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Conditional Orders

Lesson 17 of 21
Duration 5:32
Level Beginner
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Conditional orders allow the user to create multiple stipulations for multiple instruments that must be true to activate an order. For example, you may want to buy 100 shares of symbol AAPL at the market if SPY drops 3%. Conditional orders can be created in both TWS Classic and Mosaic and used outside of regular trading hours. A conditional order can also be used to cancel a prevailing order. For example, if you have a limit order to buy 100 shares in symbol AAPL, you could create a conditional order that would cancel that order in the event that symbol SPY is higher on the day by more than 2%.

We will now walk through creating a conditional order in Mosaic to buy 500 shares of AAPL at the market if the rebate rate in Meta – symbol FB – becomes greater than or equal to 5%, or the margin cushion is 25% or lower. And choose to allow the conditions to be satisfied outside of regular trading hours.  Later, we will then edit the existing order to change the margin cushion from 25% to 20%.

  • From the portfolio tab or any Watchlist right click on the symbol AAPL and scroll down to “Trade”.
  • From here select either: “Create a Buy Ticket” or “Order Ticket”.
  • Once selected an order ticket box will appear displaying the Basic tab .
  • Even if you choose “Create a Sell Ticket” accidently, it can be changed in the upper left-hand side under “Action”.
  • We’ll create a market order for 500 shares. Once you have input all the order criteria click on the Conditional tab to the right.
  • If you don’t see it there click on the grey arrow to the right of the last tab.
  • At the bottom of the screen click on the box next to “Allow condition to be satisfied and activate outside of regular trading hours” and choose to submit an order if the stipulations are triggered. Underneath is where you can select to cancel the order instead.
  • Now we will create the conditions necessary for the order to be submitted. Click on the Add button in the top right-hand corner and the “Create Condition” box appears.
  • You can choose from the following conditions: Price, Margin Cushion, Volume, Percentage Change, Rebate Rate in Percent, Time, Daily P&L, Trade, and Shortable Shares.
  • We will start with setting a condition for the rebate rate in percent. Click Next.
  • Now select another underlying, it does not need to be the same underlying the order is for. I’ll choose FB for Meta, and set the rate to greater or equal to 5%. Click Finish.

I will add a second condition by clicking on the Add button, choosing Margin Cushion, and next. I’ll choose less than or equal to 25%. On the far right of each condition is the word “and”. You can choose whether multiple conditions need to be met, some conditions need to be met, or just one of the conditions needs to be met by switching between “and” and “or”. For this order set the conditions so either one will trigger the order by changing and to or.

When everything is set click Preview on the bottom left-hand corner and the Order Preview box will appear. In the middle the Conditions section displays a summary of the condition or conditions needed for the order to be submitted. When ready click Transmit in the lower left-hand side. The order will populate the Activity panel with a green background for the row indicating it is a Conditional Order.

Once the order is sent and has not been activated you can go in and change the conditions and/or order details by right clicking on the row and selecting Modify, then either Order ticket or Condition. Selecting Condition will take you directly to the Conditional tab while if you select Order Ticket you will have to click on the tab when the Order ticket appears on the screen. Once you are in the Conditional tab click on one of the Conditions. Let us choose margin cushion. Click on Edit on the right-hand side. We will change the Condition parameters to 20%. Click Finish. Click Transmit.

Conditional Orders allow the user to create an order dependent on a single or multiple defined stipulations to trigger it. They can be extremely useful in preventing an order from being sent unless certain circumstances become true.

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If you have a general question, it may already be covered in our FAQs. If you have an account-specific question or concern, please reach out to Client Services.

43 thoughts on “Conditional Orders”

  • Danie Erasmus

    Can you place conditional orders for options combos?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hi Danie, thank you for reaching out. Yes, you can place conditional orders for options combos. If you have any other questions, please let us know.

  • Richard

    Can a conditional order be placed to become activated at a specific date?
    Ex. on monday, enter sell on market close order that activates Friday on open

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Richard, we appreciate your question. For conditional orders, you can choose from and combine logical conditions from Price, Time and Volume variables using operators of equal to, greater or less than. You can review this page for more details: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=584. We hope that helps!

  • Raj

    HI
    Is there any presets or hotkeys available for conditional orders?

  • Anonymous

    Could you please clarify what the “Percentage Change” condition means? Is this %change from previous closing price, opening price, high/low price during the day (what about outside RTH?), or how is it defined?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Thank you for asking, Anonymous. The Change % is the difference between the last price and the close on the previous trading day (regular trading session). In the future, you can however over a column in TWS to get the tooltip description. We hope this helps!

  • KASTYTIS SILEIKA

    Can I place conditional order to buy option once stock reaches specific price ?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Kastytis, thank you for asking. Conditional orders allow the user to attach one or more stipulations that must be true before the order can be submitted. This might allow an investor to only buy/sell an option if its underlying is trading above or below a specified level. For more information and an example, please visit https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=584.

  • Jeff Chen

    can I include a “open price of a stock less than $10” as a condition? Thanks

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Jeff, thank you for asking. This should be possible based on our user guide page on the conditional order type (https://www.ibkrguides.com/tws/usersguidebook/specializedorderentry/conditional.htm) which states, “Select whether the price of the contingent asset should be less than or equal to (<=) or greater than or equal to (>=) the trigger price.” Please let us know if you have any other general questions.

  • Yuri

    Hi, in what order do the “and” and “or” operators work? What if I want to create condition= condition_1 AND (condition_2 OR condition_3)? Thanks

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Yuri, we appreciate your question. To confirm the logic for your conditional order, you can create a web ticket. There is a “How to Use” category in the Secure Message Center.

  • Juri

    What happens if I set up the condition = (condition_1 OR condition_2 AND condition_3)? According to the rules of Boolean logic, the AND operation must be performed before the OR operation. Is that how it works?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Juri, we appreciate your question. To confirm the logic for your conditional order, you can create a web ticket. There is a “How to Use” category in the Secure Message Center.

  • Da

    What is the default method in create condition dialog using Price as a factor? How can I change this “default”?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Thank you for asking, Da. When you add a price condition in TWS, a window pops up that allows you to configure the condition. It will have several blank fields that you will have to fill out (underlying symbol, trigger method, operator, and trigger price). Please review this webpage for an example: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=584

  • Anonymous

    Is it possible to set the limit price at the time of the condition automatically? e.g. when conditions are true, set limit to (ask + $0.05) –> $0.05 above ask
    e.g. when conditions are true, set limit to (mid*1.01) –> 1% above mid

    • Interactive Brokers

      Thank you for reaching out, Anonymous. This is a good question, and we encourage you to create a web ticket to get the best answer for it. There is a category for “How to Use.”

  • Samuel111

    I have already create an option combo and buy it, and I wanna close it when the underlying stock hit a specific price level. If I place a sell order of that option combo with price condition , will the order sell the existing option combo I bought previously or just to sell a new option combo to get the option premium

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Samuel, thank you for reaching out. Please view this FAQ for more information on Conditional Orders. We hope this helps!
      Conditional Orders | Interactive Brokers LLC
      Conditional orders let you attach one or more conditions that must be true before the order can be submitted
      http://www.interactivebrokers.com

  • Femi

    In TWS can I place a conditional order which is dependednt on another order being filled e.g I have a diagonal spread that is only filled if my Call spread is filled

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello Femi, thank you for reaching out. Conditional orders allow the user to attach one or more stipulations that must be true before the order can be submitted. Please view the link below for more guidance on how to place a Conditional Order in TWS:
      https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=584
      We hope this helps!

  • David B

    How does the logical operator precedent work ?
    The UI Has (for example)
    Price XYZZY > 100 AND
    Time > 12:00 AND
    PRICE ABCD 100 AND TIME > 12:00) OR (PRICE ABCD 100) AND (TIME > 12:00 OR PRICE ABCD < 200)

    Maybe Soe other way?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello David, thank you for reaching out. Conditional orders allow the user to attach one or more stipulations that must be true before the order can be submitted. Please view this webpage for additional information about conditional orders: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/conditional.php

      We hope this helps!

  • Jakob

    Hi, how can I save the conditional order? It is troublesome to enter it everyday.

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello, thank you for reaching out. In TWS, you can save a conditional order by clicking the “Save” icon in the Conditional Order box. This will save the order for later use. Please view this webpage for more information: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/conditional.php

      We hope this helps!

  • Sampad Bhoi

    How to buy an option contract at the ask price if the underlying reaches a certain price level?

  • mark walker

    in my account i set up a conditional order to sell X share of QQQ Nasdaq stock if the close is >= a certain price, i used the trade type of LOC so it would only execute if close was > my limit price, but when i tried to transmit the order it said only trade type LMT can be used but i am concerned that would execute anytime during the day if the condition is met, i only want it executed if close satasfines the >= price i set??? how to do this or will LMT work????

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello, thank you for reaching out. Please view this FAQ for instructions to create a Conditional Order:
      https://www.ibkr.com/faq?id=28224878

      We hope this helps!

  • ollie hopnoodle

    I like the conditional order features. Is there also a way to cancel based on time or price?
    For example: Cancel if AAPL is less than or equal to $170 or Cancel if past a certain date/time?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello, we appreciate your question. There is no way to specify a time or price at which a conditional order will automatically be cancelled. You need to manually cancel the order if you no longer want it to be eligible to become active.

      We hope this helps!

  • Omid

    Are conditions based on % change in the price of a instrument sensitive to positive and negative percentage changes? That is to say, do I need to specifically write -0.5% or 0.5% as a condition, or will both be triggered up and down movements be triggered if I write 0.5%?

  • Daniel

    Why are you not able to place trail buy and trail sell orders as part of conditional orders? An error appears when you try to transmit the order saying that trail orders are not available as part of conditional orders? What solutions are available for this?

  • Linda

    L.s., Would it be possible to add the option to buy based on the RSI? Thank you and regards.

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hello, thank you for asking. Unfortunately, we do not support triggering orders based on technical indicators. Please note that the most comprehensive configurable triggers are based upon alerts.
      https://www.ibkr.com/faq?id=27288664

  • gavin

    Hi, can the conditional order be based on the movement or price of an indices eg SPX or NDX? when i try i get an error, and have to use SPY ETF or QQQ ETF instead. Am I doing something silly or not enabling the correct permissions?

    • Interactive Brokers

      Hi Gavin, thank you for asking. A conditional order is an order that will automatically be submitted or cancelled ONLY IF specified criteria for one or more defined contracts are met. You can use stocks, options, futures or security indexes to trigger a conditional order. Types of conditions include Price, Margin Cushion, Volume, Percentage Change, Daily P&L, Trade or Shortable Shares. You can learn more here: https://www.ibkr.com/faq?id=28224878

  • Fredrijk

    Hi
    I have placed the following order

    SELL 1 Future MCL OCT 24 at LMT 77.77
    Condition : If P&L >= 80 CANCEL

    *************************************************************
    It did not work
    P&L was 136, the order was not canceled

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Disclosure: Interactive Brokers

The analysis in this material is provided for information only and is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. To the extent that this material discusses general market activity, industry or sector trends or other broad-based economic or political conditions, it should not be construed as research or investment advice. To the extent that it includes references to specific securities, commodities, currencies, or other instruments, those references do not constitute a recommendation by IBKR to buy, sell or hold such investments. This material does not and is not intended to take into account the particular financial conditions, investment objectives or requirements of individual customers. Before acting on this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Interactive Brokers, its affiliates, or its employees.

Disclosure: Order Types / TWS

The order types available through Interactive Brokers LLC's Trader Workstation are designed to help you limit your loss and/or lock in a profit. Market conditions and other factors may affect execution. In general, orders guarantee a fill or guarantee a price, but not both. In extreme market conditions, an order may either be executed at a different price than anticipated or may not be filled in the marketplace.

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