Continuous Integration

External indicators expire after 24 hours. To keep your signals visible, you need to continuously update them.

Update Strategies

Cron Job

Simple scheduled task that runs at intervals

Webhook

Trigger updates based on events

Always-On Service

Long-running process with internal scheduler

Serverless

AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, etc.

Option 1: Cron Job (Linux/Mac)

The simplest approach for servers with cron support.

Setup

Create your indicator script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# /home/user/indicators/update_signals.py

import requests
import pandas as pd
import logging

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

API_KEY = "your_api_key"
BASE_URL = "https://api.innova-trading.com"

def main():
    try:
        logger.info("Starting signal update...")

        # Your indicator logic here
        bars = fetch_bars()
        signals = calculate_signals(bars)
        result = submit_signals(signals)

        logger.info(f"Updated {result['points_received']} signals")
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error: {e}")
        raise

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Add to crontab:

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run every hour
0 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/user/indicators/update_signals.py >> /var/log/indicators.log 2>&1

# Or every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/user/indicators/update_signals.py >> /var/log/indicators.log 2>&1

Option 2: Python Scheduler

For more control, use Python’s schedule library:

import schedule
import time
import logging

logging.basicConfig(
    level=logging.INFO,
    format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def update_eurusd_h1():
    """Update EURUSD H1 signals."""
    logger.info("Updating EURUSD H1...")
    try:
        # Your logic here
        pass
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error: {e}")

def update_gbpusd_h4():
    """Update GBPUSD H4 signals."""
    logger.info("Updating GBPUSD H4...")
    try:
        # Your logic here
        pass
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error: {e}")

# Schedule jobs
schedule.every(1).hours.do(update_eurusd_h1)
schedule.every(4).hours.do(update_gbpusd_h4)

# Also run at specific times
schedule.every().day.at("00:00").do(update_eurusd_h1)
schedule.every().day.at("08:00").do(update_eurusd_h1)
schedule.every().day.at("16:00").do(update_eurusd_h1)

logger.info("Scheduler started. Press Ctrl+C to exit.")

# Initial run
update_eurusd_h1()
update_gbpusd_h4()

# Keep running
while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(60)

Run with:

# Run in background
nohup python scheduler.py > scheduler.log 2>&1 &

# Or with screen
screen -S indicators
python scheduler.py
# Press Ctrl+A, D to detach

Option 3: Node.js with node-cron

const cron = require("node-cron");
const axios = require("axios");

const API_KEY = "your_api_key";
const BASE_URL = "https://api.innova-trading.com";

async function updateSignals(symbol, timeframe) {
  console.log(`[${new Date().toISOString()}] Updating ${symbol} ${timeframe}m`);

  try {
    // Your logic here
    const bars = await fetchBars(symbol, timeframe);
    const signals = calculateSignals(bars);
    const result = await submitSignals(signals);

    console.log(`Updated ${result.points_received} signals`);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
  }
}

// Run every hour
cron.schedule("0 * * * *", () => {
  updateSignals("EURUSD", 60);
});

// Run every 4 hours
cron.schedule("0 */4 * * *", () => {
  updateSignals("GBPUSD", 240);
});

// Run at market open (5 PM EST = 22:00 UTC on Sunday)
cron.schedule("0 22 * * 0", () => {
  console.log("Market opening - full update");
  updateSignals("EURUSD", 60);
  updateSignals("GBPUSD", 60);
});

console.log("Scheduler started");

// Initial run
updateSignals("EURUSD", 60);

Option 4: Docker Container

Create a containerized indicator service:

# Dockerfile
FROM python:3.11-slim

WORKDIR /app

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

COPY . .

CMD ["python", "scheduler.py"]

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  indicator-service:
    build: .
    restart: always
    environment:
      - API_KEY=${API_KEY}
      - LOG_LEVEL=INFO
    volumes:
      - ./logs:/app/logs

Deploy:

docker-compose up -d

Option 5: AWS Lambda (Serverless)

handler.py

import json
import requests

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    """AWS Lambda handler for indicator updates."""
    API_KEY = event.get("api_key") or os.environ.get("API_KEY")
    symbol = event.get("symbol", "EURUSD")
    timeframe = event.get("timeframe", 60)

    try:
        # Fetch and calculate
        bars = fetch_bars(symbol, timeframe, API_KEY)
        signals = calculate_signals(bars)
        result = submit_signals(signals, API_KEY)

        return {
            "statusCode": 200,
            "body": json.dumps({
                "success": True,
                "points": result["points_received"]
            })
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {
            "statusCode": 500,
            "body": json.dumps({"error": str(e)})
        }

CloudWatch Event Rule

{
  "schedule": "rate(1 hour)",
  "input": {
    "symbol": "EURUSD",
    "timeframe": 60
  }
}

Option 6: GitHub Actions

Free CI/CD with GitHub:

# .github/workflows/update-indicators.yml
name: Update Indicators

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 * * * *"  # Every hour
  workflow_dispatch:  # Manual trigger

jobs:
  update:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: "3.11"

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pip install -r requirements.txt

      - name: Update signals
        env:
          API_KEY: ${{ secrets.INNOVA_API_KEY }}
        run: python update_signals.py

GitHub Actions has a 5-minute minimum interval for scheduled workflows, and jobs may be delayed during high load periods.

Monitoring & Alerts

Logging Best Practices

import logging
from datetime import datetime

# Configure logging
logging.basicConfig(
    level=logging.INFO,
    format='%(asctime)s [%(levelname)s] %(message)s',
    handlers=[
        logging.FileHandler('indicator.log'),
        logging.StreamHandler()
    ]
)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def update_with_logging():
    start = datetime.now()
    logger.info(f"Starting update for EURUSD H1")

    try:
        bars = fetch_bars()
        logger.info(f"Fetched {len(bars)} bars")

        signals = calculate_signals(bars)
        logger.info(f"Generated {len(signals)} signals")

        result = submit_signals(signals)
        logger.info(f"Submitted {result['points_received']} points")

        elapsed = (datetime.now() - start).total_seconds()
        logger.info(f"Update completed in {elapsed:.2f}s")

    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Update failed: {e}", exc_info=True)
        raise

Health Check Endpoint

If running as a service, add a health check:

from flask import Flask, jsonify
import threading

app = Flask(__name__)
last_update = None
last_status = "unknown"

@app.route("/health")
def health():
    return jsonify({
        "status": "ok",
        "last_update": last_update,
        "last_status": last_status
    })

def run_health_server():
    app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8080)

# Start health server in background
threading.Thread(target=run_health_server, daemon=True).start()

Slack/Discord Alerts

import requests

SLACK_WEBHOOK = "https://hooks.slack.com/services/..."

def send_alert(message, level="info"):
    """Send alert to Slack."""
    color = {
        "info": "#3b82f6",
        "warning": "#eab308",
        "error": "#ef4444"
    }.get(level, "#3b82f6")

    payload = {
        "attachments": [{
            "color": color,
            "text": message,
            "footer": "Indicator Service",
            "ts": int(datetime.now().timestamp())
        }]
    }

    requests.post(SLACK_WEBHOOK, json=payload)

# Usage
try:
    result = update_signals()
    send_alert(f"Updated {result['points_received']} signals", "info")
except Exception as e:
    send_alert(f"Update failed: {e}", "error")

Recommended Setup

Development

Manual runs with python update_signals.py

Testing

Local scheduler with schedule library

Production

Docker container or cloud service (Lambda/Cloud Functions)

Monitoring

Add logging, health checks, and alerts

Frequency Guidelines

Timeframe	Update Interval	Why
M1	1 minute	Real-time signals
M5	5 minutes	Near real-time
M15	15 minutes	Balanced
H1	1 hour	Match bar close
H4	4 hours	Match bar close
D1	Daily at market open	Once per day

For most strategies, updating at bar close is sufficient. This reduces API calls and ensures signals are based on complete bars.

Get Started

MT4/MT5 Connection

Core Concepts

Guides

Examples

Support

Update Strategies

Cron Job

Webhook

Always-On Service

Serverless

Option 1: Cron Job (Linux/Mac)

Setup

Option 2: Python Scheduler

Option 3: Node.js with node-cron

Option 4: Docker Container

Option 5: AWS Lambda (Serverless)

handler.py

CloudWatch Event Rule

Option 6: GitHub Actions

Monitoring & Alerts

Logging Best Practices

Health Check Endpoint

Slack/Discord Alerts

Recommended Setup

Frequency Guidelines

Next Steps

Signal Best Practices

API Reference

​Update Strategies

Cron Job

Webhook

Always-On Service

Serverless

​Option 1: Cron Job (Linux/Mac)

​Setup

​Option 2: Python Scheduler

​Option 3: Node.js with node-cron

​Option 4: Docker Container

​Option 5: AWS Lambda (Serverless)

​handler.py

​CloudWatch Event Rule

​Option 6: GitHub Actions

​Monitoring & Alerts

​Logging Best Practices

​Health Check Endpoint

​Slack/Discord Alerts

​Recommended Setup

​Frequency Guidelines

​Next Steps

Signal Best Practices

API Reference

Update Strategies

Option 1: Cron Job (Linux/Mac)

Setup

Option 2: Python Scheduler

Option 3: Node.js with node-cron

Option 4: Docker Container

Option 5: AWS Lambda (Serverless)

handler.py

CloudWatch Event Rule

Option 6: GitHub Actions

Monitoring & Alerts

Logging Best Practices

Health Check Endpoint

Slack/Discord Alerts

Recommended Setup

Frequency Guidelines

Next Steps