short sell limit question

A

antincedo

ok prob a really newbie question but i just got ib and am using quotetracker, sim trading

whenever i put in a limit order to short sell it gets filled automatically before it hits the limit price.

what am i doing here?
 
Long: Stock is 25. You want to buy 100 at 24 --> Qty 100, Buy@limit 24. Will be executed when stock drops to 24 (simplistically).

Short: Stock is 25. You want to short 100 at 26 --> Qty 100, Sell@limit 26. You will be short 100 shrs if stock rises to 26, if you don't already have a long position in the stock, and it is shortable.
 
so i cant put a short in at a limit price if the stock is above that price?

and i cant put a buy limit order if the limit price is below its current price?

how to do the opposite of this
 
Sounds like you really want a Stop-Limit order. With those, you specify a Stop price and a Limit price.

Stop-Limit Short: Stock is 25. As it travels down, you want to initiate a short if/when it hits 24 --> Qty 100, StpLmt Sell Stop@24, Limit@24. This means the Limit order will not be "live" until the bid hits 24. Then the Sell Limit order will (hopefully) fill at 24.

Note that in a fast market the stock could trade through 24 and then the limit sell will not execute. You may have to make the limit a bit lower than the stop. Use just a Sell Stop order if you just have to get in. Stop orders turn into Market orders at the stop price. But in a fast market/thin stock the fill price might be fairly far away.

You really should read the complete user manual for your trading workstation. It will have all this stuff in there.
 
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