Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions we hear most. For deeper coverage, every answer links into the full knowledge base.
Which exchanges does HookTrader support?
Live trading runs on Binance, and live Bybit is coming. A paper account can follow Binance or Bybit, with that exchange's prices, fees and contract rules. Today both trade perpetual contracts; more markets follow. New exchanges arrive as a paper venue first, then live, in the order users ask for them.
What is a TradingView webhook and how does HookTrader use it?
A webhook is an HTTP request TradingView sends when one of your alerts fires. HookTrader gives you a unique URL to paste into the alert; when the alert triggers, TradingView posts the alert payload you authored to us and we open, scale, or close a position on your exchange based on your strategy. HookTrader transports your own alert message — it doesn't ingest or redistribute TradingView's market data. Price monitoring, stops, and take-profits run off the exchange's market data.
What do I need on the TradingView side to use HookTrader?
Two things, both required by TradingView: a paid TradingView plan (Essential/Plus/Premium — the free tier can't send webhooks) and two-factor authentication enabled on your TradingView account, which TradingView requires before it will send webhook alerts. You author the alert and paste your HookTrader webhook URL into it. HookTrader is not affiliated with TradingView; you're responsible for keeping your use within your own TradingView plan terms.
How do I connect my Binance account?
Create an API key on Binance with no withdraw permission, then paste the key and secret into HookTrader. Keys are encrypted at rest and the secret is never returned after saving. We strongly recommend using a dedicated sub-account so HookTrader only sees positions it opened itself.
What permissions does HookTrader need on my Binance API key?
Enable Futures trading and Read. Do not enable Withdrawals — HookTrader never needs to move funds off the exchange. If you whitelist IPs on Binance, add HookTrader's outbound IP (shown on the Exchanges page) or trades will be rejected.
Can I start on paper trading before going live?
Yes — with no API keys and no invite. The free plan is paper trading and anyone can create an account. A paper account follows Binance or Bybit, your choice per account: it runs your strategy against that exchange's real prices and fills it internally, so stop-loss, take-profit, and trailing behave as they would live. You can hold a paper account and a live account side by side, so a proven strategy graduates without losing its paper history.
How do stop-loss, take-profit, and trailing stops work?
SL and TP sit on the exchange as real orders, so they fire directly on the exchange. Each TP level can run a list of actions — move SL to break-even, reduce position by a percentage, activate the trail, or close the position. Up to 10 TP levels per strategy.
Why was my trade rejected?
The most common reasons are: insufficient margin (Binance code -2019), notional below the symbol's minimum (-4164 / -1111), API key IP not whitelisted (-2015), or the alert arrived after the stale-alert window. The Live Trades page shows the exact rejection reason the exchange returned. A Bybit paper account returns Bybit's own codes.
Can HookTrader send my trades to Telegram?
Yes. Connect Telegram in Settings, then press Start in the chat with the HookTrader bot. By default it gets what email gets: alerts that failed for a reason you can fix, positions that need you, and exchange-account problems. Switch on Trade activity to hear when a trade opens, hits a target or stop, and closes, with its net P&L. You can set each strategy or exchange account differently.
Are my trades safe if something goes wrong?
Yes. Your stop-loss and take-profit orders sit on the exchange itself, so your open positions stay protected at all times — they fire whether HookTrader is running or not. HookTrader reconnects to your active trades automatically and keeps managing them without any action from you.
How many TP levels can one strategy have?
Up to 10. Each level has its own price target (absolute or percentage) and an ordered list of actions to run when price reaches it. You can also scale into a position by adding a TP-style "add to position" action.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Your strategy lives in TradingView's Pine Script — and you can use one you already have. HookTrader configures the trade plan through a visual designer, not code. Power users can hand-edit the underlying JSON if they want finer control.
Where are my exchange API keys stored?
Encrypted at rest using industry-standard authenticated encryption. The encryption key is stored separately from the database and is never accessible to the public-facing parts of the application. The secret is never returned by any API endpoint after you save it, and you can revoke the key on the exchange at any time — we lose access immediately.
Is HookTrader free?
The Free plan is free, today and after billing launches: create an account and paper-trade on live Binance or Bybit prices with the full execution engine — no card, no invite code. Solo and Pro add live trading. During early access any account can upgrade to Solo from Settings at no cost, and Pro is by invite. Early-access accounts get 30 days' notice and founder pricing before anything is ever charged.
Can I use the free plan with real money?
No — the free plan is paper trading: simulated fills against real Binance or Bybit prices, with the complete execution engine, the dashboard, and the corridor widget, so you can prove your strategy end to end before you pay anything. Connecting a live API key requires Solo or Pro, and two-factor authentication. During early access, upgrade to Solo from Settings at no cost.
When does billing start, and will I be charged automatically?
Not automatically, ever. Early-access accounts get at least 30 days' notice before billing launches, and nothing is charged until you explicitly enter payment details and choose a paid plan. If you do nothing, you move to the free paper-trading plan and keep your keys, strategies and trade history.
Does HookTrader take a cut of my trades or profits?
No. The subscription is a flat monthly or annual price with no per-trade fee and no percentage of profits. Exchange trading fees are paid to the exchange directly, exactly as if you had placed the order yourself.
What happens when I hit a plan limit?
Limits are checked when you add or activate something, never retroactively. At the open-positions cap a new entry alert is rejected and you get a notification; close-side alerts and exits always go through. At the strategy cap you can't activate another until one is paused. Stops and take-profits already resting on the exchange are never touched by a limit.
What happens to my data if I downgrade or cancel?
Nothing is deleted. API keys, strategies, mapping rules and trade history are independent of plan, and open live positions keep their stops and take-profits. Moving to a smaller plan only stops you adding more than it allows until you're back under the cap; upgrading again restores the higher caps immediately.
Do I also need a paid TradingView plan?
Yes, and that's paid to TradingView, not to us. TradingView only sends webhook alerts from its paid plans (Essential and above) with two-factor authentication enabled. HookTrader doesn't use or resell TradingView data, so there's no data subscription on our side.
What about refunds?
Refund terms will be published together with the billing launch, before anyone is charged. Until then there is nothing to refund: the Free plan is free, and Solo and Pro accounts are on the early-access grant.
Do I have to write the alert JSON myself?
Not if you use the Signal Connector, our free TradingView indicator (published there as "Trade Plan Visualizer — SL/TP & Alerts"). It reads the buy and sell plots of the indicator you already use, draws the stop-loss, take-profits, break-even and trailing stop on the chart, and writes the alert JSON itself. You create one TradingView alert with the condition "Any alert() function call" and paste in your webhook URL — nothing goes in the message box. Any other indicator still works: you paste a template or map its alerts by hand.
Is the indicator free, and do I need HookTrader to use it?
It is free to add to any TradingView chart, with protected source, and it is complete on its own: the drawn plan, the backtest and the alerts all work with nothing wired to a webhook. HookTrader is the part that turns those alerts into orders, live on Binance or on a Binance or Bybit paper account. You do need a TradingView account to add it, and TradingView's own paid plans and two-factor rules apply once you want webhook alerts.
Which indicators can it read?
Any script that plots a buy or sell signal — built-ins, your own Pine, or a third-party indicator — as long as it exposes the signal as a plot the connector can select in a source dropdown. Three reading modes cover the usual shapes: Zero-Line Pulse for one-bar markers, Value Change for step or counter plots, and Threshold for level and cross conditions such as RSI over 50 or a close crossing an EMA. The Plot Inspector helps you identify the right plot before wiring it.
Does the indicator repaint or add signals of its own?
It generates no signals: every entry comes from the plot you wire in. By default a signal is acted on only once its bar has closed, so a marker that appears and vanishes mid-bar is ignored. That cannot stop a repainting source indicator from repainting its own history — check the one you wire in, and use the backtest with realistic expectations.
What happens if I change a setting on the chart after going live?
Every entry alert carries a configuration hash, and the same hash is on the chart's data panel and on the Config row of the strategy's Connection panel in HookTrader. When they differ, HookTrader flags the drift on the strategy rather than silently trading a plan you changed. Re-send the config snapshot from the indicator's Test Tools — or wait for its daily automatic one — to bring the strategy back in step.
Why isn't it called HookTrader on TradingView?
Scripts in TradingView's public library are titled for what they draw, not who made them, so ours is listed as "Trade Plan Visualizer — SL/TP & Alerts" under the author HookTrader_. Inside HookTrader and in these docs we call the same script the Signal Connector. HookTrader is not affiliated with TradingView.
Why is it called "Trade on Alert"?
Because that's what it does. Your TradingView alert fires, we trade. Naming is hard.
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