Types of Forex Orders
Market order
A market order is an order to buy or sell at the best available price.
For example, the bid price for EUR/USD is currently at 1.2140 and the ask price is at 1.2142. If you wanted to buy EUR/USD at market, then it would be sold to you at the ask price of 1.2142. You would click buy and your trading platform would instantly execute a buy order at that exact price.
If you ever shop on Amazon.com, it’s kinda like using their 1-Click ordering. You like the current price, you click once and it’s yours! The only difference is you are buying or selling one currency against another currency instead of buying a Justin Bieber CD.
Pending order
A pending order allows traders to buy and sell securities at a pre-defined price in the future. This type of order is used to execute a trade if price reaches the pre-defined level; the order will not be filled if price does not reach this level. There are four types of pending orders available in MT4 (see Figure 20):
Buy Limit - an order to purchase a security at or below a specified price. Limit orders must be placed on the correct side of the market to ensure they will accomplish the task of improving price. For a buy limit order, this means placing the order at or below the current market bid.
Sell Limit - an order to sell a security at or above a specified price. To ensure improved price, the order must be placed at or above the current market ask.
Buy Stop - an order to buy a security at a price above the current market bid. A stop order to buy becomes active only after a specified price level has been reached (known as the stop level). Stop orders work in the opposite direction of a limit order, with buy stop orders placed above the market and sell stop orders placed below the market. Once a stop level has been reached, the order will be immediately converted into a market or limit order.
Sell Stop - an order to sell a security at a price below the current market ask. A stop order to sell becomes active only after a specified price level has been reached.
Limit Entry Order
A limit entry is an order placed to either buy below the market or sell above the market at a certain price.
For example, EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2050. You want to go short if the price reaches 1.2070. You can either sit in front of your monitor and wait for it to hit 1.2070 (at which point you would click a sell market order), or you can set a sell limit order at 1.2070 (then you could walk away from your computer to attend your ballroom dancing class).
If the price goes up to 1.2070, your trading platform will automatically execute a sell order at the best available price. You use this type of entry order when you believe price will reverse upon hitting the price you specified!
Stop-Entry Order
A stop-entry order is an order placed to buy above the market or sell below the market at a certain price.
For example, GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.5050 and is heading upward. You believe that price will continue in this direction if it hits 1.5060. You can do one of the following to play this belief: sit in front of your computer and buy at market when it hits 1.5060 OR set a stop-entry order at 1.5060. You use stop-entry orders when you feel that price will move in one direction!
Stop-Loss Order
A stop-loss order is a type of order linked to a trade for the purpose of preventing additional losses if price goes against you. REMEMBER THIS TYPE OF ORDER. A stop-loss order remains in effect until the position is liquidated or you cancel the stop-loss order.
For example, you went long (buy) EUR/USD at 1.2230. To limit your maximum loss, you set a stop-loss order at 1.2200. This means if you were dead wrong and EUR/USD drops to 1.2200 instead of moving up, your trading platform would automatically execute a sell order at 1.2200 the best available price and close out your position for a 30-pip loss (eww!).
Stop-losses are extremely useful if you don’t want to sit in front of your monitor all day worried that you will lose all your money. You can simply set a stop-loss order on any open positions so you won’t miss your basket weaving class or elephant polo game.
Trailing Stop
A trailing stop is a type of stop-loss order attached to a trade that moves as price fluctuates.
Let’s say that you’ve decided to short USD/JPY at 90.80, with a trailing stop of 20 pips. This means that originally, your stop loss is at 91.00. If the price goes down and hits 90.60, your trailing stop would move down to 90.80 (or breakeven).
Just remember though, that your stop will STAY at this new price level. It will not widen if market goes higher against you. Going back to the example, with a trailing stop of 20 pips, if USD/JPY hits 90.40, then your stop would move to 90.60 (or lock in 20 pips profit).
Your trade will remain open as long as price does not move against you by 20 pips. Once the market price hits your trailing stop price, a market order to close your position at the best available price will be sent and your position will be closed.