Stop Losses, Limit Orders and New Orders
Stop-Loss Orders
A ‘Stop-Loss Order’ is the method used to limit the losses on an individual bet. It literally means ‘when the loss on a bet reaches the point where I no longer wish to risk any more money then close me out of my bet’ (or ‘Stop’ me out).
FinancialSpreads.com automatically apply a stop-loss to every new bet;
You can amend your Stop-Loss and add a Limit Order right after your trade has been confirmed.
When you click on the Orders button above, you will see this new ticket:
If
you do not amend your stop-loss level right after you’ve traded,
your stop-loss will be based on 80% of the funds available in your account
or it will be set at the Max CGSL (maximum Computer Generated Stop-loss).
Details of the Max CGSL for each product can be found in our market
information or if you click here.
On accessing the ‘Orders’ area on the trading screen you will be able view all the current Stop-Losses and Limit Orders that are running against your open positions.
Viewing Your Stop-Loss
Amending your Stop-Loss
If you wish to move the ‘Stop’ level on any bet to another price simply click on the ‘Amend’ button next to the relevant ‘Stop’ order and then change the price in the ‘Level’ field.
You can also add a Limit Order at this stage, if you wish.
Stop-losses cannot be cancelled – they can only amended.
Every market has a minimum distance from the current price at which any Stop will be accepted. You may move the stop further from the current market price provided your account has sufficient funds to do so – the system will not permit you to move your stop level beyond such available margin.
When a position is closed, the stop-loss relating to that trade will be automatically cancelled and you will receive an email to confirm this.
All Stops are effectively Good Till Cancelled ‘GTC’
New Orders
A “New Order” is an order that is not attached to any existing bet and is independent of any other instruction. A New Order is used to open a new bet at a level in the market, which has not yet been reached.
A ‘New’ order is different from a ‘Limit’ order because a ‘Limit’ order is cancelled when the relevant position to which it applies is closed.
The ‘New’ Order functionality is useful for placing orders at critical market points so that you do not have to be watching the markets every moment of every day to ensure that you do not miss an opportunity.
To create a New Order
To create a “New Order” go to the product of your choice
and click on the ORDER button:
Once you’ve clicked on the Order button, this ticket will appear:
When you click on the “If Done” button, this ticket will appear:
Use this ticket to add a stop-loss level of your choice and a Limit Order, if you wish.
[return to top of page]
OCO (One Cancels Other) Orders
If you have a New Order instruction in place, you can add an OCO (one cancels other) instruction. This means you can leave two independent instructions in the same product and if one is executed, the other will be cancelled.
For example, if your New Order is a Buy bet of £10 in the Wall Street @ 10000, you could also leave an OCO sell bet of £10 @ 9960. If the sell bet is filled/executed first, the buy bet will be cancelled and vice versa, hence the phrase, one cancels other.
You can also set a stop-loss and limit order to both your New Order and OCO order.
When you click the confirm button, you will get confirmation of all the instructions that you’ve left as follows:
You will then receive an order number for this instruction:
You may amend any of these instructions by going to your Order Book and clicking the amend button:
Limit Orders
A ‘Limit’ is a specific order placed against an existing open bet and is often used as a method of taking your profit on an open position when the FinancialSpreads.com quote reaches a level at which you wish to exit your bet (i.e. it is more generally considered to be the opposite of the Stop-Loss as it could be called a Take Profit order).
In the FinancialSpreads.com system a ‘Limit’ order must match exactly the size on any single open bet not the total position (if you have a total position of £20 in a market but this is made up of two £10 bets you will have to place two ‘Limit’ orders).
Each Limit Order is assigned an open position to which it refers, if you click on the Information icon on the relevant order you will be able to identify which open bet the ‘Limit’ order refers to.
If you wish to add a Limit Order to a bet as you’re trading, click on the ORDERS button in the trade confirmation ticket.
When you click on the Orders button above, you will see this new ticket:
When a bet that has a Limit Order attached to it is closed or partially closed the Limit Order will be either cancelled or amended to reflect the lesser remaining bet stake amount.
Placing a Limit Order and thus attaching it to an existing bet creates an OCO or One Cancels Other order because either your Stop or your Limit will be executed if you do nothing and the market moves to either level.
‘Limit’ orders may be Good Till Cancelled (GTC), Good Till End of Day, (GFD, which is good till the last time that FinancialSpreads.com quotes that market on that business day or the time that that market closes, whichever is earlier) or Good Till UK Time (which is good till a date and time specified by you).
[return to top of page]
Adding a Limit Order at a later date:
If you wish to add a Limit Order at a later stage, go to the ORDER BOOK section of your account and click on the AMEND button for the Stop-Loss associated with your trade.
You can then add a Limit Order, as detailed below:
You can of course attach a Limit Profit order at the time of trading.
If you have any problems understanding our Orders Facility, please
do not hesitate to call our Customer Support team on +44 (0)20 7456 7061 or email
support@FinancialSpreads.com
[NEXT]