Signals

Signals are trading intentions that can be reviewed and processed into orders. They enable automation, flexibility, and clear audit trails.

Why Use Signals?

1. Automation - Receive signals from TradingView, custom scripts, or other systems
2. Review First - Create signals, verify them, then execute
3. Flexible Sizing - Specify shares, percentage of equity, or dollar amounts
4. Strategy Tracking - Link signals to strategies for performance analysis
5. Scheduled Execution - Queue signals for future times

Signal Actions

Signals use four explicit actions that combine direction and intent:

Action	Description	Resulting Order
openLong	Open a long position	Buy
closeLong	Close a long position	Sell
openShort	Open a short position	Sell (short)
closeShort	Close a short position	Buy (cover)

Why Not Just "Buy" and "Sell"?

"Buy" is ambiguous - it could mean opening a long OR closing a short. Signal actions make your intent explicit, reducing errors.

Creating Signals

Manual Creation

1. Navigate to Signals in the menu
2. Click New Signal
3. Fill in the details:

Field	Description
Account	Which trading account
Symbol	Ticker symbol (e.g., AAPL)
Action	openLong, closeLong, openShort, closeShort
Quantity Type	How to interpret the quantity
Quantity	Amount based on quantity type
Strategy	Optional - for performance tracking
Limit Price	Optional - for limit orders
Stop Price	Optional - for stop orders

4. Click Save
5. Signal enters "Pending" status

Quantity Types

Type	Quantity Meaning	Example
Fixed	Number of shares	100 = buy 100 shares
Percent Equity	% of account equity	5 = invest 5% of equity
Dollar Amount	Dollar value to invest	1000 = invest $1000

Percentage and dollar quantities are calculated at processing time using current prices and account equity.

Processing Signals

Converting a signal to an order:

Single Signal

1. Find the signal in the Signals table
2. Click Process
3. Order is created and sent to broker
4. Signal status changes to "Executed"

Batch Processing

1. Select multiple pending signals (checkboxes)
2. Click Process Selected
3. All signals convert to orders

Signal Statuses

Status	Meaning
Pending	Created, awaiting processing
Processing	Currently being converted to order
Executed	Successfully converted to order
Rejected	Failed validation
Cancelled	Manually cancelled
Expired	Passed its validUntil time

Webhook Integration

For automated trading, signals can be received via HTTP webhook.

Setup

1. Go to Settings > API Keys
2. Click Create API Key
3. Select signals:write scope
4. Copy the generated key

Sending Signals

curl -X POST https://api.universaltrademanager.com/api/v1/signals/ingest \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: utm_your_api_key" \
  -d '{
    "symbol": "AAPL",
    "action": "openLong",
    "accountId": "your-account-uuid",
    "quantity": 100
  }'

See Signal Ingest API for full documentation.

Exit Rules

Automatically create exit signals when entry signals fill.

Example: Close position at market close:

{
  "symbol": "AAPL",
  "action": "openLong",
  "accountId": "your-account-uuid",
  "quantity": 100,
  "exitRule": {
    "orderType": "moc",
    "timeInForce": "cls"
  }
}

See Exit Rules Reference for all options.