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Forex Trade Types

Introduction to Forex Order Types

Prior to jumping into the world of Forex, you’ll want to take some time to learn about the various order types. Below, you’ll find information on the key types of orders that all traders will see in their trading platforms.

Market Orders

A market order is the most basic order type and is usually the first type of order that comes to mind. This order is executed at the best price that is available at the time that the order is received.

Limit Order

A limit order is placed to buy or sell at a specified price or at a price that is better than the specified price. A buy limit order is executed at the specified price or lower, while a sell limit order is executed at the specified price or higher. This type of order allows traders to be more precise when entering or exiting a trade. However, these orders will not be executed if the specified price is not met. 

Stop Order

Stop orders, or stop-loss orders, are usually used to limit downside risk when trading. A stop order triggers a market order when a predefined rate is reached. There are two types of stop orders:

  • A buy stop order triggers a market order when the offer price is met.
  • A sell stop order triggers a market order when the bid price is met.

Both the buy stop and sell stop orders are triggered at the best available price depending on liquidity. 

Trailing Stop

A trailing stop order is often used in order to limit risk. This order is set a predefined number of pips away from the market’s current price and will automatically trail your position if the market moves in your favor. If the market moves against you by the number of predefined pips, a market order is triggered, and the stop order will be executed at the next rate that is available depending on liquidity. 

Contingent Order

A contingent order actually combines multiple types of orders to execute against a specific trading strategy. These are the most common types:

  • An if/then order is placed as a set of two orders. If the first order is executed, then the second order becomes a separate order that is not associated with the first. If the first order isn’t triggered, then the second order remains dormant. If either order is canceled, then it will cancel the entire order.
  • With an if/then OCO order, the second order becomes an active and unassociated one-cancels-the-other order if the first order is executed. If the first order is never executed, then the second order remains dormant.  
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Forex Market

What Are The Different Types Of Orders In The Forex Market?

What is an order?

One of the first things every forex trader should know is about the different order types and implications of each one. An order in forex determines how you will enter or exit the market. Today, in trading, more options are available than just buying and selling at the current market price. With different order types, one can make the most of their trading opportunities.

Why are different order types needed in the forex market?

There needs to be some automation in the forex market. As we know that forex is 24 hours market, investors’ holdings, and their net worth keeps changing 24/7. If an open position is not managed regularly, the profit/loss figure can change drastically. Also, it is not possible to manage your positions all the time if you are working full time.

Therefore, in such a scenario, pending orders came in handy. These are tools investors and traders in the forex market use to manage their open positions. ‘Orders’ allow the traders to ensure that the value of their trades remain within certain bounds even though the market is open all day. Now let’s look at different order types.

Market order

Market orders are the most common types of orders used in the forex market. It is just an order to buy an asset at the current market price. Market orders are executed on a real-time basis when placed. Since prices in the forex market are changing rapidly, the order may be completed at a different price than you intended. This is known as slippage in market terminology. Slippage may work in the favor or against an investor. A market order creates an open position immediately.

Pending order

A pending order is an instruction to buy or sell an asset when certain conditions are met. It is a type of market order that gets executed only when certain conditions are fulfilled. It is a conditional market order. Pending orders eliminate the need to monitor the screen for placing trades continuously. It sets up an automatic order system that will execute trades instantly when the conditions are met. There are different types of pending orders. They are:

  • Buy Limit Order
  • Sell Limit Order
  • Buy Stop Order
  • Sell Stop Order

Let’s understand each of these orders below.

Buy & Sell Limit Order

It is an order placed by the traders to buy or sell a currency at a particular price. Typically, this price is better than the current market price. Traders can find both buy and sell limit orders in most of the trading platforms. A buy limit order will always be below the current market price (or sometimes equal), while a sell limit is always above the current market price (or sometimes equal). For instance, if you want to buy EUR/USD at 1.05 and the current market price is 1.11. You can place a limit order at 1.05, and your order will automatically get executed if the currency pair reaches this price.

Application limit orders

Let us assume that the market is in a downtrend. As a trend, you wish to sell precisely at the support and resistance line. Since a market order does not assure the precise price, you can prefer placing a sell limit order instead. This is because, with a limit order, your order will get executed at the exact price you were willing to take the trade.

Buy & Sell Stop Order

This is the converse of Limit order. By using this order, traders can place a buy order above the market price and a sell order below the market price. By doing this, they can increase the odds of entering or exiting the trade at their preferred price.

Application of stop orders

Let’s say the market is in a range and there is some news coming up which you think will break above the range and head north. You being a breakout trader wish to buy it after the breakout. During the news, the volatility is so high that it is hard to get hold of a good price if executing a market order. So, here is where a stop order comes to action. With this order, you can keep a buy stop order just above the range, as it will execute the trade automatically when the price hits the buy stop price.

Stop-loss order

It is an order placed by the traders to limit their losses on the trades they take. By using this order, a currency pair can be bought or sold once its price reaches a particular price, also known as ‘Stop Price.’ For instance, if you buy USD/CAD for $1.31 and not willing to lose more than $0.1 when you exit, you can place your stop-loss order at $1.21. This order only gets executed if and only if the price of the currency goes below $1.21.

Conclusion

There are more premium orders that are being provided by the advance brokerage firms. Some of them include Trailing Stop-Loss Order, After Market Order, and Bracket Order, etc. The forex market is gradually moving towards artificial intelligence for executing trades. The latest development in ‘orders’ is the creation of dependent orders. This means the investor can place two orders simultaneously, and based on the input, only one of the two will be executed. Dependent orders use complex algorithms that execute trades with minimal human intervention.

Categories
Forex Course

11. The Different Order Types In The Forex Market

Introduction

In the world of trading, the order types are identical, irrespective of the market you’re trading. The type of the ‘Order’ refers to how you wish to enter or exit a trade. If you’re new to the world of trading, you might only know two order types – Buy and Sell. But there are other order types that serve different purposes, and improve the way you trade. In this lesson, we will be discussing some of the most used orders in the forex market.

Types of Orders

There are about four order types widely used by traders. These are

  • Market Order
  • Limit Entry Order (Buy Limit, Sell Limit)
  • Stop Entry Order (Buy Stop, Sell Stop)
  • Stop Loss Order

Apart from the above, there are other orders that are exclusively offered by specific brokers like ‘Trailing Stop-Loss’ and ‘Profit Booking Order’ but in this article, we shall confine only to these four types.

Understanding the Bid and Ask prices

Let us first discuss these two terms as they form the base for understanding the order types.

Bid price

The bid price is the price at which the broker is willing to buy the currency pair from you. So, when you short sell a currency pair, you will be executed at the bid price.

Ask price

Ask price is the price at which the broker is willing to sell the currency pair to you. So, if you go long (buy) on a currency pair, you will be filled at the ask price.

With this under consideration, let us continue our discussion on different order types.

Market Order

This is the most basic form of order. In a market order, you get filled at the current market price. It is basically the best price available in the market to buy/sell a currency pair.

For example, let’s say the bid price of EURUSD is 1.2150, and the ask price is 1.2152. Now, if you execute a market buy order on this one, you will get filled at the ask price, i.e., at 1.2152. Similarly, if you go short on this pair, you will get filed at 1.2150.

Market orders are fast. A trader uses that order to enter a marker no matter what. That speed and fill guarantee comes at the cost of the slippage is the market has moved from the instant the trader pulls the trigger to when the order is filled.

Limit Entry Order

Limit entry order is an order where a buy order is placed less than the current market price, and a sell order is placed above the current market price.

For example, let’s say the current market price of AUDUSD is 0.6750. Now, if you want to buy it at 0.6725, you will have to place a Buy Limit order at this price. And if you want to short it at 0.6790, you will need to place a Sell Limit order at this price.

Limit orders can be used as entry or as exit orders.

As entry orders, you are applying the logic of buy low and sell high (on short-sell limit orders). A limit order is handy to spot a support area while the price moves back and get filled as the price approaches support.

As exit orders, they are handy to take profits. You place a limit to sell at your profit-taking level on long trades and you place a buy limit order at your profit target level on short trades.

Stop Entry Order

A stop entry order is the reverse of a limit entry order. Here, you can place a buy order above the current market price and a short sell order below the current market price.

For example, let’s say the current market price of GBPJPY 1.6570. Now, if you think the market will head up only if the price breaks above 1.6590, you must place a Buy Stop at the price you wish to buy. So, when the price goes up to 1.6590, your buy order will be executed.

Stop-Loss Order

A stop-loss order is special order for closing a trade. This order is placed against the price at which you bought/sold the currency pair. This is done to avoid further losses from trade. Since this order ‘stops’ the losses, it is called a ‘stop-loss’ order.

For example, let’s say you bought a currency pair at 1.1320. Now, for this trade, if you place a stop-loss at 1.1250, the positions will be closed when the market touches this price, hence, protecting you from further losses.

This completes the lesson on basic order types in the forex market. We will discuss the more premium broker specific orders in our future lessons. For now, take the below quiz and check what you have learned the concepts right.

[wp_quiz id=”45527″]