This brings up an interesting point.....how poorly advanced orders are checked or VALIDATED before being submitted. I've been burnt with the Thinkorswim platform is this regard as well. If you go onto the OptionsExpress website, there is a full disclaimer of any liability related to placing advanced orders as well.Quote from pkts:
I accidentally flipped the prices of my buy stop and limit on the short position. They both filled and I went from short to long
I was thinking that Ninja Trader would stop me from making such a silly mistake.
Also, Interactive Brokers TWS just recently implemented a "feature" that displays a prompt if you initiate an OCO order-set under certain conditions. The problem was: they offered no way to eliminate the prompt which was driving some traders crazy as it would delay their orders from being sent.
Bottomline: much more work needs to be done in this area by the trading platform builders. Validation should be done to insure buy stop orders below the current market price can be "flagged" and vice-versa for sell stop orders. Also, the validation needs to be configurable as well with optional ways of throwing out warnings, etc, etc.