Mastering Advanced Order Types

Moving from basic to advanced order types is a key step for traders wanting to improve their strategies. As you learn more about these advanced types, you'll find new ways to handle your trades, manage risks, and increase your potential profits. Learn about basic order types in our first blog, What are the Different Order Types.

Let's take a closer look at these advanced order types and see how they can be used in your trading.

Limit Orders and Their Advanced Variants

Limit orders let you set the price you want to buy or sell at. This gives you control over the price, but remember, there's no guarantee your order will happen if the market doesn't hit your price.

Here are some advanced features you can add to your limit orders:

Time-in-Force: These settings determine the duration for which an order remains active.

Fill-or-Kill: This order must be executed immediately in its entirety or not at all, useful in fast-moving markets.
Good-Till-Time: Keeps the order active until it is filled or a set period elapses, offering a balance between immediacy and waiting for the right market conditions. On ApeX Pro, these orders are valid for 4 weeks and are active until canceled by the user manually.
Immediate-or-Cancel: This option seeks immediate execution at the desired price, or it is canceled, ideal for traders looking to capitalize on short-term price movements. In comparison to Fill-or-Kill orders, these order types can be partially filled.

Execution Conditions: These functionalities further refine how an order interacts with the market.

Post-Only: Ensures your order adds liquidity to the market by avoiding immediate matches. These orders are ONLY executed as maker orders never as taker orders.
Reduce-Only*: Adjusts your position size, useful in strategies aiming to decrease exposure. (*Please note that Reduce Only orders never open a new position, but rather close the existing ones.)

Market Orders

While limit orders offer control, market orders are all about immediacy. When a trader places a market order, it is executed instantly at the best available current price. This simplicity is particularly advantageous in fast-paced trading environments where securing a position quickly is more critical than the exact entry price. Please note that, depending on the volatility and liquidity of the underlying market, users may experience significant slippage on certain occasions.

Refer to our blog What are the Different Order Types, for more details on the pros and cons of market orders.

Conditional Orders: The Strategic Middle Ground

Conditional orders represent a strategic blend of market and limit order features, activated only under specific conditions:

Conditional Market Orders: These orders execute immediately at the market price once a set trigger price is reached, combining the certainty of a trigger with the immediacy of a market order. These orders require only one input i.e., 'trigger price'.
Conditional Limit Orders: These require setting both a trigger price and a limit price. The order becomes active and queues for execution only when the market hits the trigger price offering a two-pronged approach to order execution.

Integrating Risk Management: Take-Profit and Stop-Loss Orders

Incorporating risk management into trading strategies is essential, and this is where Take-Profit (TP) and Stop-Loss (SL) orders come into play.

Take-Profit (TP) Orders: These are designed to lock in profits by closing a position once it reaches a predetermined profit level. It's a proactive approach to secure gains.
Stop-Loss (SL) Orders: Conversely, SL orders aim to minimize losses by automatically closing a position when it reaches a certain loss threshold. This is crucial in mitigating risks in volatile markets.

Both TP and SL orders function essentially as market orders but are triggered only when specific price conditions are met. These functions allow traders to manage risks and secure profits effectively.