Manual Alerts vs Pine Script Alerts: Key Differences

21 June 1, 2025 June 1, 2025

TradingView allows you to automate alerts in two main ways:

Manual Alerts(Without Pinescript) – Created using TradingView’s UI (no coding)
Pine Script Alerts – Triggered by strategy or indicator scripts

Both types can integrate with Xerolite via webhook, but they differ in flexibility, complexity, and how alert messages are constructed.

🧩 Key Differences

Feature	Manual Alert	Pine Script Alert
Created via	TradingView UI	Script (e.g., strategy.entry)
Needs coding?	❌ No	✅ Yes
Webhook support	✅	✅
Placeholders	✅ Some (e.g. `{{close}}`)	✅ Full support (e.g. `{{strategy.order.price}}`)
Custom logic	❌ Limited	✅ Fully programmable
Alert reuse	❌ Must create multiple alerts	✅ One strategy, multiple alerts
Best for	Simple price-based alerts	Advanced automation

Manual vs Pine Script Alerts

💬 Alert Message Format Comparison

When integrating with Xerolite, alerts must send a valid JSON message to the webhook URL. Below is how the JSON is written in each method:

📦 Manual Alert Example (Hardcoded)

{
  "action": "BUY",
  "symbol": "AAPL",
  "qty": "10",
  "order_type": "MARKET",
  "currency": "USD",
  "asset_class": "STOCK",
  "exch": "SMART"
}

Manual alerts require you to hardcode every field. If you want to change quantity, symbol, or order type, you need to edit each alert individually.

⚙️ Pine Script Alert Example (Using Placeholders)

{
  "action": "{{strategy.order.action}}",
  "symbol": "AAPL",
  "qty": "{{strategy.order.contracts}}",
  "order_type": "MKT",
  "currency": "{{syminfo.currency}}",
  "asset_class": "STOCK",
  "exch": "SMART"
}

This format allows dynamic values to be filled in at runtime by TradingView, based on your Pine Script strategy. You write the alert once and reuse it across multiple conditions.

💡 Tip: Avoid using {{ticker}} because it may not match Interactive Brokers’ symbol format. Instead, use fixed symbols and define symbol, asset_class, and exch manually, or generate alerts using the Xerolite Smart Alert Builder.

✅ Pros & Cons Summary

🖱️ Manual Alerts

✅ Simple setup, no coding needed
✅ Good for price alerts or static trades
❌ Limited to fixed logic
❌ No access to real-time trade values
❌ Must create one alert per action (e.g. buy/sell)

💻 Pine Script Alerts

✅ Full control via script logic
✅ Use placeholders for dynamic values
✅ Fewer alerts needed (one script = multiple trades)
❌ Requires coding knowledge
❌ May take time to debug properly

🛠️ Generate Alerts with Smart Alert Builder

To avoid JSON formatting mistakes and ensure broker compatibility, use the Xerolite Smart Alert Builder in Xerolite. It supports both static and placeholder-based messages.

Xerolite Smart Alert Builder – helps build valid webhook messages

👉 View Alert Request Builder User Manual

👉 View supported fields & placeholders

Knowledge Base