Order Setup

The Order Setup dialog is used to set the graphical trading order parameters for a contract. This needs to be done for each symbol in a chart which has graphical trading enabled to set the various order parameters used for trading that symbol from the chart. The information is stored separately for each symbol, so each symbol may have different settings.

Trading Mode specifies one of two modes for all orders entered from a chart for this symbol:

  • Paper Trading specifies that all orders are simulated only. The simulated execution records and account summary can be viewed with the Paper Trade... dialog. When this mode is selected you must also select a Paper Account. You can create new accounts with the manage accounts dialog.
  • Real Trading mode only works with IB TWS as the quote source. You are not allowed to make this selection unless you have a paid SSChart router lease, and have accepted the terms of use. In this mode all orders are transmitted immediately through TWS when you drop the order symbols on the chart. Warning: Do not use this mode until you have practiced in paper trading mode long enough to understand how all the features of the graphical trading interface function.

Lot Size specifies the number of contracts in one order "lot". All orders have a size of one lot unless you use a number key on the keyboard during order placement to multiply the number of lots on the order. The actual order size will be (number of lots)*(lot size).

Incr Size is the number of contracts to increase or decrease the order size for each time the "+" or "-" keys are pressed on the keyboard between when the order symbol is picked and when it is placed.

When Tick Size Override is zero, the order price snaps to the nearest "mintick" minimum trading tick size. If it is non-zero then this value is used for the snap-to rounding of price instead of mintick. This is used mainly for STOCKS, where the mintick value is .001 and you want to send the orders in pennies (.01) instead.

TIF sets the Time In Force for all orders entered graphically for this symbol to the selected value. Note: Orders sent by the hot-keys are sent as IOC (immediate or cancel) orders.

Opening Order Mode specifies the type of order entered by the blue buy, and the red sell order symbols for opening orders. An opening order is any order that increases you position either long or short for the contract. If the order is not an opening order, then it is a closing order and the blue and red symbols will always place only a limit buy or sell order respectively reguardless of the Opening Order Mode setting. The position used for this determination is shown on the chart status line to the left of the order symbols. In real-trading mode this information is received from IB TWS and may lag your actual position slightly. You need to monitor TWS to make sure the position shown on the chart matches information shown in TWS.

Opening Order Modes:

  • Limit The blue and red symbols place single limit orders.
  • Limit w Auto Stop The blue and red symbols place a limit buy or sell order with an attached stop order on the appropriate side to close the new position at the "stop price offset" away from where the limit order is placed.
  • Limit w Auto Trail The blue and red symbols place a limit buy or sell order with an attached trailing stop order on the appropriate side to close the new position at the "trail price offset" away from where the limit order is placed.
  • Limit w Bracket (Stop) The blue and red symbols place a bracket order, i.e. an opening buy/sell limit order with attached stop and target orders that activate when the opening limit order is filled. The stop and target orders are assigned an OCA name so when one is filled the other is automatically canceled.
  • Limit w Bracket (Trail) The blue and red symbol place a bracket order as above, except that the stop is a trailing stop.

Price Offsets specify the price offsets from the opening order for the auto stop, auto trail, and bracket, opening order modes described above.

  • Stop offset is the distance from the opening price to place the stop order for the auto-stop, and bracket order modes attached stop order.
  • Trail offset is the trailing amount for the attached trailing stop order in the auto-trail and bracket-trail order modes.
  • Target offset is the distance from the opening price to place the attached target order for the bracket and bracket-trail modes.

Hot Key Order Offsets specify the maximum slippage amount to allow for the IOC (Immediate or cancel) orders generated by the hot-keys (^B, ^S, ^C, ^R) which are active when a graphical trading enabled chart is selected. The offset is added or subtracted from the last trade price as appropriate to generate the price for the limit order sent by these keys.

Stop Limit Offset is used to determine the limit price of stop-limit orders placed graphically. The activation price of the stop order will be where the stop-limit order symbol is placed on the chart, and the limit price will be offset by this amount from the activation price. A positive offset places the limit in at a more marketable price, a negative offset places the limit away from the current market.

Stop Trigger Method Sets the stop trigger method used by orders thourgh IB TWS. See the TWS user manual for explanation (or leave it at default). Note: Paper trading simulation always uses last method, but uses filtering as set under {File | Preferences...}

Ignore RTH (Regular Trading Hours) this setting is passed through to TWS on all real orders. When set, stops are active at all hours (on GLOBEX), when clear they are only active during RTH. (For paper trading, the simulation ignores this setting and orders are active all hours).

Sweep to Fill This setting is passed through to TWS on all real orders. See the TWS user guide for expanation.

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