Oanda Order Types

[ddaytrader]

Ok, in my continuing search for a FX bucket to replace my now defective bucket, I decided again to look at my Oanda FX Game platform.

I searched Oanda's website and forum, and it looks as though Oanda only has two entry types - limit or market. In other words, it looks as though a buy stop cannot be placed above current market or a sell stop placed below current market to initiate a position.

Am I seeing this correctly, or am I mistaken?

Thank you,

ddaytrader

 

[cabletrader]

Quote from ddaytrader:

Ok, in my continuing search for a FX bucket to replace my now defective bucket, I decided again to look at my Oanda FX Game platform.

I searched Oanda's website and forum, and it looks as though Oanda only has two entry types - limit or market. In other words, it looks as though a buy stop cannot be placed above current market or a sell stop placed below current market to initiate a position.

Am I seeing this correctly, or am I mistaken?

Thank you,

ddaytrader

Hi dday

You're right about there being limit and market orders, you can also have an OCO Stop Loss/Take Profit on each individual order which you can change as you like, plus trailing stop.

You can set a Limit to enter a Buy or Sell above or below market, it accepts all of them......

 

[ddaytrader]

Quote from cabletrader:

Hi dday

You're right about there being limit and market orders, you can also have an OCO Stop Loss/Take Profit on each individual order which you can change as you like, plus trailing stop.

You can set a Limit to enter a Buy or Sell above or below market, it accepts all of them......

I know I can place a sell limit at a price above the market, and I knwo I could set a buy limit at a price below the market. But for the life of me, looking at Oanda's platform, I cannot figure out how I would set an order to buy above the current market. I cannot figure out how I would set an order to sell below the current market. These order types are called "stop" orders everywhere else.

Suppose, for example, I wanted to sell the EURUSD short if price declined below 1.3950. How would I set that order with Oanda?

I do see the OCO stop loss and limit capability (take note FXCM), but I do not see how I would set a sell stop entry order below the market or a buy stop entry above the market. I rarely enter on either a market or a limit order. I do exit on limit orders, and sometimes I exit on market orders, but my entries are almost 100% on buy stops above current price or sell stops below current price.

Can Oanda accomodate these types of orders? If so, I am interested in the flexible position sizing Oanda offers. And the platform does not seem nearly as clunky as I seem to remember it having been in the past (it is certainly heads and shoulders above FXCM).

Thanks for your help!

 

[cabletrader]

Quote from ddaytrader:


Suppose, for example, I wanted to sell the EURUSD short if price declined below 1.3950. How would I set that order with Oanda?

Believe it or not it's as simple as filling in the price on a Limit Order, above or below market price it doesn't matter, it accepts the order.

I think Oanda have designed their platform and orders for new traders unfamiliar with traditional order protocol, they've gone for simplicity.

A couple of other things, they pay interest on free margin, no lower limit. They also calculate interest on intraday trades as they're closed. Position sizing as you know is flexible from 1 unit upwards. They're not great at telephone trading but will close a trade if you push them, and they have a mobile platform which is also accessible from a browser if you need it, not great functionality but handy in an emergency. Spreads widen across news usually wider (10/15/20 pips) and for longer than some other platforms. There's also access to the platform at the weekend which is useful for managing orders, and handy if there's an unexpected event (Iraq and the Saddam capture happened over a weekend). You can have sub accounts in various curencies, handy for funding/withdrawing if you're not in the US, their rates are obviously better than the intermediary banks.

Downsides are the java platform, and connection issues which knock on wood have been resolved now.

Overall they're a hard act to follow when everything is working well.


This has been a public information broadcast on behalf of the Oanda Corporation.....lol

 

[DynamicHedge]

Quote from ddaytrader:
I cannot figure out how I would set an order to buy above the current market.

Simple, just place a buy limit order above the current market price. When the ask market price touches your limit price, it becomes a buy market order. (market buy order if touched)

Quote from ddaytrader: I cannot figure out how I would set an order to sell below the current market.

Just place, a sell limit order below the current market price. It automatically becomes a market sell order when the bid market price touches your limit price.

Quote from ddaytrader:
Suppose, for example, I wanted to sell the EURUSD short if price declined below 1.3950. How would I set that order with Oanda?

Just place a limit sell EURUSD order for 1.3950.

Quote from ddaytrader: I do not see how I would set a sell stop entry order below the market or a buy stop entry above the market.

sell limit order below the market with Oanda = sell stop entry order below the market

and

buy limit order above the market price with Oanda = buy stop entry above the market

I can place trailing stop orders with the real non-demo Oanda platform.

 

[ddaytrader]

Quote from cabletrader:

Believe it or not it's as simple as filling in the price on a Limit Order, above or below market price it doesn't matter, it accepts the order.

I think Oanda have designed their platform and orders for new traders unfamiliar with traditional order protocol, they've gone for simplicity.

So if I enter a "limit order" to buy at 1.4300, with the market at, say, 1.4250, it will not fill me until price reaches 1.4300?

So a "Buy Limit" placed above the market is the same as a "Buy Stop," and a "Buy Limit" placed below the market is the same as a traditional limit order?

 

[cabletrader]

Quote from ddaytrader:

So if I enter a "limit order" to buy at 1.4300, with the market at, say, 1.4250, it will not fill me until price reaches 1.4300?

So a "Buy Limit" placed above the market is the same as a "Buy Stop," and a "Buy Limit" placed below the market is the same as a traditional limit order?

Correct, it's not 1.4300 or better ie fill you at 1.4250 as soon as you place it like a normal Buy Limit, it's 1.4300 so really a Buy Stop.

The platform is online at the weekend, give it a go!

 

[ddaytrader]

Quote from DynamicHedge:

Simple, just place a buy limit order above the current market price. When the ask market price touches your limit price, it becomes a buy market order. (market buy order if touched)

Quote from cabletrader:

Correct, it's not 1.4300 or better ie fill you at 1.4250 as soon as you place it like a normal Buy Limit, it's 1.4300 so really a Buy Stop.

The platform is online at the weekend, give it a go!

Thank you both!

 

[ddaytrader]

Quote from cabletrader:

The platform is online at the weekend, give it a go!

So far so good - used a "sell limit" at 134.28 to get short EJ, with a stop loss at 134.60. I have an attached Take Profit at 133.28, and an additional Buy limit at 133.78 for 50% of the position.

My question is will Oanda's platform adjust the SL and TP to the new position size once half is closed at +50 pips assuming, of course, that price goes down enough to get me filled at 133.78 (price has just tested Friday's low so that may be it for the downside).

This is an FX Game, i.e. demo trade, and not a real money trade, by the way (which explains why I set the Sell limit as high as I did - if this were a real trade, my entry order would have been placed below Friday's low).

 

[ddaytrader]

Quote from ddaytrader:

So far so good - used a "sell limit" at 134.28 to get short EJ, with a stop loss at 134.60

If this were real life and not demo, I'd probably move stop loss to BE now that the trade went +20, but since this is an experiment, I will leave the SL at 134.60