How alert conditions work
A plain-language guide to understanding how alerts decide when to notify you — no technical knowledge needed.
How it works — a real example
Let's say you want to be notified when BTC's price rises 5% within 15 minutes. Here's exactly what happens:
- 1 Every minute, the system quietly records the current BTC price.
- 2 When checking your alert, it looks up what the price was exactly 15 minutes ago.
- 3 It calculates: has the price gone up 5% or more since then?
- notifications If yes → your alert fires and you get notified immediately.
Example in numbers
BTC was $60,000 at 2:00 PM. At 2:15 PM it's $63,200.
That's a +5.3% increase — your 5% threshold is crossed → alert fires ✓
If it only reached $62,900 (+4.8%) → no alert. The system waits for the next check.
Two types of conditions
Choose based on what you want to track.
Fixed threshold
"Alert me when the value is above or below a specific number — right now."
The system checks the current live value against your number every time it runs. No time window needed.
Examples:
• BTC price goes above $70,000
• ETH price drops below $2,000
Change over time
"Alert me when the value has risen or fallen by a certain amount within a time window."
The system compares the current value to what it was N minutes/hours ago. You choose the time window.
Examples:
• BTC price rises 5% in the last 15 minutes
• Volume drops by 10,000 in the last hour
All available conditions
Pick the one that matches what you want to detect.
>
Currently above a number
Fires when the live value is strictly greater than your threshold.
Example: notify me when BTC price is above $60,000 — fires the moment it crosses $60,001.
<
Currently below a number
Fires when the live value is strictly less than your threshold.
Example: notify me when BTC price is below $45,000 — fires the moment it drops to $44,999.
>=
Currently at or above a number
Same as >, but also fires when the value is exactly equal to your threshold.
Example: threshold $60,000 — fires at $60,000, $60,001, $61,000, etc.
<=
Currently at or below a number
Same as <, but also fires when the value is exactly equal to your threshold.
Example: threshold $45,000 — fires at $45,000, $44,999, $40,000, etc.
increase
Rose by X% within a time window
Fires when the value has gone up by at least X percent compared to what it was at the start of the chosen time window. You set both the percentage and the time window.
Example: 5% threshold, 15-minute window — BTC was $60,000 fifteen minutes ago, now it's $63,200 (+5.3%) → alert fires.
decrease
Dropped by X% within a time window
The opposite of increase. Fires when the value has fallen by at least X percent within the time window.
Example: 10% threshold, 1-hour window — BTC was $65,000 one hour ago, now it's $58,200 (−10.5%) → alert fires.
increase_by_at_least
Rose by at least X units within a time window
Similar to increase, but measures the change in actual units (not percentage). Useful for things like trading volume where you care about raw numbers, not percentages.
Example: volume threshold 50,000, 30-minute window — volume was 200,000 thirty minutes ago, now it's 255,000 (+55,000) → alert fires.
decrease_by_at_least
Dropped by at least X units within a time window
The opposite of increase_by_at_least. Fires when the value has fallen by at least X units within the time window.
Example: volume threshold 20,000, 15-minute window — volume dropped by 23,000 in the last 15 min → alert fires.
Available time windows
For increase, decrease, increase_by_at_least, and decrease_by_at_least — you must choose one of the following time windows. These are the only options supported.
5 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
4 hours
1 day
info Choosing a window not in this list means the alert will never fire. Always use one of the options above.
Things to watch out for
These are the most common reasons an alert does not fire when expected.
Forgot to pick a time window for a change-based condition
If you use increase, decrease, increase_by_at_least, or decrease_by_at_least without selecting a time window, the system has nothing to compare against — the alert will never fire.
Setting the threshold to 0 or a negative number for a change condition
For increase and decrease, the percentage must be a positive number (e.g. 5 to mean 5%). A value of 0 or below is treated as invalid.
Confusing % change with unit change
increase / decrease work with percentages. increase_by_at_least / decrease_by_at_least work with raw numbers. Setting a value of 5 on increase means "5%", while on increase_by_at_least it means "5 units" — a very different thing.