How to Set Stock Price Alerts on CeylonCharts (Email and Telegram)

You can’t watch every stock all day, and on the Colombo Stock Exchange a lot can happen between 09:30 and 14:30. Alerts do the watching for you. You set a condition, such as “tell me if John Keells goes above LKR 20,” and CeylonCharts messages you by email or Telegram when it happens.

This guide covers how to create an alert, what each type of alert does, how to get alerts on Telegram, and how to manage them.

Before you start

Alerts are tied to your account, so you need to sign in first. The free Basic plan includes 2 active alerts, and Pro includes up to 100. Only alerts that are still waiting to trigger count towards the limit, so triggered alerts don’t use up your allowance.

1. Create an alert: two ways

The quick way, from the chart. Move your mouse over the price axis on the right-hand side of any chart. A + appears next to the price you’re pointing at. Click it, and the alert form opens with that price already filled in as a price target.

From the Alerts panel. On the toolbar down the right of the chart, click the Alerts button (the bell). The panel lists all your alerts. Click + (New alert) at the top to open the form for the stock you’re viewing.

2. Fill in the form

The Create Alert form has these parts:

• Symbol: the stock the alert watches, filled in from the chart you’re on. You can type another, e.g. COMB.N0000.
• Label (optional): a short name you’ll recognise, e.g. “Breakout level.”
• Conditions: what has to happen. Choose a type from the drop-down (the types are explained below) and fill in its values.
• Notify via: turn Email and/or Telegram on or off. Emails go to your account’s email address. Telegram needs a one-time setup (see step 4).
• Expires (optional): a date after which the alert stops watching. This is useful for a level that only matters around an event, such as results or an XD date.
• Notes (optional): a reminder to yourself of why you set it. When the alert fires weeks later, you’ll be glad you wrote it.

Click Set Alert to save.

If a condition is already true when you create the alert, for example a “crosses above LKR 20” alert on a stock already at 21, the form shows a yellow warning. Saved as it is, that alert will trigger the next time the monitor checks. Adjust the level if that isn’t what you want.

Worked example

On 25 September 2026, John Keells Holdings closed at LKR 19.00. To hear about a move through LKR 20:

1. Open the JKH chart and hover the price axis near 20.00, then click +.
2. Check that the condition reads Price Target, Crosses above, 20.0.
3. Label it “JKH above 20,” leave Email on and click Set Alert.

A line appears on the chart at your level, so you can see how far the price is from it.

3. Choose the right kind of alert

The Conditions drop-down has seven types:

Some details that matter:

• Price checks use the latest trade. Price Target, Trailing Stop and Price Change % use the most recent traded price during the session. RSI and the moving averages are calculated from daily closing prices.
• “Today” in Price Change % is measured from today’s opening price, not yesterday’s close. A stock that gaps up at the open and then drifts can show a smaller “today” change than you’d expect. 1 Week compares with the close about 5 trading days ago, and 1 Month with about 21.
• MA Cross and SMA Breakout fire on the cross itself, meaning the day the lines actually cross, not simply whenever one is above the other.
• Moving-average periods go up to 50 in alerts (the form shows the maximum). For a trend-change alert, use something like a 20-day crossing a 50-day.
• Trailing Stop example: set a 5% trail on a stock at LKR 100. If it climbs to 120, the stop rises with it to 114 (5% below 120). If it then falls to 114, the alert triggers. The alert card shows the current peak and stop level.

Combine conditions

Click + Add condition to add more than one. A Logic switch appears:

• AND: every condition must be true at the same time. For example, Price Target above LKR 20 AND Volume Breakout 2× average means a breakout that comes with volume behind it.
• OR: any one condition is enough. For example, Price Target below LKR 17 OR Price Change % falls by 8% over 1 week means “tell me if this goes wrong in either way.”

4. Get alerts on Telegram

Telegram messages usually arrive faster than email and are easier to see on your phone. Linking takes about a minute:

1. Click your profile picture (top right, labelled Account), then Settings.
2. Open the Alert Settings tab and click Connect Telegram.
3. Click Open in Telegram. On a computer you can instead scan the QR code with your phone, or copy the link. The link expires after 10 minutes.
4. In the @ceyloncharts_bot chat that opens, tap START.

The settings page then shows Telegram connected. From then on, the Telegram option in each alert sends messages there. You can disconnect at any time from the same page.

5. When alerts are checked

The alert monitor checks your alerts about every two minutes while the market is open on trading days. It skips weekends and CSE market holidays. An alert can take a couple of minutes after the price moves to reach you, so alerts are for staying informed, not for split-second trading.

Each alert triggers once. It then moves to the Triggered section of the panel, and editing it won’t re-arm it. If you want to be told about the same level again, create a new alert.

6. Manage your alerts

In the Alerts panel, each alert shows:

• Its status: Active or Triggered.
• For active alerts, a progress bar showing how close each condition is to triggering, which is useful for seeing at a glance which levels are near.
• An eye icon to hide or show its line on the chart, and a bin icon to delete it (click twice to confirm).

Click any alert to edit it. The icons at the top of the panel let you Refresh, Export your alerts to a file, and Import them again, which is handy for backing up a set of alerts or moving them to another account.

Tips for useful alerts

• Set levels from the chart, not round numbers. Previous highs and lows, the 52-week high, or a moving average the stock has respected all make better levels than “20” just because it’s round.
• Set stop alerts when you buy, not after the price falls. A Price Target below your stop level (or a Trailing Stop) set on the day you buy makes you face the decision you planned for.
• Use the Notes field. Write down the plan: “Breakout above 20 on volume — review results first.”
• Mind thin trading. On stocks that trade rarely, a single small trade can hit a level. Check the volume before acting on an alert.

To find stocks worth setting alerts on, see how to screen CSE stocks. To keep your shortlist in one place, build a watchlist.