Introducing Price-Change Alerts: Real-Time Crypto Price Monitoring Made Simple

You want to know when Bitcoin drops 5% so you can buy the dip. But checking prices manually means missing opportunities, and polling APIs every minute racks up costs and complexity. Your application needs real-time market intelligence without the infrastructure overhead.

What if your application could automatically notify you the moment prices hit your thresholds, with no polling, no constant checking, just instant webhooks when it matters?

Announcing Price-Change Alerts

Introducing Price-Change Alerts, a new notification type that lets you track crypto price movements in real time and receive webhooks when your thresholds are crossed.

Key capabilities

• Monitor 500+ symbols including BTC, ETH, SOL, and all major tokens
• Get instant webhooks when prices move X% up or down
• Chain-agnostic monitoring that works purely off price data, with no blockchain overhead
• Zero gas fees or RPC calls required

What makes it different

• No polling required, push notifications arrive via webhooks
• Real-time alerts with 1 to 2.5 minute latency after price crosses your threshold
• Flexible thresholds, set any percentage from 0.1% to 100% and beyond
• Standard integration through our v4 subscription API

Whether you are building a trading platform, DeFi protocol, or consumer wallet, Price-Change Alerts give you the real-time market intelligence you need without the infrastructure complexity.

Two Alert Types: FIXED and TIMEFRAME

Price-Change Alerts come in two flavors, each designed for different monitoring needs.

FIXED Alerts (One-Time)

FIXED alerts are one-time triggers based on the current price. When you create the alert, the reference price is set to the market price at that moment. The alert fires once when your threshold is crossed in either direction, then becomes TRIGGERED, a terminal state.

Think of it like a price alarm clock. It goes off once, then stops.

Perfect for: "Alert me when BTC drops 5% from $65,000"

How it works:

• Reference price is the price at creation
• Fires once when the threshold is crossed
• Becomes TRIGGERED after firing, with no further alerts

TIMEFRAME Alerts (Recurring)

TIMEFRAME alerts monitor ongoing price movements within specific time periods (HOUR, DAY, WEEK, or MONTH). The reference price is the opening price of the current period. The alert fires once per direction per period, automatically re-arms when a new period starts, and stays ACTIVE indefinitely.

Think of it like a daily briefing. It resets every period and keeps watching.

Perfect for: "Alert me daily if BTC moves plus or minus 3% from today’s opening price"

How it works:

• Reference price is the opening price of the current period
• Fires once per direction per period, for example once UP and once DOWN per day
• Auto-rearms at period boundaries, such as midnight UTC for DAY
• Stays ACTIVE indefinitely

Quick Comparison

Real-World Use Cases

Here is how teams are using Price-Change Alerts across different domains.

Trading Platforms and Portfolio Management

Scenario: A crypto trading app wants to notify users when their portfolio drops 10% in a single day.

Solution: Create a TIMEFRAME DAY alert with a 10% DOWN threshold for each asset in the user’s portfolio.

Business value:

• Reduced user anxiety, users do not need to constantly check prices
• Increased engagement, timely alerts drive users back to the app to take action
• Competitive advantage, real-time alerts instead of hourly email digests

Example: A user sets "alert me if my BTC position drops 5% today." When BTC crosses that threshold, they receive a notification within two minutes, while there is still time to react.

DeFi Protocols and Risk Management

Scenario: A lending protocol needs to monitor collateral prices to prevent cascading liquidations during market volatility.

Solution: Deploy multiple FIXED alerts at key price levels ($2,000, $1,900, and $1,800 for ETH) plus TIMEFRAME HOUR alerts to detect sudden volatility spikes.

Business value:

• Risk mitigation, an early warning system triggers before critical thresholds
• Automated responses, webhooks trigger progressive risk management measures
• Cost efficiency, no expensive constant polling of price oracles

Example: The protocol monitors ETH at three levels. When ETH hits $2,000, an immediate webhook triggers the first risk tier. At $1,900, position sizing restrictions activate. At $1,800, emergency protocols engage, all automatically.

Consumer Wallets and Investment Apps

Scenario: A mobile wallet wants to offer price watching as a feature for retail users who want to stay informed without obsessively checking prices.

Solution: Let users create their own FIXED alerts ("tell me when SOL hits $150") and TIMEFRAME DAY alerts for portfolio-wide daily tracking.

Business value:

• Feature differentiation, not all wallets offer sophisticated price alerts
• User retention, users return to the app when alerts fire
• Monetization opportunity, a premium tier feature for power users

Example: A user sets "notify me when SOL goes up 20%." The wallet receives a webhook, sends a push notification with the current price, and presents buy and sell options in-app.

From professional traders to casual holders, Price-Change Alerts adapt to any monitoring need.

Implementation Guide

Let us get hands-on. Here is how to create Price-Change Alerts via the v4 Subscription API.

Example 1: Basic Fixed Alert

Alert me when BTC moves plus or minus 5% from the current price:

POST https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription
Content-Type: application/json
x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

{
  "type": "PRICE_CHANGE",
  "attr": {
    "symbol": "BTC",
    "percentage": 5,
    "direction": "BOTH",
    "referenceType": "FIXED",
    "url": "https://your-webhook-endpoint.com/alerts"
  }
}

Response:

{
  "id": "6a5f2ef1fa9cb6edca91acf0"
}

Field explanations:

• symbol, any of 500+ supported tokens such as BTC, ETH, or SOL
• percentage, the threshold as a number, where 5 means 5%
• direction, either UP for price increases only, DOWN for decreases only, or BOTH
• referenceType, use FIXED for one-time alerts
• url, your webhook endpoint that will receive the notification

Example 2: Timeframe Day Alert (Recurring)

Alert me daily if ETH moves plus or minus 3% from the daily opening price:

POST https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription
Content-Type: application/json
x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

{
  "type": "PRICE_CHANGE",
  "attr": {
    "symbol": "ETH",
    "percentage": 3,
    "direction": "BOTH",
    "referenceType": "TIMEFRAME",
    "timeframe": "DAY",
    "url": "https://your-webhook-endpoint.com/alerts"
  }
}

Key differences:

• referenceType: TIMEFRAME enables recurring alerts
• timeframe accepts HOUR, DAY, WEEK, or MONTH
• The reference price resets at period boundaries, such as midnight UTC for DAY

Example 3: Directional Alert

Alert me only when SOL goes UP 10% and ignore price drops:

POST https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription
Content-Type: application/json
x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

{
  "type": "PRICE_CHANGE",
  "attr": {
    "symbol": "SOL",
    "percentage": 10,
    "direction": "UP",
    "referenceType": "FIXED",
    "url": "https://your-webhook-endpoint.com/alerts"
  }
}

Use case: Perfect for buyers waiting for breakout momentum, who only care about upward price movement.

Example 4: High-Frequency Hour Alert

Alert me hourly if BTC moves plus or minus 1% from the hourly opening price:

POST https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription
Content-Type: application/json
x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

{
  "type": "PRICE_CHANGE",
  "attr": {
    "symbol": "BTC",
    "percentage": 1,
    "direction": "BOTH",
    "referenceType": "TIMEFRAME",
    "timeframe": "HOUR",
    "url": "https://your-webhook-endpoint.com/alerts"
  }
}

Use case: High-frequency traders needing granular volatility alerts for scalping strategies.

The Webhook Payload You Will Receive

When your alert triggers, you will receive a webhook with complete context:

{
  "subscriptionId": "6a5f2ef1fa9cb6edca91acf0",
  "subscriptionType": "PRICE_CHANGE",
  "timestamp": 1784543775601,
  "symbol": "BTC",
  "basePair": "USDT",
  "referencePrice": "64722.55",
  "currentPrice": "64268",
  "percentageChange": -0.7,
  "direction": "DOWN",
  "referenceType": "FIXED"
}

The payload includes:

• The exact prices, both reference and current
• The percentage change that triggered the alert
• The direction of movement
• The alert type, for routing logic in your application

Managing Your Alerts

Price-Change Alerts support full lifecycle management:

# Get alert details
GET https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription/{id}

# Pause an alert (stops monitoring, no daily charges)
PUT https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription/{id}
{ "paused": true }

# Resume a paused alert
PUT https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription/{id}
{ "paused": false }

# Delete an alert permanently
DELETE https://api.tatum.io/v4/subscription/{id}

How It Works Under the Hood

Chain-Agnostic Architecture

Price-Change Alerts work off Tatum’s unified price feed, powered by Binance market data rather than blockchain data. This means:

• No gas fees or transaction costs
• No RPC calls to blockchain nodes
• 500+ symbols supported out of the box
• Consistent latency regardless of blockchain congestion

Detection and Delivery

Price monitoring:

• Our scanner runs every minute on 1-minute candle closes
• It compares the current price against your threshold
• It fires a webhook immediately when the threshold is crossed
• Expected latency is 1 to 2.5 minutes after the actual price movement

Webhook delivery:

• A standard HTTP POST to your endpoint
• A full context payload with symbol, prices, percentage change, and direction
• HMAC signatures supported for verification, if enabled on your account
• Automatic retry logic handles temporary endpoint failures

Pricing Model

Alert maintenance costs 50 credits per alert per day:

• Charged while the alert is ACTIVE and monitoring
• Not charged when PAUSED
• Not charged after TRIGGERED, which applies to FIXED alerts only

Webhook delivery costs 50 credits per webhook sent, and is only charged when the alert fires.

Example cost calculation. A FIXED alert that fires on day one costs 50 credits of maintenance plus 50 credits for the webhook, totalling 100 credits. From day two onward it costs nothing, because the alert is TRIGGERED and no longer monitored.

A TIMEFRAME DAY alert that fires once per week costs 50 credits daily for maintenance plus 50 credits for the weekly webhook, which works out to roughly 400 credits per week.

State Management

• ACTIVE, the alert is monitoring and will fire when the threshold is crossed
• PAUSED, the alert exists but will not fire, and incurs no daily charges
• TRIGGERED, a FIXED alert that has fired, which is a terminal state with no further alerts or charges

Getting Started

Ready to add real-time price monitoring to your application?

• Authenticate using your existing Tatum API key. If you do not have one, sign up for free and get started in minutes.
• Create your first alert. Start with a simple FIXED alert to see it in action, such as the BTC plus or minus 5% example above.
• Set up your webhook endpoint. It must be able to receive HTTP POST requests and return a 200 OK response.
• Test your integration using the /v4/subscription/webhook/test endpoint to verify your webhook handler works correctly before going live.
• Deploy with confidence. Once tested, create production alerts and let your users benefit from real-time price intelligence.

You can explore the v4 Subscription API reference, read the full notifications documentation, or create and manage alerts directly from the Tatum Dashboard.

Need Help?

Questions about implementing Price-Change Alerts? Our team is here to help. Reach out via our support portal

Price-Change Alerts are available now on all Tatum plans. Credits are consumed based on usage, at 50 credits per alert per day plus 50 credits per webhook delivery. View pricing details.