Order Types
Key Features
The FXCM Trading Station gives traders the ability to make five different types of orders:
Market Order
This is your order to buy or sell at the price available at that time. In the "Dealing Rates" window, simply go to the currency pair you want and click on its buy or sell price.
The "Create a Market Order" window will appear, and you will see the current, updated price in the rate window. Here you can select your order type:
At Best (default) = Execution Certainty
Your entire order will be filled at the best available price(s) at the time the order is received.
The order will usually be filled at the price you see on the screen. Occasionally, however, if the market has moved while you are making your order, the price may differ.
Market Range = Price Certainty
Use this option to limit your order to being filled at your price, or within a certain distance of the current price.
Example: If you set the market range to "5", as much of your order as possible will be filled no more than 5 pips away from the current price. If the price suddenly moves more than that, the order will not be filled. The advantage here is Price Certainty.
Close Order
Traders can offset (close) existing positions by placing market orders. For example, to close a 10K EUR/USD buy position, you would simply place a 10K EUR/USD sell order.
Entry Order
This option allows a trader to buy or sell at a price different from the current price. Use this to automatically open a trade when the price you designate is reached—whether your computer is on or not. There are two types of entry orders:
Stop Entry
This is an order to make an "At Best" market order when the market touches a specific price. Use it when you want to enter the market at a less-favorable price than the current price (higher price if buying, lower if selling).
Why might you want a worse price? Example: The EUR/USD is currently 1.54200. You believe that the price reaching 1.55000 will confirm a continued upward trend—and a profitable trade. You also think that if it does not reach 1.55000, the price will fall. You therefore want to buy only if the price reaches 1.55000, and you do so with a stop entry order to Buy at 1.55000.
Limit Entry
This is an order to enter the market at a better price than the current one. Limit orders are only filled at a designated price. When buying, lower prices are better, and when selling, higher prices are better.
To make either a stop or a limit entry order, click on the "Entry Button" at the top of the trading station, and choose the parameters of your order in the "Create an Entry Order" box.
OCO Orders
OCO stands for "One Cancels the Other." It simply means that if one part of the order is executed, the other part will be automatically canceled. On the FXCM Trading Station, Entry orders will appear under the "OCO Orders" tab. Traders can link protective stop-loss and limit entry orders as OCO. Learn More.
Net Stop Order
FXCM LLC (US Entity) customers can use Net Stop Orders to help manage their risk, and to prevent one trade from wiping out an account. This order automatically closes every position you have in any one currency pair at the best available price once a certain price is reached. A Net Stop can only be set at a price less favorable than the current price<
Example: You buy several positions of EUR/USD, totaling 100,000 units, with an average entry price of 1.47927. You want the positions to close automatically if the EUR/USD moves 100 pips against you. So, you set a Net Stop Order at 1.46927. This stop will apply to ALL open positions in the EUR/USD in your account.
To Set a Net Stop Order: You can enter a Net Stop Order by selecting a currency pair in the "Summary" window, and clicking on the "Stop" button.
Once a Net Stop has been set, you will see the Stop price in the Stop column in the "Summary" window.
If the Close Sell price touches 1.46927, all of your open positions will be automatically closed, with the loss subtracted from your balance.
Net Limit Order
A Net Limit Order works much like a Net Stop order, but you set it to automatically close your trade when the more favorable price you selected is reached. Set a Net Limit Order as you would set a Net Stop Order; the Net Limit appears in the Limit column in the "Summary" window.
Once the market reaches 1.49927, all positions will automatically close, and the profits will be added to your balance.
OCO stands for "One Cancels Other." It simply means that if one part of the order is executed, the other part will be automatically canceled. On the FX Trading Station, Entry Orders that are linked as OCO orders will appear under the "OCO" section of the Orders window. For example, the two 30K EUR/USD sell positions shown below are linked as OCO. If one of these entry orders executes, the other order will be deleted.
Types of OCO Order
You can choose to make either "Simple OCO Orders" or "Complex OCO Orders".
Complex OCO Orders
Complex OCO orders allow you to link 2 or more entry orders to each other as OCO orders. These orders can be all in one currency pair, or across many currency pairs. There are several different ways to set Complex OCO Orders.
Method 1:
You manually place two (or more) entry orders (see how to create entry orders here). In the Orders Tab, you will see the two entry orders. To link them as OCO (one cancels other), simply right click on one of the Order ID numbers under the Order ID Column and select "Complex OCO".
A box will appear with your existing available entry orders. To link your orders as OCO you can select them individually and click "Add", or you can Select All. You will then see these orders move into the "OCO Orders" section of the box. Click "OK" to complete the order. You can even link as many orders as you like in this way.
Method 2:
If you already have an OCO order in place, you can click on an order and drag it around the Orders Window. If you drag an Entry order into the OCO section and your mouse pointer turns yellow, you can let go and the order will drop in as a new OCO order. If you click and drag an order over another order, your mouse pointer will turn green. Then you can drop the order and it will become OCO with the order you were pointing at.
Execution
The moment that any one of the entry orders that is a part of your Complex OCO Order executes, all the other order(s) in that OCO will be cancelled, and will disappear from your Orders Window.
"Simple" OCO Orders offer you a way to make 2 linked Entry Orders in the same currency pair with just a few clicks.
How to Create Simple OCO Orders
In the Dealing Rates window, right-click on the currency pair that you want to trade, and choose "Simple OCO".
In the Simple OCO box that appears, you can set the trade size, and choose if you want both orders to be Sell orders, Buy orders, or one of each. When you click OK, your new OCO orders will appear in the Orders window.
The "Sync Rates" box is checked by default. When the "Sync Rates" box is checked, and you change either of the entry order prices, the software will automatically determine what the other entry order's price should be. If your order is for a Buy and a Sell, the software will set the 2 entries an equal distance from each side of the current market price, and link them as OCO.
When the "Sync Rates" box is NOT checked, you can enter whatever values you wish for each order. They will still be automatically linked as OCO.
Some Uses for Simple OCO Orders
Simple OCO orders are well suited to taking advantage of range breakouts or pullbacks in a trend. For example, before an important news event, the market will often move sideways in a range. When the news is released, the price could break to the upside or to the downside. If you are expecting a break in either direction, you could place a Simple OCO order to buy above the range and to sell below the range.
When a currency pair is trending, the price will often pull back within the larger move of the uptrend, while other times, the price will break support or resistance and continue its trend. You can set the OCO order to buy above resistance and to buy at the trendline.
