How to set a stop loss with Commsec?

Harro7 · 9 February 2009

Hi,

I made my first purchase the other day with my commsec account for the stock FMG.

I want to know how to set up a stop loss. From what I can gather you just put in a sell order at a certain price - say 2.40.

However, I also want a sell order for 3.00. It won't allow me to set to sell orders at a market price I choose.

Is this not what you're meant to do as a trader or is there a way around it?

Thanks,
Harro.

weird · 9 February 2009

Look at orders -> conditional trading.

Commsec charges a ridiculous amount for conditional orders.

I would look at the online broker Interactive Brokers, if trading very regularly and using conditional orders, particularly if using a small account.

Harro7 · 9 February 2009

Is what I outlined above considered a stop loss if I set a sell order to 2.40?

So to set a "trigger" (what commsec calls it) it costs 9.95 and then I'm assuming I have to pay the brockerage fee of 19.95 also. Can't believe I have to pay more to set a trigger.

So_Cynical · 9 February 2009

Harro7 said:
So to set a "trigger" (what commsec calls it) it costs 9.95 and then I'm assuming I have to pay the brockerage fee of 19.95 also. Can't believe I have to pay more to set a trigger.

Hello Harro...u don't believe a bank is charging u fees?

Anyway is your commsec account enabled for conditional trading...there's a
little test u have to pass to turn on the function.

Harro7 · 9 February 2009

So_Cynical said:
Hello Harro...u don't believe a bank is charging u fees?

Anyway is your commsec account enabled for conditional trading...there's a
little test u have to pass to turn on the function.

I'm still young - I expect I'll fully understand the world of banks very soon. I'm still in the conditioning phase - it seems a very basic feature to me.

Yeah, I haven't passed the test yet. I still have to "sign up" for this feature.

Can I just set a sell order at 2.40? Is this the same thing in effect?

shaunQ · 9 February 2009

No - your saying your happy to sell for $2.40, essentially regardless of the current market price is.

jackson8 · 9 February 2009

Harro7 said:
I'm still young - I expect I'll fully understand the world of banks very soon. I'm still in the conditioning phase - it seems a very basic feature to me.

Yeah, I haven't passed the test yet. I still have to "sign up" for this feature.

Can I just set a sell order at 2.40? Is this the same thing in effect?

what you are suggesting here is not a stop loss
if you place a sell order for 2.40 the shares that you have just purchased will be resold back into the market
is that what you wish to do
to place a stop loss you must place a conditional order, you will need to apply for thru the web site, its not a big deal takes five minutes
otherwise if you can monitor the price thru out the day sell when required

keep in mind too that in the event of a fast falling market you may receive far less than your stop loss order

Harro7 · 10 February 2009

jackson8 said:
what you are suggesting here is not a stop loss
if you place a sell order for 2.40 the shares that you have just purchased will be resold back into the market
is that what you wish to do
to place a stop loss you must place a conditional order, you will need to apply for thru the web site, its not a big deal takes five minutes
otherwise if you can monitor the price thru out the day sell when required

keep in mind too that in the event of a fast falling market you may receive far less than your stop loss order

Thank you for those bits of information. Puts the matter to bed for me. I'll sign up to pay some additional fees I guess.

nunthewiser · 10 February 2009

hey well done tho on actually trying to put a stoploss plan into place

a lot of new traders dont

lol a lot of older traders dont either

but thumbs up for actually looking at risk mangement and considering the fact that you MAY lose on the position also

shaunQ · 10 February 2009

nunthewiser said:
hey well done tho on actually trying to put a stoploss plan into place

a lot of new traders dont

lol a lot of older traders dont either

but thumbs up for actually looking at risk mangement and considering the fact that you MAY lose on the position also

As just a junior trader myself using Commsec, what sucks is that Commsec actively discourages stop losses by charging a ridiculous amount for it and I have to consider changing to another platform to obtain it.

beerwm · 10 February 2009

$10 is really not that much,

considering brokerage is $40,
its only 20% of fees.

certainly do not be discouraged by the cost, a stop loss is essential if you arent following the market by the minute, or have a problem pushing the sell button.

I'm seriously considering changing to IB though, $12 vs $50

on a $1000 play,
Commsec = 5.0% required gain to break even
IB = 1.2% required gain to break even

So_Cynical · 10 February 2009

shaunQ said:
As just a junior trader myself using Commsec, what sucks is that Commsec actively discourages stop losses by charging a ridiculous amount for it and I have to consider changing to another platform to obtain it.

$10 is one of the cheapest conditional orders ive seen...great value, that's why i switched form Westpac.

shaunQ · 10 February 2009

So_Cynical said:
$10 is one of the cheapest conditional orders ive seen...great value, that's why i switched form Westpac.

Interesting. I'd just assumed they were a rip off because people talk about them as though they are basically free elsewhere (and still presume they are free on IG etc)

Anyway, I took the view that I get the reduced $19 trade, and the $10 extra puts it back to the standard $29. But $12 sure sounds attractive.

apra143 · 10 February 2009

IB have monthly minimums, so if you are a regular trader then go for it (in fact I think they check your past history), otherwise, the monthly fees would catch up.

MS+Tradesim · 10 February 2009

Some clarifications about IB:

Commission on ASX trades is the greater of AUD$6 or 0.08%. No extra for conditional orders.

Compare that with Comsec:
$19.95 up to $10,000 order, $29.95 up to $25,000, 0.12% for greater.
PLUS conditional order costs which START at $9.95.

IB have a monthly minimum activity fee of US$10***. If you don't spend over US$10 in comms you get charged the difference between what you've spent and the $10. So if you have no trades in the month you get charged $10. If you spend US$8 on trade comms. you get charged $2. If you spend over $10 you don't get charged.

Live ASX market data is AUD$35/mth through IB. But you may not need it if you trade very infrequently.

*** Activity fee is US$3 if aged < 25, or US$20 if less than US$2000 in your account.

Ps. Order types available with IB. Not all apply to ASX trading. Check:
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=orderTypes&ib_entity=llc

dmagnus · 11 February 2009

Bell Direct has conditional orders free for 3 months right now.

Do it.

If they had Margin lending I would never have touched commsec

donkeykong · 6 May 2009

I'm thinking of using commsec for my trading, just wondering though can you change the values of the triggers without incurring extra fees? I want to be able to manually set a trailing stop loss but don't want to get charged $9.95 everytime I change its value.

nomore4s · 6 May 2009

donkeykong said:
I'm thinking of using commsec for my trading, just wondering though can you change the values of the triggers without incurring extra fees? I want to be able to manually set a trailing stop loss but don't want to get charged $9.95 everytime I change its value.

Find another platform imo, Commsec is no good for true trading, more for investing imo. Mac Prime is alot better for trading but still quite expensive - $40 round trip.

donkeykong · 6 May 2009

^ Mac Prime does look pretty good, no charge for stop losses and these can be changed at any time for free. The GSL's look interesting too, they might be worth looking into.

Cheers!

jono1887 · 6 May 2009

donkeykong said:
I'm thinking of using commsec for my trading, just wondering though can you change the values of the triggers without incurring extra fees? I want to be able to manually set a trailing stop loss but don't want to get charged $9.95 everytime I change its value.

You can set a trailing one for $14.95 and only pay if the trigger is fired... if not, you don't need to pay the fee.

How to set a stop loss with Commsec?

Harro7

weird

Harro7

So_Cynical

The Contrarian Averager

Harro7

shaunQ

jackson8

Harro7

nunthewiser

shaunQ

beerwm

So_Cynical

The Contrarian Averager

shaunQ

apra143

Hash

MS+Tradesim

dmagnus

donkeykong

nomore4s

Commonsense isn't that common

donkeykong

jono1887

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