Telegram alerts when an Agent goes quiet

Silence is the alert that matters

Most traders watch for losses. The problem that costs more is often the one that makes no noise: Windows restarts for an update, the VPS runs out of memory, the broker logs the terminal out, or the internet drops. Your EA stops, its open trades are left without anyone looking after them, and you find out days later.

An Agent that stops reporting is the clearest sign that something like this has happened. It does not tell you what went wrong, but it tells you to go and look, while it still matters.

What you are told

• Agent silent. An account's Agent has sent nothing for longer than you allow, 5 minutes unless you change it. The message names the account and how long it has been quiet.
• Agent back. It is reporting again, and for how long it was silent.
• Portfolio drawdown. Your whole portfolio has fallen past your drawdown level, measured on NAV per unit from its peak, so deposits and withdrawals do not trigger it. You are told again once it has recovered well above that line, so a portfolio hovering around it does not send a message every minute.
• Kill commands and Guard. Every kill you send, with the IP address it came from, what the Agent did with it, and any time Guard acts or would have acted in dry run.
• Your Quantrivance account. Security events, such as a password reset.

Each event is sent once, and again when it returns to normal. Alerts are also shown on the Portfolio page, whether you link Telegram or not.

Linking Telegram

You never type a phone number or a chat ID. The link is made from inside Telegram:

1. In the app, open Settings → Alerts (Telegram) and press Link Telegram.
2. Open the link in Telegram from the chat that should get alerts: your private chat with the bot (press Start), or a group (add the bot, then choose the group). A group is handy if a partner should see the alerts too.
3. Back on the page, press the button that checks the link, then send a test message.

The link works once, within 15 minutes. To move alerts to another chat, link again from that chat.

Choosing your thresholds

Silence. The Agent reports once a minute, so a silence threshold of a few minutes catches a real stop without crying wolf over one missed report. You can choose from 3 minutes to a whole day. The default of 5 minutes suits most people; raise it if your VPS's connection drops briefly and often.

Drawdown. This one depends on your strategies. A useful rule: set it below the drawdown at which you would act. If you know you would pause your EAs at 15%, an alert at 10% gives you time to think instead of react. Leave the field empty if you do not want this alert. It starts at 10%.

An alert is a call to look, not a stop. If you want the account stopped automatically at a limit, that is Guard's job.

This post is for education and is not investment advice. Examples use made-up figures, not anyone’s results. Trading carries risk.