Most stock price alerts are locked behind something: a brokerage account you have to fund, a mobile app you have to install, or a paid tier that unlocks "more than 3 active alerts." If you just want an email when NVDA crosses a level, that's a lot of friction for a very small ask.
Here's how to do it in about two minutes, for free, without any of that.
Why email still wins for stock alerts
Push notifications on a broker app compete with earnings news, promos, and "your watchlist is up today." They get muted within a week. Email doesn't — it lands in the same inbox you already check, it's searchable months later, and it works on any device without installing anything. If you prefer something faster, Telegram works the same way and arrives in seconds.
There's a quieter problem too: broker alerts often stop firing after an app update or a session expiry, and nobody tells you. You find out when you check the chart and the move already happened.
One price is not an alert
"Alert me when TSLA hits $400" gives you a number, not a decision. What's actually useful is a condition — the combination that means your plan is live.
IF NVDA > 210 OR SPY < 620 → notify me
That's a market-tone alert. Either leg means the same thing to you: the setup you've been waiting on is in play, go look.
IF AAPL < 220 AND SPY < 620 → notify me
That's a confirmation alert. It only fires when Apple is weak and the broad market is weak — not on a single-stock wobble. Set that as two separate price alerts and you'll be pinged constantly for nothing.
Setting it up
- Go to doneroad.com and create a free account — no card, no download, no broker link.
- Pick your ticker. Stocks, crypto, forex, gold and oil are all in there.
- Add your first condition: price above or below your level.
- Add a second condition with AND or OR if your setup needs one.
- Read the plain-English preview — it tells you in one sentence exactly when the alert will fire, so you catch a backwards
<before it costs you. - Choose email, Telegram, or both. Save.
The alert then runs server-side. Nothing to keep open, nothing to restart, nothing that dies when you log out.
Picking levels worth an email
Avoid round numbers — everyone's watching $100 and $500, and price pokes through them constantly. Use the price where you'd actually do something: where you'd add, where you'd trim, or where your thesis is simply wrong. Quick test: if you can't answer "what do I do if this fires?" in one sentence, don't set it. Most people track twenty levels and act on three.
The point is closing the tab
Alerts aren't there to make you trade more. They're there so you can stop refreshing a chart for a move that might not come until next month. Write the condition once and let your inbox tell you when it's your turn.
DoneRoad is free while in beta — stocks, crypto, forex, gold and oil, unlimited alerts, delivered by email and Telegram. Set up your first alert →
