How do you set a stop on a new order in IB?

[psj02]

Hi,
First time placing an order in IB. In the Macquarie Prime platform that I'm used to, you can set your stop price when you place the order. In IB, in the order form, there is an entry for the stop price but it has been greyed out. Are you only able to set a stop once the order has been filled? This would be a bit inconvenient as I like to place my orders and stops outside hours and not have to worry about them during market hours when I'm at work. Any ideas on how I can get around this?

 

[jersey10]

you should be able to set a stop on your order ticket, maybe you have to configure your order settings?

have you tried putting your order in and then right clicking on your order line and selecting attach stop order

 

[psj02]

No, I haven't tried that. I was just wary of reading somewhere that IB charges a fee for cancelling or modifying orders, but I may have misinterpreted it.

 

[jersey10]

No, I haven't tried that. I was just wary of reading somewhere that IB charges a fee for cancelling or modifying orders, but I may have misinterpreted it.

no they don't. some days i modify or cancel many orders - no charge. really good trading platform. i found the best way to familiarise yourself with it was to go mad with the simulated account which, functionally, is exactly the same as your real account. The great benefit of course is that when you make a mistake you don't pay for it.

 

[psj02]

Hey, I placed a buy order and tried the right click and configure options, but still no joy. I couldn't attach a stop order so I tried to create a new sell order as a stop order, but it didn't give me that option (just either Limit or Market). Am I going about this the wrong way, or is the only way to set a stop, after your buy order is filled?

 

[psj02]

Hey I think I worked it out. I set a normal limit buy order, then I created a new sell order of the same security. The stop type order was disabled as default so I enabled it. So now I have two orders, one a buy and the other a sell/stop. My question is, say the share opens low today and does not trigger the buy order, and the price creeps down to the stop level, does that mean the sell order could be triggered first as a short sell? Or to put it another way, if I've bought 200 shares in a security, and the price then falls to the stop level, will the stop sell order that I've placed know I want to close out this position, rather than short sell 200 new ones? Cheers

 

[skc]

Best way is to right click the buy order and attach auto stop order. That way the stop is only transmitted once your long is open. Otherwise you may end up with a net short if share price falls through your stop, and you forgot you had an order in there.

You can set it in the order preset so it automatically comes up every time you try to buy/sell anything.

 

[psj02]

Ok, I'm getting really frustrated with this. My buy order was filled today but does not have a stop attached to it. What can I do to set a stop for an order that has already been executed? Right click doesn't have an attach option, because I think the order has already been filled. How do I set a stop on this, can someone take me through it step by step?

 

[Mr J]

Just a tip, you can configure TWS to automatically add stops in the configuration -> order presets section. You can also configure the buttons tab to include orders with automatic stops.