Quick Start - Alerts vs Fills

⏱️ 5 minutes Basic & Pro Plans

This guide walks you through completing your first alerts vs fills analysis. By the end, you’ll understand how well your broker is executing your trading signals.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• Alpaca broker account connected in Integrations
• Webhook events — Recent alert signals in the system
• Trade history — Orders executed through your connected broker
• Basic or Pro plan — Required for this feature

Caution

No Alpaca connection? This feature requires broker integration to fetch fill data. Set up your connection first in Alpaca Setup.

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Step-by-Step Guide

1. Navigate to Alerts vs Fills

   Open Algo Trade Analytics → Alerts vs Fills from the main navigation.

   The page loads with a scope definition section at the top.

2. Configure Analysis Scope

   Select your symbol:

   • Choose from the dropdown of symbols you’ve traded
   • Or select “ALL” to see all symbols

   Set your date range:

   • Click the date picker to select start and end dates
   • For your first analysis, try the last 7 days

   Choose data source:

   • Webhooks — Uses your real-time alert events
   • CSV Import — For historical or external data

3. Wait for Data Loading

   The system automatically:

   • Fetches your alert signals for the selected period
   • Retrieves broker fill data from Alpaca
   • Matches alerts with corresponding fills

   This typically takes a few seconds.

4. Review the Summary Metrics

   At the top of the results, you’ll see key metrics:

   Metric	What It Means
   Match Rate	% of alerts that executed successfully
   Avg Latency	Time from alert to fill
   Total Slippage	Cumulative price difference
   Profit Retention	How much of intended profit you kept

5. Explore the Price Chart

   The interactive chart shows:

   • Triangle markers — Your alert signals (intended prices)
   • Circle markers — Actual broker fills
   • Connecting lines — Visual slippage between intent and execution

   Hover over markers for detailed information.

6. Analyze the Comparison Grid

   Scroll to the trade comparison table:

   • Each row shows an alert paired with its fill
   • See exact timestamps, prices, and differences
   • Filter to show only problematic trades

7. Interpret Your Results

   Based on your metrics:

   • 95%+ match, <500ms latency → Excellent execution
   • 90-95% match, <2s latency → Good, minor optimization possible
   • <90% match or >2s latency → Investigation needed

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Understanding Your First Results

If Results Look Good (95%+ Match)

Congratulations! Your execution infrastructure is working well. Consider:

• Enable live monitoring to track ongoing performance
• Save a snapshot for future comparison
• Set up alerts for execution degradation

If Results Show Issues (<95% Match)

Don’t panic — this is why we audit! Common causes include:

Issue	Likely Cause	Solution
High latency	Network/processing delays	Review infrastructure
Missing fills	Order rejection or timeout	Check Alpaca logs
Large slippage	Market conditions or order type	Consider limit orders
Partial fills	Insufficient liquidity	Adjust position sizing

See Troubleshooting for detailed solutions.

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What’s Next?

Enable Live Monitoring

Track execution quality in real-time with auto-refresh. Learn more →

Deep Dive on Metrics

Understand slippage, latency, and retention in detail. Learn more →

Visual Analysis

Use the chart to identify patterns in execution issues. Learn more →

Get AI Recommendations

Let AI analyze your execution and suggest optimizations. Account Settings →

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Tips for Better Analysis

1. Start with recent data — Last 7 days gives you actionable insights
2. Analyze one symbol first — Focus before expanding to all
3. Check during market hours — Execution varies by session
4. Compare across days — Look for consistent patterns

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Related Guides

• Scope & Matching — Configuration details
• Live Monitoring — Real-time tracking
• Troubleshooting — Common issues