🛡️
SENTINEL
GETTING STARTED GUIDE
Back to Dashboard →
HOW TO USE SENTINEL

Your complete guide to autonomous trading

Everything you need to set up signals, read your dashboard, and learn from every trade — no experience required.

01

🛡️Welcome to SENTINEL

SENTINEL is an autonomous trading engine that watches the markets for you, executes paper trades based on proven strategies, and explains every single decision in plain English. You don't need trading experience to start — you need curiosity and the willingness to learn from every trade.

02

📡How Signals Work

Here's the full journey of a signal, from your chart to your dashboard:

TradingView Alert
Your strategy condition fires
Make.com Webhook
Relays the alert payload
SENTINEL Bot
Checks: armed? risk OK? strategy active?
Paper Trade Executed
Position opened on virtual account
AI Brief Generated
Claude explains the trade
Dashboard + Telegram Alert
You see it instantly

When SENTINEL is ARMED (green dot), it's watching for signals. When DISARMED (red dot), signals are ignored. Always start in PAPER mode — zero real money, full learning experience.

03

🔧Setting Up Your Signals

Connect TradingView alerts to SENTINEL in eight steps:

  1. 1Create a free TradingView account at tradingview.com
  2. 2Open any chart (start with SPY or EUR/USD)
  3. 3Add the strategy you want to test using the Indicators menu
  4. 4Click the alert bell icon → Create Alert
  5. 5Set "Alert Action" to "Webhook URL"
  6. 6Paste your SENTINEL webhook URL: https://tradewithsentinel.com/api/signal
  7. 7In the alert message box, paste this JSON template:
  8. 8Click "Create" — SENTINEL will now receive this alert automatically
{
"secret": "YOUR_WEBHOOK_SECRET",
"ticker": "{{ticker}}",
"market": "forex",
"direction": "long",
"strategy": "trend_following",
"entry_price": {{close}},
"stop_loss": {{close}} * 0.99,
"take_profit": {{close}} * 1.02,
"timeframe": "{{interval}}",
"confluence": {}
}

Note: Change "market" to "stocks", "options", or "forex" depending on what you're trading. Change "direction" to "long" or "short".

04

📊Understanding Your Dashboard

THE TOP METRICS BAR
  • BALANCE: Your virtual account starting at $25,000
  • SESSION P&L: How much you've made or lost today
  • WIN RATE: % of trades that were profitable
  • POSITIONS: Number of trades currently open
THE TRADES TAB

Every trade SENTINEL takes appears here with full details. Click AI BRIEF on any trade to see exactly why SENTINEL took it — entry logic, risk calculation, what could invalidate the setup, and a Key Lesson for you to learn from.

THE CHART TAB

View any market with professional tools:

  • Switch between Candlestick, Line, and Bar charts
  • Choose from 7 timeframes: 1m to 1W
  • Add indicators: EMA, RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands
  • Draw support/resistance levels and Fibonacci retracements
  • Run a strategy backtest to see historical performance
THE STRATEGIES TAB

Toggle individual strategies on or off. Active strategies (amber toggle) will execute trades when signals fire. Start with Trend Following and Breakout for Forex. Add Credit Spread and Iron Condor when you understand options.

THE LEARN TAB

Your progression path. Every 10 paper trades unlocks a new level. Complete 50 paper trades with a consistent win rate to unlock live trading (requires admin approval).

05

💰Paper vs Live Trading

PAPER TRADING — WHERE YOU START
  • Uses $25,000 virtual money — zero real money at risk
  • All trade logic, AI briefs, and signals work exactly the same
  • Purpose: learn the platform and prove your strategy works
GOING LIVE
  • Complete 50+ paper trades
  • Maintain a win rate above 50%
  • Get admin approval
  • The toggle switches from PAPER to LIVE
  • Real money executes through your connected broker (OANDA for Forex, Tradier for stocks and options)
06

🔒Circuit Breaker & Risk Management

SENTINEL has a built-in circuit breaker that protects your account. If you lose 3 trades in a row, the bot automatically DISARMS. This prevents a bad strategy or market condition from wiping your account while you're not watching.

To reset: go to your dashboard and click RESET CIRCUIT BREAKER. Before resetting, review what happened on the 3 trades. The bot stopped for a reason.

Max risk per trade is locked at 1.5% of your account. On a $25,000 account, that's $375 maximum per trade. You can lower this — you cannot raise it above 2%.

Ready to start?

Head back to your dashboard and arm the bot to begin paper trading.

Go to Dashboard →