notified).
Try it out by searching for the next Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) figure and set the alert to be notified 15 minutes before the event, as well as on the event. You should receive a notification with expectations, along with the actual results afterwards.
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