What an alert looks like in practice
A followed-account alert names the trader, direction, size, market, and entry price. Trims and exits are labeled clearly so the notification reflects what the chosen trader changed.
A strategy digest summarizes how many events matched, total notional, and the largest markets during the digest window.
Each alert is concise enough to read at a glance, with enough context to decide whether the signal deserves further review. Opening it restores the trader and market context in Rivo, where a connected user can build and confirm a one-off venue order without turning on unattended automation.
What to read next
For the broader copy-trading framework, see our copy-trading prediction markets guide. For the underlying whale-tracking infrastructure, see our Polymarket whale tracker page. For the specific Telegram integration, see our Polymarket Telegram bot page.
Backtesting whale activity with strategies
The standard advice in prediction markets is to follow the smart money. It does not say which smart money. Large positions on heavy favourites resolve correctly most of the time and return very little per dollar staked; large positions on longshots lose far more often and pay multiples when they land. Politics, sports and crypto markets behave differently again. Which of those is worth copying is an empirical question, and tracking trades as they happen does not answer it.
A Rivo strategy is that question stated as a rule and answered against data. A rule might read: entry price under 20 cents, trade size over $10,000, new positions only. Every whale trade satisfying it is recorded, and scored win or loss once the underlying market resolves.
A strategy can be tested against history and run forward at the same time. On creation it optionally claims every qualifying trade from the preceding 90 days, most of which sit in markets that have already resolved, so the strategy carries a settled record immediately rather than accumulating one over a season. From that point it also claims new qualifying trades as they print. Positions in markets that are still open are priced against current odds and marked as unrealised; they are reported separately from settled results, and are never blended into a single figure.
Criteria can constrain category, sports league, trade size, the entry price band, the position type (a new position, an addition to an existing one, or a reversal), and free text matched against the market title. Specific markets can also be followed directly, in which case their whale trades join the strategy whether or not they satisfy the other criteria.
Each recorded trade stores the side, entry price and size at the moment it printed, so a strategy's history stays reproducible. Open positions are marked against current odds; settled positions are scored win or loss against the market's resolution. A stake is set per strategy or per trade, so the reported return reflects the size you would have taken rather than the size the whale took, which keeps two strategies comparable instead of dominated by whichever caught the largest single position.
Every strategy reports its own win rate, realized return, open exposure and a cumulative return curve. All figures are paper results that assume a fill at the whale's entry price, and are not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
What alerts does Rivo send?
Rivo sends real-time alerts when an account you explicitly follow trades, plus daily digests and end-of-run summaries for your strategies. The general whale feed stays live in the app but does not generate broad alerts.
How fast do Rivo alerts arrive?
Followed-account alerts typically arrive within seconds of Rivo detecting the trade. Strategy matches are recorded immediately and summarized in a daily digest rather than generating a notification for every trade.
Which alert channels does Rivo support?
Two channels: Telegram, and an in-app notifications inbox. Both are included with any paid subscription, with no separate channel fees. Users can enable either or both per their preference.
Can I control which activity alerts me?
Yes. Follow only the accounts whose trades you want in real time, and create strategies for rule-based tracking. Feed topic and size preferences personalize the feed but do not send general alerts.
Are alerts available on Kalshi as well as Polymarket?
Yes. Followed-account alerts support tracked identities from Polymarket and Kalshi, and strategies can match activity from either venue.
Do strategies send an alert for every matching trade?
No. Every match is recorded immediately, but active strategies send one daily digest and an end-of-run summary. This keeps broad strategies from flooding the inbox.