The Strat TradingView indicator guide: candle types, FTFC, alerts, and risk

A useful Strat TradingView indicator should do more than label candles. The labels are the vocabulary. The trading decision still depends on sequence, timeframe, trigger, location, target, invalidation, session, and the trader's own risk rules. When those pieces are scattered across several indicators and a mental checklist, the chart can look informed while the decision remains improvised.

This guide explains the operating model behind Strat Mastery Pro, Michai Media's invite-only TradingView indicator. It is not a promise that a pattern will work, a recommendation to enter a trade, or a substitute for learning the method. It is a map of the questions the software is designed to keep visible.

The 1/2/3 candle taxonomy

A 1 candle is an inside bar: its range sits inside the prior candle's range. A 2 candle is directional because it takes one side of the prior range. It can be a 2U through the high or a 2D through the low. A 3 candle is an outside bar that trades beyond both sides of the prior candle. These categories describe price behavior; they do not predict what the next candle must do.

Sequences make the categories more useful. A 2-1-2 sequence combines a directional candle, an inside candle, and a directional break. A 3-1-2 sequence starts from an outside candle, compresses inside, and then breaks directionally. Other setup families can be monitored, but the important discipline is to define exactly which candle owns the setup, which level triggers it, and which price action invalidates it.

Timeframe purity matters. A setup on the two-hour chart is a two-hour setup. A 30-minute candle can provide additional execution information, but it should not silently rewrite what the higher-timeframe pattern is. Strat Mastery keeps alerts attached to the timeframe on which the alert was created so the message and the chart refer to the same candle sequence.

Full timeframe continuity is context, not permission

Full timeframe continuity, commonly shortened to FTFC, compares directional state across several timeframes. Broad alignment can show that a local setup is moving with a larger directional stack. Mixed continuity can show conflict. Neither state guarantees the next move. FTFC is a context layer that helps the trader ask whether the chart-timeframe setup is aligned, counter-directional, or unresolved.

The practical mistake is treating one colored strip as permission to enter. A strong read still asks where price is relative to VWAP or another mean, which session is active, whether the route runs into nearby liquidity, where invalidation sits, and whether the remaining target distance justifies the risk. Alignment can improve a thesis without making it complete.

Formed alerts and in-force alerts solve different jobs

A formed alert says the candle sequence now exists. It is preparation time: inspect the mother bar, trigger range, higher-timeframe context, target route, and risk. An in-force alert says price has moved through the defined trigger under the confirmation rules selected by the user. It is a later event, not automatically an instruction to buy or sell.

That distinction is important for phone-based workflows. Early awareness gives the trader time to prepare without staring at every chart. Optional confirmation can require the chart candle or a selected 5-minute, 15-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute candle to open or close beyond the setup range. More confirmation can reduce premature messages while also delivering the alert later. The right choice depends on the trader's written plan, not on a universal best setting.

TradingView alerts run from a server-side snapshot of the script, chart, and settings that existed when the alert was created. TradingView's Pine Script documentation therefore recommends recreating an alert after changing the script or relevant inputs. Updating the indicator on a chart does not silently rewrite an old server-side alert.

How alerts save screen time—and where financial value can come from

TradingView states that created alerts run 24 hours a day on its servers and do not require the user to remain logged in. Once a trader creates alerts for the selected symbol, timeframe, and setup settings, Strat Mastery can monitor those conditions while the trader is doing something else. The script does not execute a trade. It calls the trader back when a planned setup forms or, when enabled, when its trigger moves in force.

That saved attention can have financial value, but not because every alert should be traded. Formed alerts can reduce the chance of missing a planned setup. The target, location, session, and invalidation layers can reveal that an otherwise valid pattern has a crowded route or unattractive risk. In-force alerts can reduce the need to chase a move discovered late. Each improvement can support a more consistent process; none guarantees a profitable outcome.

The right way to evaluate the tool is to track operational evidence during the trial: time spent cycling charts, planned setups surfaced while away, trades rejected because the route did not justify the risk, late entries avoided, and adherence to the written plan. Profit and loss still depend on the market, the trader's decisions, position sizing, execution, costs, and risk control.

Targets should describe a route

Strat Mastery maps potential liquidity destinations such as higher-timeframe fair value gap edges and midpoints, prior day, week, month, or quarter levels, equal highs and lows, opening ranges, and nearby structure. These are possible magnets and obstacles. They are not guaranteed take-profit levels.

A route becomes decision-useful when it is paired with invalidation. The trader can compare the distance to a plausible target with the price that proves the setup wrong, then apply position-size and loss limits from the trading plan. If the route is crowded, the entry is extended, the session is unfavorable, or the invalidation is too wide, waiting is a valid output.

What the coach dashboard is for

The Strat Mastery terminal reads from top to bottom: Bias, Candle, Setup, Trigger, Location, Session, Target, Risk, and Action. The value is not that the last row becomes an oracle. The value is that the important questions stay in one order and the final action can say watch, trigger, manage, wait, or stand down based on visible conditions.

Options, crypto, and forex modes adapt some of the session and market language. The same discipline remains: identify the setup, define the trigger, inspect the route, know the invalidation, and decide whether the current conditions fit the plan. Software can keep that process consistent. It cannot make market uncertainty disappear.

Build the indicator into a risk process

Before using any alert in live trading, replay examples, compare the message with the chart, verify the selected timeframe, and write down what you will do when the route is unclear. Test how the setup behaves around news, illiquid periods, gaps, and fast markets. Confirm that the alert arrives early enough for your workflow without pressuring you into chasing price.

Strat Mastery Pro begins with a 14-day free trial. While founding access is open, the subscription is $49 per month rather than the future $79 standard price, and founding members keep the $49 rate while continuously subscribed. Use the trial to judge whether the system improves preparation, chart clarity, and adherence to your rules. Do not judge it by whether a small sample of trades happened to win. The responsible question is whether the tool makes your decision process more explicit and repeatable.

Trading involves substantial risk, including loss of principal. Strat Mastery is educational market-structure and alerting software. It does not place trades, manage a brokerage account, provide individualized financial advice, or guarantee returns.