How to reverse a position in a bracket order when profit taker is hit?

[Robert Morse]

Again, you are making this way too complicated. But if you insist, and it is really not necessary, you can create a conditional order to sell short only after you sell long but entering both orders at the same time creates the same result except for the delay from the conditional order. And in your example, the entry price and exit are 10 points away so what is the rush. It makes very little sense to me.

I tried that already and it didn't work. In a bracket order, the parent and child orders all need to have the same quantity. I also want to submit the original order to open the long position, the take profit order, and the order to reverse the position all in a single group without manual intervention.

So what I did (what @Robert Morse said lit a lightbulb in my head), is to create 2 bracket orders, one a bracket of the other. All the orders in this bracket configuration have the same quantity, so this would work.

 

[flying_dutchman]

Again, you are making this way too complicated. But if you insist, and it is really not necessary, you can created a conditional order to sell short only after you sell long, but entering both orders at the same time creates the same result except for the delay from the conditional order. And in your example, the entry price and exit are 10 points away so what is the rush. It make very little sense to me.

Hm what condition type are you referring to? I'm familiar with the price and time conditions.

Ideally, I would like to put a single order (sell limit for 20 shares) instead of 1 order to close the long position, and another to open the short position. Fewer orders would lower commission costs.

 

[schizo]

Parent child orders are not required. If you Buy 10 shares at $100, and want to reverse to 10 short at 110, entry a limit order to sell 10 long and another sell 10 Short at $110. Just that simple.

You don't even need to do that. Why create two separate orders? Just enter one sell order for 20 shares at $110. (Well, cancel the child order first.)

 

[Robert Morse]

This is software dependent see if you can enter one sell order for 20 shares when long 10. The order needs to go to the market as two orders, but some software will do that for you. The short-sell order needs to do a regulatory check to see if the security is ETB or if it requires a locate.

 

[schizo]

This is software dependent see if you can enter one sell order for 20 shares when long 10. The order needs to go to market as two orders, but some software will do that for you. The sell short order needs to do a regulatory check to see if the security is ETB or if it requires a locate.

Well, of course, but most (if not all) platforms that I've used so far had a "reverse" button to simply reverse position on the fly. Imagine sending two separate orders just to reverse in a chaotic market? That would be a nightmare.

Edit: on second thought, I speak as a futures trader. So what I say might not apply to stocks.

 

[tomkat22]

Imagine sending two separate orders just to reverse in a chaotic market? That would be a nightmare

Exactly. And it's the traders responsibility to check FIRST to see if the stock is even shortable.

 

[schizo]

Exactly. And it's the traders responsibility to check FIRST to see if the stock is even shortable.

I can't really comment, since I quit (day) trading stocks since the early 2000s. Back then, it was rather simple and straightforward. Now, with so many restrictions, short selling seems totally impractical.

BTW they've introduced new rules and regulation to curb short selling after each bear market, eg. 2000 and 2008. You can bet they will come up with another flurry of restrictions after the current bear market as well. I wouldn't be too surprised if they tried to ban short selling altogether.

 

[tomkat22]

Now, with so many restrictions, short selling seems totally impractical.

Actually short selling is pretty easy these days as long as it's not some small cap,low float piss ant company.

 

[flying_dutchman]

I can't really comment, since I quit (day) trading stocks since the early 2000s. Back then, it was rather simple and straightforward. Now, with so many restrictions, short selling seems totally impractical.

BTW they've introduced new rules and regulation to curb short selling after each bear market, eg. 2000 and 2008. You can bet they will come up with another flurry of restrictions after the current bear market as well. I wouldn't be too surprised if they tried to ban short selling altogether.

You make it sound like most people don't short stocks. Is this true? I don't have as much trading experience as you do so I don't know. I would be shorting large cap stocks. No way I would short something like GME or something else with small volume.

 

[guest_trader_1]

OP wants to trigger everything automatically and have all orders ready at the start. They refer it as parent/child orders because that is how the API refer to orders that execute in cascade. Child orders are set and ready to be submitted when the parent order has entered the market. If the parent did not enter the market, a child order does not get triggered.

One way to set up the whole system would be to set a bracket order (3 orders) with a profit taker and a stop loss, depending on a parent for initial execution.

Then set another bracket order to sell again at the profit taker level with the parent being a limit order at that 110 level.

OP basically wants that bracket order to reserve automatically.

There's also another option with conditional orders, but a limit order is essentially that, a condition to enter the market.

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/conditional.php