Price-Change Alerts: Monitor Real-Time Crypto Prices | Tatum

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

Track crypto price movements in real time and receive webhooks when your thresholds are crossed. No polling, no RPC calls, no gas fees.

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You want to know when Bitcoin BTC $79,739 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

What makes it different

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 BTC $79,739 drops 5% from $65,000"

How it works:

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 BTC $79,739 moves plus or minus 3% from today’s opening price"

How it works:

Quick Comparison

Feature FIXED TIMEFRAME
Fires Once Every period
Reference Creation price Period opening price
Status after fire TRIGGERED ACTIVE
Best for Opportunistic trades Continuous monitoring

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:

Example: A user sets "alert me if my BTC BTC $79,739 position drops 5% today." When BTC BTC $79,739 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 ETH $2,500) plus TIMEFRAME HOUR alerts to detect sudden volatility spikes.

Business value:

Example: The protocol monitors ETH ETH $2,500 at three levels. When ETH ETH $2,500 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 SOL $105.14 hits $150") and TIMEFRAME DAY alerts for portfolio-wide daily tracking.

Business value:

Example: A user sets "notify me when SOL SOL $105.14 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 BTC $79,739 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:

Example 2: Timeframe Day Alert (Recurring)

Alert me daily if ETH ETH $2,500 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:

Example 3: Directional Alert

Alert me only when SOL SOL $105.14 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 BTC $79,739 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:

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:

Detection and Delivery

Price monitoring:

Webhook delivery:

Pricing Model

Alert maintenance costs 50 credits per alert per day:

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

Getting Started

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

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

Start Monitoring Crypto Prices the Smart Way

No polling, no complexity, just real-time alerts when it matters. Price-Change Alerts are available now on all Tatum plans through the v4 Subscription API.