What the Alert System Does
The alert system is a Discord bot that validates trade alerts posted in real time. When you post a correctly formatted alert at the moment you enter a trade, the bot captures the live price, records the trade against your account, and starts tracking your performance. That validated record is what feeds the monthly competition scoring, your personal P&L stats, and the leaderboard. It also makes your trades visible to the community in real time, which is where the accountability and learning value comes from.
There are two reasons to use it consistently. First, accountability - when your trades are posted with timestamps and live prices, you build an honest record of your process, not a curated highlight reel. Second, competition eligibility - only bot-validated alerts count toward your performance score in the monthly competition, so trades you do not post simply do not count.
Alert Format in Detail
The format is strict because the bot needs to parse each field to validate and record the trade. Any variation from the expected pattern will cause the bot to ignore the message. Copy these exactly.
Options - Buy to Open:
BTO [quantity] [symbol] [strike][C/P] [expiration] @ [price]
Example: BTO 10 TSLA 435C 01/30 @ 1.15
Options - Sell to Close:
STC [quantity] [symbol] [strike][C/P] [expiration] @ [price]
Example: STC 10 TSLA 435C 01/30 @ 2.33
Options - Sell to Open (short):
STO [quantity] [symbol] [strike][C/P] [expiration] @ [price]
Options - Buy to Close (cover short):
BTC [quantity] [symbol] [strike][C/P] [expiration] @ [price]
Futures:
BTO/STC [quantity] [symbol] @ [price]
Example: BTO 2 /ES @ 5850.00
The four action codes are BTO, STC, STO, and BTC. Every options alert needs all fields: action, quantity, symbol, strike with direction (C for call, P for put), expiration, and price. Futures alerts need action, quantity, symbol, and price.
Timing and Validation
Post the alert at the moment you enter the trade. The bot validates the price you report against the live tape at the time of posting. If you post more than 30 seconds after entering, the live price may have moved enough that the bot cannot confirm a match, and the alert will not be validated.
When the bot reacts to your message (with an emoji acknowledgment), your trade is recorded. No reaction means one of three things: the format was not parsed correctly, the price did not match within tolerance, or you posted too late. If this happens, double-check the format against the examples above, confirm your expiration format, and try again on your next trade.
Only closed trades count toward your P&L score in the competition. A BTO with no matching STC is an open position - it does not count until you post the closing alert. Make sure to post both legs.
Setting Up Notifications and Following Traders
The Discord has a channel called enable-alert-dm where you can activate direct message notifications from the bot. Once that is enabled, you can use the !follow @trader command to subscribe to a specific member's alerts. Every time they post an alert, you receive a DM instantly.
This is useful if you have identified traders in the community whose style and timeframe match yours. Following two or three traders you respect gives you a real-time view of how they construct and size their trades, which is often more instructive than reading about setups after the fact.
Start with traders who post their reasoning alongside their alerts in Trade Analysis - they tend to be the ones who explain why they entered, not just what they bought.
In-App and Discord Sharing
Alerts can be shared both within the Discord and through the Trade Echo platform's Social Feed. When you share a setup via Cortex, it produces a share link you can post in Discord or elsewhere - this is share-links only, not a marketplace. The Discord alert bot and the in-app Social Feed work independently but complement each other: the bot tracks validated performance, while the Social Feed lets you share charts, analysis, and context directly from the platform.
What Gets Tracked
The bot tracks your win rate, P&L percentage, trade count, and average gain/loss across all your validated closed trades for the month. These stats are visible to you and factor into the Performance component of the monthly competition scoring (which accounts for 25% of your total score). The other 65% comes from community voting on your trade quality and contributions, and 10% from chat participation - so the alert system is one input into a broader picture, not the only thing that matters.
To understand how your alert history translates into competition standing, see the Discord server guide for the full channel and community context, and the OptionFlow quick-start for using live flow data to find the trades worth posting.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Posting the alert minutes after entering - the price will not match
- Missing the expiration field or using the wrong format for it
- Forgetting to post the closing STC/BTC alert - the trade stays open and does not count toward P&L
- Using wrong action codes - STO and BTC are for short positions, not for regular options exits
- Posting in the wrong channel - alerts must go in the Member Alerts channel
Related: Discord Server Guide - OptionFlow Quick Start