Order trading helps traders to enter or exit a position at the most suitable moment by using different orders including market orders, pending orders, limit orders, stop orders, stop loss orders and OCO orders.
Currently, advanced trading platforms provide various types of orders in trading which are not simply ‘’buy button’’ and ‘’sell button’’. Each type of trading order can represent a specific strategy. It’s important to know when and how to trade and which order to use in a given situation in order to develop the right order strategy.
The most popular Forex orders that a trader can apply in his trade are:
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Market orders - a market order is placed to instruct the trader to buy or to sell at the best price available. The entry interfaces of market order usually have only ‘’buy’’ and ‘’sell’’ options which make it quick and easy to use.
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Pending Orders – pending orders which are usually available in six types allow traders to buy or sell securities at a previously specified price. The pending orders-buy limit, sell limit, buy stop, sell stop, buy stop limit and sell stop limit- are placed to execute a trade once the price reaches the specified level.
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Limit Orders- a limit order instructs the trader to buy or sell the asset at a specified price. This means that first of all the trader should specify the desired buy and sell prices. The buy limit order instructs him to buy at the specified price or lower. And the sell limit order instructs to sell at the specified price or even higher. Once the price reaches the specified price, the limit order will be filled.
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Stop orders-a sell stop order or stop buy order is executed after the stop level, the specified price level, has been reached. The buy stop order is placed above the market and the sell stop order is set below the market.
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Stop loss orders - a stop loss order is set to limit the risk of trade. It is placed at the specified price level beyond which a trader doesn’t want or is not ready to risk his money. For a long position you should set the stop loss order below the entry point which will protect you against market drops. Whereas, for a short position place the order above the trade entry to be protected against market rises.
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OCO – OCO (one-cancels-the-other) represents a combination of two pending orders which are placed to open a position at prices different from the current market price. If one of them is executed the other will automatically be canceled.
