---
title: Alerts aren't firing
description: No alerts on Helious? Arm the symbol, check your threshold isn't set above the day's range, and understand why a quiet tape stays quiet.
source: Helious
canonical: https://helious.io/help/alerts-not-firing
---

# Alerts aren't firing

Helious alerts are server-side and regime-aware, but they only fire on symbols you've explicitly armed, and only when a move clears the threshold. If your alerts are quiet, it's usually arming, a threshold that's too high for the tape, or the tape genuinely being dead.

Helious runs a server-side move detector with regime-aware thresholds, so alerts fire even when your tab is closed. When they go quiet, it's almost always one of three things. Check them in this order.

## 1. Arm the symbol

Alerts are per-symbol and opt-in. The detector won't watch anything you haven't explicitly armed. Open the symbol on your curve/spread board or the desk and confirm the alert is toggled on for it. A common trap: you armed a symbol during one session, and it looks active, but you're now watching a different tenor. If you want the 10-year, arm the 10-year. Arming the 2-year won't cover it. Check the [rates board](https://helious.io/rates) to confirm which symbols you're actually tracking.

## 2. Your threshold may be set above the day's range

The move detector fires when a symbol moves more than your threshold, measured in basis points. If you set a threshold larger than anything the tape is actually doing, say 8bp on a session where the 10-year has traveled 3bp all day, nothing fires, and that's correct behavior, not a bug. Regime-aware floors sit around 1.5bp on a quiet tape and lift toward 4.5bp around scheduled data, so the detector already scales sensitivity to conditions. If you want to catch smaller moves, lower your threshold toward the floor. New to the unit? See [basis points](https://helious.io/learn/basis-points).

## 3. The tape is genuinely quiet

Rates don't move in a straight line. Between the data prints and the Fed speakers, the tape can sit dead for hours, and a well-tuned alert stays silent through it. That's the point. If you armed a symbol on a holiday, overnight, or in the lull between the morning data and the afternoon auction, silence is the honest signal. Check the [economic calendar](https://helious.io/calendar) to see whether there's actually a catalyst on the schedule; if the board is empty, expect the alerts to be too.

## 4. Confirm delivery and account status

If a move clearly cleared your threshold and you still saw nothing, verify your subscription is active (a failed renewal can pause features) and that whatever delivery surface you rely on isn't muted. The detection runs server-side; if it fired and you missed it, the gap is on the delivery or display side, and that's the case worth reporting.

## Questions

### Do alerts work when my browser tab is closed?

Detection is server-side, so the move detector keeps watching your armed symbols even when the tab is closed. Whether you receive the notification depends on your delivery surface being reachable.

### What's a sensible threshold for the 10-year?

It depends on the regime. The detector's own floors sit near 1.5bp on a quiet tape and around 4.5bp near scheduled data. Setting your threshold well above the day's realized range means nothing fires. Start near the floor and raise it if you're getting too much noise.

### I armed a symbol yesterday. Is it still armed today?

Yes, arming persists per symbol. But double-check you're watching the tenor you think you are. Arming the 2-year won't generate 10-year alerts. Confirm on the rates board.

### Why didn't I get an alert on a big data surprise?

If the move cleared your threshold and nothing arrived, detection likely fired but delivery didn't reach you. Confirm your subscription is active and your notification surface isn't muted, then report it if it persists.