As mentioned above there are many combinations of orders that are possible to you in the FX market and in the AvaTrader platform. Stop and Limit orders as described above are the basic orders available, all the rest are simply a combination of them or contingent orders.
During times of extreme volatility it can be difficult or impossible to execute orders.
O.C.O's
O.C.O's is short for "One Cancels the Other". This is used against an open position, and is done in the following way; the trader places a stop order and a limit order against an existing open position, the first one that hits closes the position (a loss if the stop order hits and a profit if the limit order hits) and when the trade is closed the remaining order is cancelled.
This can best be described by an example. Say the trader is short 250,000 AUD/USD at 0.7730 and he wishes to profit $1,250 USD but is only willing to risk losing $750 USD, then he would place the following orders. The trader would set a limit order 50 pips away from the execution price since 50 pips at $25 per pip is $1,250USD; therefore the limit order would be placed at 0.7680 at the same time the trader sets a stop order 30 pips from the executed open price since 30 pips at $25 per pip is $750US; therefore the stop order would be 0.7760. The orders would be placed O.C.O which means that one order can be hit or triggered to close the open position and when that occurs the remaining order is cancelled automatically.During times of extreme volatility it can be difficult or impossible to execute orders.
I/D'sI/D's is short for "If Done". This is a spin on the O.C.O, where the O.C.O is placed on an existing trade, the I/D is placed on a trade that has not yet been exercised. This can best be shown by an example. Say the trader wishes to go short on the AUD/USD at 0.7770 in 250,000 AUD but the bid price is currently only 0.7730. Now as above the client wishes to profit $1,250 USD but is only willing to risk losing $750 USD; then he would place the following orders. The trader would set an original limit to sell the 250,000 AUD/USD at 0.7770 and place another limit that becomes active if the first limit hits (hence the term If Done).
The I/D order can also have a stop order attached as above, if the trader would like to set the same conditions as the O.C.O order above i.e. 50 pip profit and 30 pip loss then the full order would read as follows:
Sell 250,000 AUD/USD at 0.7770 I/D 0.7720 Limit and 0.7800 Stop.
Below we can see an actual I/D order with a combination O.C.O on the Orders worksheet where in Order number 205 the trader wishes to buy 20,000 EUR against the USD at 1.2680 if this occurs then there is a stop order against it at 1.2670 (a maximum loss of 10 pips) and an O.C.O limit of 1.2790 for a profit of 110 pips.During times of extreme volatility it can be difficult or impossible to execute orders.
Trailing Stops
A Trailing Stop is an active stop loss that keeps a set distance away from the current market price and updates according to the market. This is best used in a moving market that is going in the direction the trader wants and the trader wishes to guarantee the profits made. This can be best illustrated by an example.
Say a trader enters into a long 200,000 USD/CHF position at 1.2430 and set a stop order at 1.2380 with a trailing stop of 50 pips. The maximum the trader can lose is 50 pips as above, however the stop loss will automatically update itself as the market moves. For instance, if the market moves to 1.2450 then the stop loss would update itself to 1.2400, always keeping 50 pips from the maximum rate; the stop loss will keep updating itself until it triggers or the original trade is closed. During times of extreme volatility it can be difficult or impossible to execute orders.