IB OCA Questions

D

davealex

I don't use IB, but I am considering it specifically because of OCA orders.

I have a question that IB's documentation does not cover, so this is addressed to IB OCA gurus: Can I group more than one order -- specifically a stop loss order AND a series of profit-taking orders -- within an OCA?

I will just outline a scenario here and please tell me if I have this right:

I'm long 1000 shares @ $30.

I place an OCA stop loss to sell 1000 shares at $29.50

Grouped (or linked) to that OCA order, I also place a profit-taking order to sell 600 shares @ $30.50, another profit-taking order to sell 200 shares @ $30.75, and a final profit-taking order to sell 200 shares @ $40.

If the price hits $29.50 the stop loss is executed to sell 1000 shares at the market.

If the price hits $30.50 the profit-taking order is executed to sell 600 shares at market and the unexecuted stop loss order is reduced to 400 shares at $29.50.

If the price hits $30.75 the profit-taking order is executed to sell 200 shares at market and the stop loss order is reduced to 200 shares at $29.50.

If the price hits $40 the profit-taking order is executed to sell 200 shares at market and the stop loss order is canceled (because the entire position is closed).

Can OCA orders be made to work this way?

Also, IB mentioned something about listed orders being handled differently. Does this mean stop orders placed through IB for listed stocks reside on the specialist's book? In that case, does that mean that OCA orders as I described above won't work for listed stocks?

Sorry for so many intricate questions, but IB's documentation is not very detailed...

Thanks in advance,

Dave
 
I don't trade with IB either, but once a price level is hit and an order is filled using OCA(OCO), the other orders are canceled. You should be able to break up the orders in 3 groups.

Sell 600 @ 30.50 Limit - Sell 600 @ 29.50 Stop OCA
Sell 400 @ 30.75 Limit - Sell 400 @ 29.50 Stop OCA
Sell 200 @ 40.00 Limit - Sell 200 @ 29.50 Stop OCA
 
Hi,

I AM using IB, and have often used OCA orders. The way of breaking up the orders into packages would definitely work. I think I even read something in the documentation that mentioned the other orders in the same group would be deducted in size by the amount that has been executed.
So, maybe you won't even need to split the stop order to reflect your profit taking orders.

Cheers
WonkoTheSane
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top