What types of orders do you offer?

Limits are an instruction to trade if the market price reaches a price more favourable than the current price and can be used when opening or closing positions, with an objective of securing a profit. 

When opening positions, you’d place your limit order below the current market price when going long and above the market price when going short. 

When closing positions, you’d place your limit order above the current market price on a long position and below the market price on a short position.

A benefit of spread betting and CFD trading is that you can attach limit orders to close your trade before your trade is even opened. This provides more flexibility and control over your trades when compared to standard share dealing.

Example

The Bank of England (BoE) is due to announce policy changes later in the day. Based on your analysis , you expect the FTSE to fall in the short term, before rebounding.*

You decide to set a limit order 20 points below the current price to trigger an opening of a long position – which would be at a more favourable price.

Before submitting the order, you also attach a limit 40 points above and a stop-loss 40 points below the current market price to close your position if triggered.

The ideal situation would be for the FTSE to fall by 20 points to trigger the opening of your trade, then rebound 60 points for your limit to be triggered, leaving you with a profit of 60 points.

*Please note that examples are for illustrative purposes only and involve several assumptions, such as all else being equal, zero fees nor spread, no slippage and unlimited liquidity.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

Stops are an instruction to execute an order when the price of a market hits a specific level, less favourable than the current market price.

When opening positions, you’d place your stop order above the current market price when going long and below the market price when going short. 

When closing positions, you’d place your stop order below the current market price on a long position and above the market price on a short position.

Example:

Let’s say you are looking to open a long position on the FTSE 100, which is currently trading at 6037.9. 

The Bank of England(BoE) is due to announce policy changes later in the day. Based on your analysis , you expect the FTSE to trend upwards if a specific price level is broken.

You set a stop order at 6038.4 to open a long position, which is 5 points above the current market price. Before submitting an order, you also set a stop-loss at 6017.9, 20 points below the current market price, and a limit order at 6077.9, 40 points above the current price, to close your position if triggered. 

The ideal situation would be for the price to increase above 6038.4 which will trigger your order to be opened, then continue to move upwards to 6077.9 to close automatically in a profit. 

*Please note that examples are for illustrative purposes only and involve several assumptions, such as all else being equal, zero fees nor spread, no slippage and unlimited liquidity.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

If the opening price you are trying to set for your order is better than the current market, you will need to place a limit order. This will only execute if the market price is at this limit or better. If you are attaching a limit as a take profit level then this logic also follows, ie the position will only close if this limit price or better is reached.

You can place a stop order if the level you are trying to execute is worse than the current price. If the level is breached, your order will be dealt at market irrespective of the price. It can, therefore, be filled at a worse level than you requested. If you are attaching a stop to a position as a close condition and it’s triggered, there is a chance it will be filled at a worse level. 

To learn more about order types, visit our trading academy.

Example:

The Bank of England (BoE) is due to announce policy changes later in the day. Based on your analysis , you expect the FTSE to rise in the long term.*

Before opening a long position, you attach a stop-loss 40 points below the current market price to close your position automatically if triggered. This is to manage your risk if the market turns against you.

If the FTSE falls 40 points after your position has been opened, then your stop-loss would be triggered and automatically close your position.

*Please note that examples are for illustrative purposes only and involve several assumptions, such as all else being equal, zero fees nor spread, no slippage and unlimited liquidity.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

A normal stop-loss is an instruction for IG to automatically close your trade at the best available price, when your selected level is reached. In volatile or illiquid markets, this could be at a level worse than your chosen level due to slippage.

Example:

The Bank of England (BoE) is due to announce policy changes later in the day. Based on your analysis , you expect the FTSE to rise in the long term.*

Before opening a long position, you attach a stop-loss 40 points below the current market price to close your position automatically if triggered. This is to manage your risk if the market turns against you.

If the FTSE falls 40 points after your position has been opened, then your stop-loss would be triggered and automatically close your position.

*Please note that examples are for illustrative purposes only and involve several assumptions, such as all else being equal, zero fees nor spread, no slippage and unlimited liquidity.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

A guaranteed stop will close your position at the exact level you select, meaning IG takes on the risk of slippage. A 'guaranteed stop premium' will be added to your margin and refunded if the stop isn't triggered. 

To set a guaranteed stop on your deal or order ticket, click the drop-down arrow under ‘stop’ and select ‘guaranteed’.

To find out more about order types, visit our trading academy.

The cost of a guaranteed stop depends on the market you are trading, but you’ll only be charged if the stop is actually triggered. You can see the guaranteed stop cost before opening a deal. Just enter your stop distance (being sure to select ‘guaranteed’ from the drop-down list) and the stop premium will display near the bottom of the ticket. This premium is held separately alongside the margin, and if triggered will be printed separately to your history and overnight statement.

You can see the guaranteed stop cost before opening a deal, as the stop premium will display near the bottom of the ticket. This premium is held separately alongside the margin, and if triggered, will appear as an itemised charge in your history and overnight statement.

Example:

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

In the event of a sudden, rapid market movement, a guaranteed stop can act like an insurance, as shown below:

Let us consider three different clients, A, B and C, using different methods to manage their account.

All three clients have an open buy trade of £10 per point of USD/JPY at 11027.5.

During the sudden fall in the value of USD/JPY on 2 January 2019 – known as a ‘flash crash’ – most clients were closed out at 10686.4, while the pair bottomed out at 10472.7. Here’s the impact on the three accounts:

Comparing the scenarios above, client A, who placed a guaranteed stop on their position, has greatly minimised their losses compared to clients B and C. If the flash crash had not happened, and the guaranteed stop had not been triggered, there would have been no impact on client A as the guaranteed stop premium would only have been charged if the stop was triggered.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

A trailing stop is a stop that automatically adjusts to market movement. This means it will follow your position when the market moves in your favour, and will lock in your profits and close the position if the market moves against you.

You set a trailing stop via the deal ticket in the same way as you set a normal stop. When setting a trailing stop you need to set the stop distance, as with a normal stop, and the trailing step. The trailing step is the number of points the market needs to move in your favour before your trailing stop will move with it.

Adding a trailing stop on the deal ticket

1. Click on the drop-down menu under ‘stop’
2. Select ’trailing’

Enter your stop and trailing step where prompted

NB: The trailing stop option will not be available on the deal ticket if you are placing a working order.

A trailing stop in action

Say you buy a position on the DAX 40 at 10,450. You set your stop distance at 15 points away from the current market level, so 10,435, and your trailing step at a distance of five points.

The DAX 40 moves in your favour by five points to 10,455. This move of five points will have triggered your trailing step, adjusting your stop distance to 10,440 – maintaining a distance of 15 points from your new position. Your stop distance will continue to be adjusted every time the DAX 40 moves a further five points.

If the DAX 40 were to hit a high of 10,493 before retracing by 70 points, your trailing stop will have been fixed at 10,475 and your position closed out, earning you a profit.

With a normal stop your position would have closed at 10,435, earning you a loss.

Please bear in mind that trailing stops are not guaranteed, and so can be subject to slippage. This means that they may not be executed exactly at the level you’ve specified.

When placing a trade in an opposite direction to an existing position of the same market, you can choose if you would like the positions to cancel out (net off) or if you would like two separate positions to open. Your choice would depend on whether you wish to close off a trade (partially or fully) or hedge an existing position. 

Selecting ‘net off’ means that we’ll close existing opposing positions in the same market before opening a new trade, which will decrease your exposure to that market. 

Selecting ‘force open’ allows you to hold positions on the same market in opposing directions, which allows you to hedge your existing exposure. 

Example:

Say you’re long 100 shares of Tesla (US All Sessions) but your outlook has changed and would like to decrease your exposure. You can either close your position (fully or partially) by opening a short trade and choosing “net off”, which is the default option, or you can keep your existing long trade open and open a separate short trade to hedge. 

If we open a short trade of 25 shares and choose “net off”, we will effectively be selling 25 of our shares, leaving us with one position – 75 shares long. 

If we open a short trade and instead choose “force open”, we will be opening a separate short position, leaving us with two positions – 100 shares long and 25 shares short. 

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

A partial fill is an order condition that can help to increase the chance that your trade will be successfully executed when you’re trading in larger sizes. If you trade in a size so large that we can’t fill your entire order, rather than reject it outright, we’ll fill your order in the maximum size possible. We’ll only ever partially fill your order as an alternative to an outright rejection.

Partial fills are a default setting on the IG platform. To change this:

1. Log in to My IG and open the platform
2. Click on ‘settings’ in the left-hand side menu
3. Unselect the ‘partial fill' checkbox

Example:

Say you wish to open a long trade of 1,000 shares of Tesla (US All Sessions) and you’ve selected ‘accept partial fills’ on your platform, before placing your order. If 1,000 shares are available at the price you chose, your order will be fully filled, however if less than 1,000 shares are available at the price you chose, then the maximum number of shares will be bought.

For more information on order types, visit our trading academy.

Points through current is an order filling condition that allows you to specify how many points away from the current market price you would accept if the market changes suddenly as you click to deal. Once triggered, if your order can be filled at a price within the tolerance (the number of points through the current price) you specified, your order will be executed.

Points through current is not a default order type, so you’ll have to manually select it:

1. Log in to My IG and open the platform
2. Click on ‘settings’ in the left-hand flyout menu
3. Open the order type drop-down menu
4. Select ‘Pts through current’

Once you’ve selected to show price options in the deal ticket, and chosen ‘Pts through current’, you’ll be able to set your tolerance level in the deal ticket. We’ll always remember your last points, through current value per market, to speed up your dealing process.

For more information, visit our trading academy where we have lessons on order types.

We currently do not offer one cancels the other (OCO) orders to open. However, if you attach a stop and a limit to an open position then this will act as an OCO order. 

You can also consider one of our third-party platforms, like ProRealTime or MT4, for more complex or customised order types.

A market order is used when you want to deal immediately at the best price available. Market orders can only be placed when the market is open during core exchange times and will only be executed if there are sufficient buyers and sellers. Due to liquidity, pre- and post-market market orders cannot be placed on US All Session shares. 

The objective of a market order is to purchase as quickly as possible. However, it's important to be aware that market orders can be filled at a worse price than the current bid/ask price. 

Example:

Let's say Tesla Motors Inc (All Sessions) is currently trading at $600. You want to purchase the stock as soon as possible because you believe the price will rise beyond the current market level, so you place a market order. Assuming there is high liquidity in the market, your trade would be executed at the next available price.

A limit order is an instruction to trade if a market's price reaches a particular level that's more favourable than the current price. You use these when you want to wait until a price reaches a more favourable level before you trade. Limit orders can be used to open(buy) as well as close(sell) trades. 

When buying, your limit order price level will have to be below the current or closing market level, because you are looking to buy the shares at lower (cheaper) price. 

When selling, your limit order price level will have to be above the current or closing market level, because you are looking to sell the shares at higher (more profitable) price.

Limit orders are the only order types available for pre- and post-market orders. Only All Session US shares can be traded out of normal trading hours. In order to submit an pre- or order you’ll need to select 'All Sessions' in the expiry drop down of the deal ticket. Once placed, your pre-market order will show under the working order section of the platform. Your order would be executed if the market opens at a price more favourable than your chosen limit level – provided liquidity is available. 

An important factor to consider is that limit orders may decrease the chances of your order being filled if the market price does not reach your limit level, or if the quantity of shares available is not sufficient. 

Example:

Let's say Tesla is currently trading at $600. Your analysis suggests that it will fall to $580 then rise again. 

Rather than sitting in front of your screen monitoring the market, you place a limit order to buy at an ask price level of $580. 

A few hours later, the market does indeed reach this level and your trade is executed at $580. 

Your trade then works in the normal way – so if the price of Tesla continues to increase past $600, as you predicted, then instead of buying at the original market price of $600, you’ve bought at $580, which is a more favourable price. 

In contrast to a limit order, a stop order is an instruction to trade when the market hits a level less favourable than the current price. This is generally used when you would like to confirm a trend or break out. 

When buying, your stop order price level will have to be above the current or closing market level, because you are looking to confirm an upward movement, however at a less favourable price (more expensive). 

When selling, your stop order price level will have to be below the current or closing market level, because you are looking to confirm a downward movement, also at a less favourable price.

We do not offer pre-market stop orders, as market orders are not available in the US pre-market. You could potentially queue a stop order for the market open.

Example

Let's say Tesla is currently trading at $600. Your analysis suggests that it will rise to $700, but you would like to mitigate further losses if the market turns in the opposite direction.

Rather than sitting in front of your screen monitoring the market, you place a stop order to sell at a bid price level of $550.

A few hours later, the market does indeed turn and surpass this level and your trade is executed at $550 and you would no longer be exposed to further downward movements. It's important to bear in mind that stop orders can be filled at a worse price, meaning lower than $550 in this example.

For assets that are traded on exchange, like shares, brokers such as ourselves have access to the order book – which displays the price levels and order sizes of orders being placed by buyers and sellers. 

When trading ‘on exchange’, your order is routed directly to the exchanges and execution depends on the availability of shares. Your order would need to be matched with another exchange market participant to be executed. 

With smaller or less liquid stocks, ‘on exchange’ orders may not be filled. . In such a case, you may wish to trade ‘at quote’ if this is available on your platform. 

Placing an order ‘at quote’ requires you to request a quote from a Retail Service Provider (RSP), which is an example of a non-primary market. You can request a quote directly from your trading platform for certain UK stocks, and you will have 15 seconds to accept or reject the quote. If you do not accept or reject the quote, It will expire and no trade will be executed. It is however, important to note that quotes from RSPs are not guaranteed and may be cancelled at any point in time during the quoting period. This means your order can be rejected even if you press 'confirm order', so it’s best to double-check your ‘open positions’ tab to see if the order was filled. 

We offer several different expiry periods as explained below: 

• Market day: The order remains active until the end of the trading day and will execute if the market price reaches your specified price level. If your price level is reached, orders will execute immediately, in full, if enough shares are available. If not, the maximum possible number of shares will be executed and the rest of the order would remain outstanding until the end of the trading day
• Day (All Sessions): This expiry is only available for ‘All Session US Shares’. Orders will remain open during US pre-market, core exchange and post market times. If your price level is reached, orders will execute immediately in full, if enough shares are available. If not, the maximum possible number of shares will be executed and the rest of the order would remain outstanding until fully filled, oruntil the end of the trading day(including post-market hours). Orders can execute between 12pm to 10.30pm Monday to Thursday and 12 to 10pm Friday (UK time)
• Execute and eliminate: If there aren’t enough shares available at the specified level to fill the order, the maximum possible number of shares are executed and the rest of the order is cancelled 
• Good ‘til cancelled (GTC): Orders will remain in the ‘working order’ section of your platform until they’re fully filled. Orders that are not filled by the end of the trading day will remain valid until you cancel them yourself, or they are filled. On some exchanges, the order may have a maximum validity period, so it may be worth monitoring the order and finding out what the maximum period is 
• Good ‘til date: You can choose an expiry time and date for your pending orders. These will show in the ‘working order’ section of your platform until they’re fully filled, expire, or cancel, by you 

Please note: Pending/working orders may also be cancelled by our trading desk if, for example, you have a working order to trade a company that is involved in a corporate action, such as a takeover

The table below summarizes which expiry periods are available for each share dealing order type:

*Only All Session US shares have an “all sessions” expiry option which allows pre- and post- market orders from 12pm to 10.30pm Monday to Thursday and 12 to 10pm Friday (UK time) for share dealing and ISA accounts. 

**Only available online for most UK shares. 

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