[Tradewinds]

This thread is dedicated to order types. I'll start by listing an order type that I did not know about. This is from the tradestation help. You can set your order to only execute on upticks or downticks.

Placing Buy on -/Sell on + Orders
Enable this option to allow buys to occur only on downticks and sells to occur only on upticks. Using this option allows you to buy only when a seller is aggressive or sell only when a buyer is aggressive.

This advanced order option is only for listed orders. This Advanced setting is available only with specific Equities order routes.

From the Order Bar, click Advanced.

Place a check mark in the Buy on -/Sell on +. tradestation HELP

[Tradewinds]

Hide your order amount:

tradestation allows you to hide your real order amount: They are called 'Non-Display Orders'

Placing Non-Display Orders
When you send a non-display order, it will not be reflected in either the Market Depth display or ECN books. For example, stock ABCD is currently 15.00 Bid and offered at 15.25. You are willing to pay 15.15 but are worried the seller, believing there is an interested buyer, will increase his offering price. By placing a 15.15 non-display bid, you will have the opportunity to immediately purchase any stock up to the quantity specified at your limit price or better.


This order will allow you to be filled lower than your limit price since an aggressive seller may come in and offer at 15.05. This Advanced setting is available only with specific order routes.

Non-Display orders have a lower execution priority than Subscriber Only or normal visibility orders.

From the Order Bar, click Advanced.

Place a check mark in Non-Display. tradestation HELP

[Tradewinds]

If-Touched:

Have you ever wanted to enter a market order to close, but at a better price than the current price. In other words, enter a Market Order to close a long order at a profit, but above the current price? Well, you can't do that unless you use an 'If-Touched' advanced order. You can place Market Stops to enter an order at a worse price than presently, and you can enter a Market Stop as a Stop Loss, but you can't enter a Market Stop to close at a profit AT A BETTER PRICE without using an advance order. This is where the 'If-Touched' advanced order comes in.

The problem with advanced orders, is that they take time to set up. If you are doing high frequency trading, you don't have time to configure an order, enter the price and check boxes and options before you send the order. If you have a specific target in mind, and want an instant fill at market when that price is touched, and you have time to configure the order, then this might be what you want to look into. Otherwise, you'll need to program code to configure the order and send it.

[Tradewinds]

JOIN:

Buy Join sets a Limit Price to the best Ask price.
Sell Join sets a Limit Price to the best Bid price.

So you are willing to buy at whatever they are Asking and selling at the Bid price.

[Tradewinds]

OSO (Order Sends Order)

Once the first order is filled, a second order gets sent to the market. Actually, you can have multiple subsequent orders sent to the market.

[Tradewinds]

PEG ORDERS:

A peg order is interesting because it will fill at one of two prices. Only one of the prices displays in the Market Depth Window. So you are effectively hiding the second price. The issue is really about what you are willing to pay, but trying to get a better price. You can PEG the order at a better price than you are willing to fill at. So you are hiding your worst case fill price, and displaying the best case fill price. So the PEG order is really hiding your true willingness to take a worse price than you are displaying.

The tradestation HELP states that this order is helpful in a fast/volatile market. I guess that in a volatile market, the price could go to a much better fill price extremely fast, and you wouldn't want to get filled at the worse price.

[Tradewinds]

BUY TO OPEN:

If you see the option to 'Buy to Open', and you don't know what it is, but it sounds good, then you need to understand that it's for entering an options order, not Stocks or Futures. The same thing with Buy to Close, Sell to Open, Sell to Close. These are all order entry types for options.

For Futures, all there is, is BUY or SELL. With Stocks, there is Buy (Long), Sell (Exit Long), Sell Short (Short), Buy to Cover (Close the Short).