Connecting Telegram

How a profile signs in to your Telegram account, with a QR code or with your phone number and the code Telegram sends, plus the two-step password; how to choose groups, channels and topics; what the app reads; what "login required" means; and how to sign Telegram out.

What you need

• Your own Telegram account, the one you already read your signal groups with. The app signs in as you, so it sees the same messages you see.
• Membership of each group or channel you want to follow. The app reads groups you have joined. It cannot join anything for you, and it never posts. Being a member is enough.
• The app running and signed in, on your computer or on a VPS, with an active plan, an access pass or your demo day.
• The profile's trading switched on. Telegram connects only for a profile that trades; the app's window says: "Telegram connects once this profile trades. Start trading above, then sign in here."

Each profile signs in to Telegram separately, so two profiles can read two different Telegram accounts.

Where to do it: in the Desk, "Connections" → the profile's "Telegram" card → "Log in". On Windows you can also use the "Connections" page in the app's window.

Log in with a QR code (recommended)

Nothing is sent to you: you scan a code with Telegram on your phone.

1. Press "Log in with a QR code".
2. "Open Telegram on your phone."
3. "Go to Settings → Devices."
4. "Tap Link Desktop Device."
5. "Point the camera at this code."

"The code renews by itself every few seconds; keep this window open until Telegram confirms." If your account has a two-step password, it is asked next (see below). Then the card says "Telegram is connected." and the status reads "listening".

The QR code needs a second device to scan it. When you open the Desk on your phone, the phone number comes first, and "Use a QR code (it is scanned with a second device)" is the link under it. On a computer the phone number is under the QR button, and on the QR code's screen "Use my phone number instead" goes back to it.

Log in with your phone number

1. "Type the phone number of your Telegram account: Telegram sends the code to your Telegram app."
2. Pick your "Country" ("Search a country or a code, like +49"), then type the number as you dial it at home, or paste it with its + and country code.
3. The Desk checks the number before anything is sent: "Too short for …: a digit is missing.", "Too long for …: there is a digit too many." or "This is not a number of …. Check it." A good number shows in full: "The code goes to the Telegram account of … (…). Check that every digit is right." A number that does not look like a mobile number shows a warning and the button "Send the code anyway".
4. Press "Send me the code". The card says where it went: "Telegram sent the code to your Telegram app." or "Telegram sent you the code by SMS."
5. Type it in "The code" and press "Confirm".

"Send the code again" asks Telegram for it once more; "Change the phone number" goes back to the number. In the app's window the buttons are "Send login code" and "Confirm code", and the field is "Login code".

Where the code arrives

"While you are signed in to Telegram on any device the code comes there, never by SMS: look in the Telegram app, in the chat “Telegram”, and in Archived chats. Still nothing after a minute: send the code again." Telegram may also call the number and read the code, or call and hang up, in which case the code is the last digits of the number that called you. Some accounts get it at their Telegram login email.

If Telegram answers that it wants a login email first: "In the Telegram app open Settings → Privacy and Security → Login Email, set it, then send the code again."

Finish the sign-in within five minutes. After that it is cancelled and you send a new code.

The two-step verification password

If you set a password in Telegram under Settings → Privacy and Security → Two-Step Verification, it is asked after the code or the QR scan:

• In the Desk: "Your Telegram has a 2FA password: type it to finish." Type it in "Telegram 2FA password" and press "Confirm".
• In the app: "Your account has a cloud password (2FA)." Type it in "Telegram cloud password" and press "Confirm password".

This is your Telegram password. Your Relay2Trade password and your authenticator code play no part here.

Choosing groups, channels and topics

A listener is one Telegram group or channel the app follows, with how it trades that group's signals. Listeners sit under the profile's Telegram card in "Connections".

1. Press "Add". (Until Telegram is connected, "Connect Telegram to add one" stands in its place.)
2. In "Add a listener", use "Search your chats". The list holds the groups and channels your Telegram account is in. A group with topics carries the tag "group with topics".
3. Check the "Name", choose "How it trades" and press "Add listener".

Start a new group on "Watch — record only": the app reads and shows what the group posts and never trades. "Manual — wait for my approval" waits for you to trade or dismiss each signal, and "Auto — trade immediately" trades at once by your settings. More: Listeners and modes.

"No chat matches, or every chat already has a listener." means the search found nothing new: check the spelling, or join the group in Telegram first.

Groups with topics

"A group with topics is one chat with several threads." A listener on such a group reads every topic until you choose. Open the listener, press "Choose topics", tick the topics it should read in "Topics of …" and press "Use these". "All topics" reads every message in the group. Ticking only the topic where signals are posted keeps members' chatter out.

A message goes to one listener only. Two listeners can share a group by taking different topics. Two listeners on the same chat with the same topics leave one of them silent: "Reads the same chat as "…", and a message goes to one listener only: this one hears nothing. Remove one of them, or give each its own topics."

Private and paid groups

A private or paid group works like any other while your Telegram account is a member. When you leave it, are removed, or a paid group's time runs out, the listener says "Your Telegram account can no longer read this chat: it left the group, was removed, or a paid group's time ran out. Nothing from it is read. Join it again in Telegram, then press Try again."

An archived chat still works, although the listener may say it is not in your chat list.

What the app reads, and what it never does

• It reads new messages in the chats you made listeners for, including your own posts there and the text under photos. Edited messages are not read again.
• After the app was offline or reconnecting, messages posted meanwhile are picked up when it is back, if they are recent enough to trade, and then they wait for your approval, since the price may have moved.
• It never posts anything, and it cannot join a group for you.
• The text of a message that looks like a signal is sent to relay2trade.com to be read. While "Sync original messages" is on (the default), the original text is also kept with the signal in your account, so the Desk can show it. To keep message texts off your account, switch it off in the app, under Settings → Application → "Remote control & sync". The Desk shows the same switch as "Original message text (third-party content)" under Settings → "Account settings". An app with no window, on a VPS or on Linux, keeps every sync switch on, this one included.
• Telegram lists the app among your devices. You can end that session any time from Telegram's "Devices" screen.

"Login required" and signing in again

The Telegram status on the card reads:

• "listening": connected and reading.
• "Connecting…": the first connection is under way.
• "reconnecting": the connection dropped and the app is getting it back by itself. "Signals posted meanwhile are picked up when it is back, if they are recent enough."
• "login needed" ("login required" in the app): there is no valid Telegram sign-in. No group is read.
• "stopped": Telegram is not running for this profile, usually because trading is off or no plan is active.

The status "login needed" comes when you ended the session from Telegram's "Devices" screen, when Telegram signed the app out ("Telegram signed this computer out. Connect Telegram again."), or when the Telegram account was deleted or deactivated. The Overview then says under "Needs you": "Telegram asks you to log in again: no group is read until then." Press "Connect", then log in again with a QR code or your phone number. Your listeners stay as they were and start reading as soon as Telegram is connected.

After the app moved to another computer or VPS, Telegram is signed in once more there, the same way.

Signing Telegram out

• In the Desk: "Log out" on the profile's Telegram card. "Log Telegram out? This profile stops reading its groups until it logs in again."
• In the app: "Disconnect Telegram". "Disconnect Telegram? All listeners stop until you connect again." Afterwards: "Telegram disconnected — listeners are stopped until you reconnect."
• In Telegram: Settings → Devices, then end the Relay2Trade session. The profile then shows "login needed".

Logging the app itself out on Windows also signs out the Telegram of the profile the window shows. Your listeners and their signal history are kept: log in again and they read on.

If something goes wrong

• "That is not the code Telegram sent." Type it again exactly as it arrives in your Telegram app, or send a new one.
• "That code has expired. Send a new one and type it right away." Codes are short-lived: ask for a new one and type it at once.
• "That is not your Telegram two-step verification password." Type the password you set in Telegram under Settings → Privacy and Security → Two-Step Verification.
• "Telegram does not recognise that phone number." Pick the right country and check every digit.
• "There is no Telegram account on this phone number." Create the account in the Telegram app first, or use the number your account is on.
• "Too many attempts. Telegram asks you to wait … before trying again." or "Too many attempts on this number, so Telegram stopped sending codes for a while. Try again in a few hours." Wait as Telegram says, or use the QR code.
• "The sign-in was not finished in five minutes, so it was cancelled. Send a new code." Start again and finish within five minutes.
• No code arrives. Look in the Telegram app on your other devices, in the chat "Telegram" and in Archived chats. Then "Send the code again", or use the QR code.
• "Could not reach Telegram. Check the internet connection, and any VPN or firewall, then try again." Something between that computer and Telegram is blocking it: an antivirus or firewall (allow Relay2Trade there), a VPN, or the network itself. Some VPS providers, workplaces and countries block Telegram. Check that the Telegram app works on that same computer. The app keeps trying and connects as soon as the way is open.
• "Telegram had a problem on its side. Try again in a minute." Wait a minute and try again.
• "Telegram refused this version of the app." Update Relay2Trade ("Update now" under "Needs you" in the Desk). If it is already up to date, tell support.
• "Telegram has banned this phone number. Only Telegram can lift that." Contact Telegram, or use another Telegram account.
• A listener says "Telegram would not open this chat." Its name may have changed, or it is private and your account is not in it. Choose the chat again, or join it in Telegram first.
• "This is not a channel or a group, so there is nothing to read in it." Choose a group or a channel instead of a private chat.

More help: Troubleshooting.