What an order is ?
A type of order is how you enter or exit a trade. I will here introduce you the types of orders the most widespread and used in the Forex market. In all brokers, these types will be available. Others will offer additional choices and I could not advise you too much to get information on it before using. The same applies to the types of orders below, it is essential to to handle them properly to treat on the Forex. Use a demo account to become familiar with different types of orders.
Classical orders
Market order (or at any price): The market order is a type of stock market order, purchase or sale, which does not specify a transaction price. However, unlike the stock market, the execution of your order is instantaneous. From your broker, the quotations will appear for each parity. So, just click buy or sell on the parity you want, at the time you wish, to be executed. This type of order is often a desire to enter or close a trade quickly.
Limit order: The buyer or the seller specifies a limit of price at which he is ready to buy or sell. Thus, unlike the market order, the price of the transaction is known in advance, but the buyer or the seller does not know the time at which his order will be executed. The order may in some cases never be executed if the limit is not reached. The order may in some cases never be executed if the limit is not reached.
The limit order may be used in two cases:
Buy limit : You expect a rise of the price but you want to trade the parity at a lower price than the current spot price. The order will be executed when the ask reached the disered price. This strategy can be used if you expect a downward correction of the price before a take up of the bullish movement
The buy limit can also be used to close your position. This happens when you set a take profit to take your profits on a short position.
Sell limit : You expect a fall of the price but you want to trade the parity at a higher price than the current spot price. The order will be executed when the bid reached the disered price. This strategy can be used if you expect an upward correction of the price before a take up of the bearish movement
The buy limit can also be used to close your position. This happens when you set a take profit to take your profits on a long position.
The stop order: It’s working like the limit order. However, unlike the limit order, the buyer or seller wants to take a position at a higher or lower price than the current spot price.
The stop order may be used in two cases:
Buy stop : You expect a rise of the price but you want to trade the parity at a higher price than the current spot price. The order will be executed when the ask reached the disered price. This strategy can be used if you expect an acceleration of the upward movement that could occur after a resistance breakout or a news announcement.
The buy stop can also be used to close your position. This happens when you set a stop loss to cut your losses on a short position.
Sell stop : You expect a fall of the price but you want to trade the parity at a lower price than the current spot price. The order will be executed when the bid reached the disered price. This strategy can be used if you expect an acceleration of the downward movement that could occur after a support breakout or a news announcement.
The sell stop can also be used to close your position. This happens when you set a stop loss to cut your losses on a long position.
Special orders
The OCO order, one cancels the other: The OCO order is a type of stock market order. It is the combination of two orders at limit or a limit order with a stop loss.
Your two orders are placed at different prices. In the case of two limit orders, one of them will be placed above the current and the other below. Thus, if one is executed, the other is automatically canceled. This allows you to play up or down when the market is undecided.
For example, the EUR / USD can move within a horizontal channel in which the landmarks are 1.4080 and 1.4020. If one of the two landmarks is broken, you wish to get in position to take advantage of the movement. So, the OCO order is what you need.
Simply place a buy order at the limit price of 1.4085 and another at 1.4015. If the market goes up, your limit order at 1.4085 will be executed, and the other at 1.4015 will be automatically canceled.
The order if done (if executed): It consists of two different orders; the first one must be a limit order. If your limit order is executed then the order becomes active. If not, your second order remains sleepy. The second order can be a limit order, a stop loss or an OCO order. It lets you put all your orders on a trade even before you entered in position. The EUR / USD 1.4050. You decide to use an order If done to avoid constantly monitoring if your limit has been reached. You place a first order at 1.4080, a short term resistance for example. If it is executed, you want to limit your loss to 30 pips. Simply choose a stop-loss order as second-order, place it to 1.4050 (1.4080-30pips). This order will be active only if your first order is executed at 1.4080.
Trailing Stop: This is a stop which evolves in the time in the side of your trade. So, it allows the automatic moving of your stop. This operation is possible with the trading platform of your broker. After, according to your broker, conditions will be different. Some of them will propose you for example to move your stop of 10 pips each time the price takes 10 pips in the side of your trade. So, you avoid to lose time in front of your computer asking you where you will place your stop. This allows you to enjoy a trend and to limit your risk according to the move of the price.
Order Validity
GTC (Good till canceled): The order stays valuable till you canceled it. So, the order have a potentially unlimited life time.
GFD (Good for the day): The order stays valuable till the end of the trading day which normally closed at 23h CET time. Nevertheless, it is advisable to check it out with your broker.