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How to set a Bitcoin price alert
A Bitcoin price alert is a rule that watches the price and sends you a message when the rule is met. You decide what counts as a move. The alert decides nothing else.
This page explains how to set one up so it tells you what you meant to hear about. It does not suggest a level, a coin, or a trade.
What a price alert is
A price alert is a check on a price that sends a message. It reads the last price of Bitcoin from a market data source, compares it with your rule, and messages you when the rule is met.
It does not place an order. Nothing is traded, and no money moves. If you want an order to run at a price, that is a feature of an exchange account, and it is a different thing from an alert. An alert only tells you that something happened, so you can look.
That makes the rule the important part. A clear rule sends a message you understand at a glance. A vague one sends messages you learn to ignore.
Three ways to define "the price moved"
Alert products tend to offer some version of three rules. They answer different questions, so it helps to pick the question first.
A level: price above or price below
You type a price. The alert fires when the last price goes above it, or below it, depending on the side you picked.
A level answers "tell me when Bitcoin reaches this price." It is the easiest rule to read. It also knows nothing about how fast the price got there. A level far from the current price may stay quiet for a long time. A level close to it may fire on an ordinary wobble.
A percent move inside a window
You pick a percent and a window, such as an hour or a day. The alert fires when the price rises or falls by at least that percent inside the window.
A percent move answers "tell me when Bitcoin moves this much, this fast." It does not care where the price is. It cares how far it went. The window matters as much as the percent. The same percent over an hour and over a day are very different events.
A move that is large for Bitcoin lately
The third rule does not ask you for a percent. It compares the move with how much Bitcoin itself has been moving lately. When Bitcoin has been calm, a smaller move counts. When it has been swinging, a move has to be larger to count.
This answers "tell me when Bitcoin does something unusual for Bitcoin." A good version shows you the percent that counts as unusual today, so you can read the rule rather than trust it. What counts as an unusual move explains the comparisons in more detail.
None of these rules is right for everyone. Pick the one that matches the question you would ask if you were watching the chart yourself.
What happens after a level alert fires
A level alert has a problem the other rules do not. Once the price is above your level, the condition stays true. Without a rule for what happens next, the alert would message you on every check.
A careful level alert re-arms instead. After it fires, it waits until the price moves back past your level. Then it is ready to fire again the next time the price crosses. One crossing gives one message, not a stream of them.
Three other controls keep the volume down on any rule:
- A cooldown is a wait after an alert fires. During the wait, that alert does not send another message.
- Quiet hours pause messages on a schedule in your time zone, such as overnight. The alert is still recorded.
- A daily limit caps how many messages you get in a day. Alerts past the limit are kept, not lost.
They are different controls, and they stack. Cooldowns, quiet hours, and the daily limit explains how each one works and when you might want it.
Where the alert arrives
An alert is only useful if it reaches you. The two common places are your phone and your inbox.
Phone notifications arrive sooner. A web app asks your browser for permission to show notifications. If you block it, allow notifications in the browser settings, or use email. On an iPhone or iPad, add the app to your Home Screen first. In Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Open the app from the new icon, sign in, and turn on phone alerts there.
Email can take longer than a phone notification, but it leaves a record you can search later. Confirm your email address first. Email alerts wait until you do.
Phone notifications work for each browser where you turn them on. If you use a laptop and a phone, turn them on in both.
Check it before you rely on it
An alert you have never seen arrive is an alert you are guessing about. Two checks help before a real move.
Send a test. A test message goes down the same path a real alert would. It is not a market move. It shows that the phone or the inbox is set up. If it does not arrive, check the connection and send it again.
Read the preview. Before you save, a preview can replay your rule over stored prices and mark each time it would have fired. That tells you whether the rule is quiet or noisy before it reaches your phone. The marks are a replay of past prices, not a forecast. What the preview shows before you save walks through it.
If the preview shows the rule firing many times a day, raise the percent, lengthen the window, or add a longer wait. If it never fires, the rule may be asking for something rare. Either can be what you want. The point is to know before you save.
Other places to set one
Exchange apps and charting sites also offer price alerts. An exchange app usually alerts on the price at that exchange, and often sits next to a place to trade. A charting site usually ties alerts to a chart, with many conditions and chart-based timing. Each publishes its own plan limits and alert types. TradingView vs exchange apps vs alert apps compares what each kind of product documents.
FAQ
Does a price alert trade for me?
No. A price alert is a message. It does not place an order, move money, or change anything in an exchange account. What you do after you read it is up to you.
Can I get a Bitcoin price alert by email?
Yes, where the alert product offers email. Turn on email alerts and confirm your address first. Email can arrive later than a phone notification. You can turn on both.
Can I get a Bitcoin price alert on my phone?
Yes. A web app can send phone notifications once you allow them in the browser. On an iPhone or iPad, add the app to your Home Screen first, then turn on notifications from the app opened there.
Is there a free Bitcoin price alert?
Yes. Terminal has a Free plan that includes price alerts. Plans lists what each plan includes and its limits.
How do I set up a Bitcoin price alert that does not message me all day?
Use a rule that re-arms, add a cooldown, and set quiet hours or a daily limit. Then check the preview to see how often the rule would have fired on past prices.
Before you save
Pick the question first: a level, a percent move in a window, or a move that is large for Bitcoin lately. Choose where it arrives, send a test, and read the preview. Terminal offers each of these rules, phone and email delivery, a test send, and the preview. It describes what the price did. It is not investment advice.