Automate with PickMyTrade

The strategies run on your TradingView chart. Automating them means each order the strategy makes is sent to your broker for you, so you do not have to watch the screen. This guide connects an ICT22 Model or Midas Model strategy to a Tradovate account (including prop firm accounts that run on Tradovate) through PickMyTrade, the service our alert messages are built for. Read the general automation guide first if you have not already.

Rithmic and ProjectX accounts use PickMyTrade's separate service at pickmytrade.io, with its own sign-up and webhook address. This guide covers Tradovate only.

1. Before you start

• A paid TradingView plan with two-factor authentication turned on. Webhook alerts are not available on the free plan.
• Access to the strategy on TradingView, through your AlgoTrader NQGC subscription.
• A Tradovate account, and a demo or evaluation account to test on first. PickMyTrade says Tradovate needs CME market data to place orders; prop firm accounts usually include it, so check with your firm before buying it.
• Your prop firm's current rules on automated trading (see the automation guide, section 6).
• About 20 minutes.

2. Sign up to PickMyTrade

Create an account at app.pickmytrade.trade (the Tradovate service). PickMyTrade offers a free trial. At the time of writing its price is $50 a month or $500 a year for each broker login; several accounts under one Tradovate login are covered by one subscription. Check its pricing page for the current terms.

3. Connect your Tradovate account

1. In the bar at the top of PickMyTrade, choose Demo or Live. This must match where your account lives at Tradovate. Prop firm accounts often run on Tradovate's simulation side and appear under Demo; ours do. If your account does not appear after connecting, try the other setting.
2. Click Connect Tradovate and sign in on Tradovate's own page. When it works, the button shows Connected.

4. Copy your account name, token and webhook URL

Our strategies write the order messages themselves, so you do not need to build an alert code in PickMyTrade. You only need three things from it. Paste each one somewhere safe for the next step.

Account name

Open Connected Accounts. On the row of the account you want to trade, click …, then Copy Account Name. Use the name, not the Account ID: the name is what our messages send.

Token and webhook URL

Open Generate Alert Code. At the top right, click Copy next to the key icon to copy your token, then click Webhook to copy the webhook URL. For Tradovate it should be https://api.pickmytrade.trade/v2/add-trade-data-latest.

5. Fill in the strategy's Automation settings

On TradingView, open a 1-minute chart of the strategy's market with the strategy on it. Open its settings (the gear next to its name), choose Inputs and scroll to the Automation group:

• Tick Enable webhook alerts.
• Symbol sent in alerts (ICT22) or Symbol sent to PickMyTrade (Midas): the same contract as your chart. Leave the default MNQ1! (ICT22) or MGC1! (Midas) on a micro chart. To trade full-size, put the strategy on an NQ1! or GC1! chart and send that symbol. A full-size contract is ten times a micro, so a symbol that does not match the chart changes your risk tenfold, and ICT22 works out its number of contracts from the chart's contract.
• PickMyTrade token: paste your token.
• Broker account ID (ICT22) or PickMyTrade account ID (Midas): paste the account name you copied. The setting is labelled "account ID", but PickMyTrade expects the account name here.
• Leave the other Automation settings at their defaults until you have tested them on demo. Each one has an ⓘ note that explains it.

Click Ok. Your token and account stay in your own TradingView settings and are never sent to us.

6. Create the TradingView alert

1. Click Alert in the top toolbar.
2. Condition: choose the strategy (its name followed by its settings).
3. In the box under it, change the default "Order fills and alert() function calls" to "alert() function calls only". This matters: the strategy's own messages carry the limit price, stop and target, and the other choices would send different or extra messages.
4. Expiration: Open-ended.
5. Message: leave it as it is. The strategy writes its own messages.

6. Click Notifications. Tick Webhook URL and paste the webhook URL.
7. Make sure Notification schedule is 24/7. A schedule mutes the webhook outside its hours too, and orders are lost without any error.
8. Click Apply, then Create.

Create one alert per strategy and account. TradingView may show an orange warning that the alert "may function differently than expected" because it is based on a strategy. That is one more reason to test on demo and compare, as in the next step.

7. Test on a demo account

• Run it on a demo or evaluation account first, for at least a few trades.
• Watch PickMyTrade's Alerts Log. Each message from TradingView appears there with its result. An entry shows as a Limit order placed when the setup forms, before price reaches it; a close shows as Position Closed. Our strategies send limit entries only, so a market entry in the log suggests the alert is not set up as in step 6, or another alert is sending to the same account.
• Compare each one with your Tradovate orders and with the strategy's List of trades on TradingView. If something is missing, check TradingView's alert log first, then PickMyTrade's, then Tradovate's.

8. Keep it running

These are the problems we have run into ourselves, plus the ones PickMyTrade documents. None of them shows an error on your chart.

• An alert keeps the script version and settings it was created with. When we announce an update, or you change a setting, delete the old alert first, then create a new one. Two live alerts send two sets of orders.
• New account number, new alert. When an evaluation becomes a funded account, the account name changes. Update it in the settings and re-create the alert, or orders go to the old account.
• Contract roll weeks. PickMyTrade's documentation says it moves continuous symbols to the next contract a few days before expiry, which can be before TradingView's MNQ1! or MGC1! chart does. We have seen this place a stop and target about 300 points from where they should be. Pause automation in roll week until the chart and PickMyTrade are on the same contract. PickMyTrade does not roll open positions for you.
• Keep the notification schedule at 24/7 (step 6).
• Tradovate connection. If the connection drops, orders are refused until you reconnect in PickMyTrade. Check the Alerts Log for errors each day.
• Order expiry. Entries carry an expiry so an unfilled order can be removed. PickMyTrade reports that Tradovate has confirmed time-based expiry may not always work, so check for leftover working orders after the session.
• Request limits. Tradovate can block a burst of orders for up to an hour ("Too Many Requests"). An alert sent to several accounts counts once for each account.
• Your broker is the record. Check your Tradovate orders and positions every day, not just the chart.

Our responsibility

We provide the strategies and their alert messages. We do not operate or control PickMyTrade, Tradovate or any prop firm, and we are not responsible for how they receive or execute orders. You are responsible for setting up, testing and monitoring your own automation. See section 5 of our Terms of Service.

Questions about the strategy settings? Email support@algotradernqgc.com. For PickMyTrade or Tradovate set-up, please contact them directly.