How to Automate TradingView with TradersPost

TradingView is a charting and alerting platform — on its own, it can't touch your broker account. TradersPost fills that gap: it listens for a TradingView webhook alert, translates it into a broker order, and routes it to Tradovate, Rithmic, NinjaTrader, MT4/MT5, or Alpaca. Below is the full setup, plus the JSON alert format a Pine Script strategy needs to emit. If your account is on NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate, the last section covers CrossTrade, the automation platform we recommend.

Step 1: Create a TradersPost account

Create an account on the TradersPost website. Their entry-level paid plan covers one broker connection and unlimited strategies — enough for a single prop firm evaluation. Check the current plans on their pricing page, since tiers and promotions change.

Step 2: Connect your prop firm's broker

Under Brokers → New, add the connection that matches your prop firm:

• Apex / Topstep / MyFundedFutures — Tradovate or Rithmic
• FTMO — MetaTrader 5 or cTrader
• Forex-focused funded programs — MetaTrader 5

Tradovate connects through an OAuth flow; Rithmic uses a login and password. Either way the connection is read/write — TradersPost can place orders, see fills, and read account state.

Step 3: Create a strategy in TradersPost

Under Strategy → New, map the strategy to:

• Symbol — e.g. MNQ for Tradovate, or the equivalent CFD symbol for MT5
• Quantity — contracts per signal
• Bracket / OCO — turn this on so a stop and target fire as a single linked order group

TradersPost generates a unique webhook URL for the strategy in the form https://webhooks.traderspost.io/trading/webhook/<uuid>/<token>. Save it.

Step 4: Wire the alert in TradingView

Add the Pine Script to a chart, then right-click → Add Alert. In the alert dialog:

1. Set Condition to the strategy, firing on "Order fills only" rather than "Once per bar close"
2. Paste the TradersPost webhook URL into the Webhook URL field
3. Set the Message body to the strategy's JSON payload

The JSON payload

TradersPost expects a specific alert message shape. A typical Pine Script strategy alert looks like this:

{
  "ticker": "{{ticker}}",
  "action": "{{strategy.order.action}}",
  "quantity": {{strategy.position_size}},
  "price": {{close}},
  "sentiment": "{{strategy.market_position}}"
}

Every Target Filled Pro strategy ships with a CrossTrade-ready alert message built in. If your account is on NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate, see the CrossTrade route below.

Step 5: Paper-test before connecting a live evaluation

TradersPost includes a paper-trading environment. Run the strategy there for at least 5 sessions and confirm:

• Entries fire near the price the script signaled, within reasonable slippage
• Stops and targets are placed correctly as a bracket order
• No duplicate orders fire from a single bar

Step 6: Connect to the live evaluation account

Once paper trading looks clean, point the strategy's broker target at the live evaluation account inside TradersPost. Start with the smallest viable contract size on day one and watch the first several fills manually before leaving it unattended.

Common gotchas

• Symbol mismatch. TradingView's continuous contract symbol (e.g. MNQ1!) isn't the same string your broker expects (e.g. a specific front-month code) — TradersPost handles the mapping, but double-check the strategy's symbol field after every rollover.
• Time zone. A Pine Script session filter and the broker connection both need to agree on the same time zone — America/New_York is standard for US futures.
• TradingView plan tier. Webhook alerts require a paid TradingView plan; the free tier can't fire them.

On NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate? Automate with CrossTrade

If your prop firm account runs on NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate, CrossTrade is the automation platform we recommend, and every Target Filled Pro strategy ships with CrossTrade-ready alert messages. It takes the same kind of TradingView webhook alert and places the order on your account:

• NinjaTrader 8 connects through the CrossTrade desktop add-on.
• Tradovate connects in the cloud, with nothing to install.
• Account Manager sets a max daily loss, max daily profit, and trailing drawdown per account. When one is hit, CrossTrade flattens positions and locks the account, and it can also flatten on a schedule at end of day. On NinjaTrader, these limits only run while NinjaTrader and the CrossTrade add-on are running.
• Multiple accounts: one alert can place on several accounts, and the trade copier mirrors trades across accounts.

The alert message uses CrossTrade's key-and-value format instead of JSON. Swap in your own secret key and the account name you want to trade (sim101 is NinjaTrader's simulation account, a sensible first target):

key=your-secret-key;
command=place;
account=sim101;
instrument=ES1!;
action={{strategy.order.action}};
qty={{strategy.order.contracts}};
order_type=market;
tif=day;

Paste your own CrossTrade webhook URL into the alert's Webhook URL field, the same way as Step 4, and keep the alert firing on order fills. Webhook alerts need a paid TradingView plan on either route. Before automating a prop firm account, check the firm's current automation rules.

Automate NinjaTrader with CrossTrade →
Automate Tradovate with CrossTrade →