The benefits of using entry orders in forex trading

As you’ve now learned, entry orders are a valuable tool in forex trading. Having a good trading strategy in place is great. But you might need to incorporate orders to execute that plan effectively.

The forex market is open 24 hours a day, which means you can’t keep an eye on it all the time. So, you may need a way to execute your trading plan that fits with your daily schedule.

This is where setting up forex entry orders comes into play. There are several benefits to trading forex using entry orders, which we’ll explore in this lesson.

Price control

The first benefit of entry orders is the control they give you over a market’s price level. You can indicate your desired entry price at which the trade will execute. Having this ability to designate a level allows for ease of trading without having to constantly monitor the market.

Entry orders save time

Entry orders are very useful for saving time. By setting one, you don’t need to be at your computer when a trend line is hit or when a price breaks out of its price channel.

You can add an entry order to enter the market if the price behaves in the way you anticipate. It’s a good way to automate your trades, giving you room to spend your time on other matters.

Stop and limit orders on one position

You can also take things one step further by setting conditional stop and limit orders to manage a trade. This can give you extra peace of mind if an entry order you placed is triggered while you’re not using the platform. Your trade will automatically close out at the best available price when the market reaches your desired exit level.

To do this, you’ll need to fill in both the ’stop’ and ’limit’ fields on the deal ticket when placing an entry order (see image below).

Stops and limits set in this manner aren’t active until the entry order is triggered and opens your position.

Using stops and limits for money management

Consider how much time traders dedicate to trading each day. 12 hours? Six hours? One hour? Ten minutes?

If we look at the average amount of time spent trading the markets per day, most traders probably fall near the lower end of the spectrum – between ten minutes to an hour. This is because many people trade part-time and have a day job, a family or prior obligations to attend to.

A good trading strategy can seek to enter the market at the most ideal price level, even if it’s not available while you’re watching the market. Exit orders can also help by closing out your trades at predetermined prices to limit the amount of money you lose, should the market move against you.

Accountability and sticking to your strategy

Orders can also help you stick to your trading strategy. For instance, stop orders can help eliminate the possibility of emotions getting in the way of strategic trades.

The markets can be volatile, so you may want to consider having a strategy with a set of rules which will guide all your trading decisions.

Emotions like greed, fear and over-confidence can lead you away from your trading plan. This may result in you taking stabs at the market hoping to ’get lucky’ rather than taking a calculated risk where you believe you have an edge.

Using entry and exit orders can mitigate this risk and keep you accountable to your strategy.

Orders support trading on a timeframe

Trading on a custom timeframe can allow for more specified trades that could be in line with upcoming market news, political events or company results – depending on what market is being traded.

As seen in the image below, you can stipulate the expiry period for your entry order:

• Good till cancelled: this means that, should the market not reach your desired level, the entry order will remain active until you manually delete it
• Good till date: your entry order will remain active up until a specified date if your chosen price level isn’t reached by then