For important information on how orders are processed on the FXTrade Platform, please review the web page, Understanding FXTrade Orders.
Market Orders are executed when they are submitted and become trades to buy or sell based on the market exchange rates in effect when the order is executed. Market Orders can be closed at any time (with the difference between execution rates and current market rates paid or charged). Market Orders can have Take Profit or Stop Loss Orders attached to them so they're closed automatically when certain criteria are reached, and upper and lower bounds to ensure they're executed at a rate close to the one in effect when the Order was submitted.
Limit Orders are executed (become a trade) only when certain criteria are met. For example, when the exchange rate reaches a specified threshold before a specified expiry time. Limit orders, if executed, become trades to buy or sell based on the exchange rate at the time of execution.
You issue Market Orders or Limit Orders for either buy or sell trades from the Buy/Sell window. (You can select the type of order by clicking the window's tabs. A Market Order is the default type.)
You can open the Buy/Sell window in a variety of ways:
Choose Buy or Sell under the Account menu.
Click on the Buy/Sell Action button.
Click on the bid or ask price in the Quote List or Quote Panel.
Press the keyboard shortcuts: F2 (Buy Market), F3 (Sell Market), F4 (Buy Limit), or F5 (Sell Limit).
Click the graph at the value you want and select the order type from the menu that appears. The Buy/Sell pop-up window appears once you've made your selection.
Click the Buy button or the Sell button above the graph at the top right.
Access the Buy/Sell window in various ways
The fields of the Buy/Sell window are filled in depending on how you open the window or which preferences you've set up. You can preset the default number of units, upper/lower bounds, and stop loss/take profit values in the Trading tab of the User Preferences window. (Select Tools > User Preferences.)
Market orders are executed when they are submitted. They are executed at the current market price, unless it's outside of upper and lower bounds optionally set by the user.
To place a market order:
|
Buy/Sell Window for a Market Order |
If an order is successful and a trade is executed, the exchange rate obtained for the trade will correspond to the most current exchange rate maintained at the OANDA FXTrade servers and not necessarily the rate you saw in the Buy/Sell Market Order window. This is because the rate may change due to market conditions during the time it takes to process and confirm the order.
To control this situation, you can set lower and upper bounds. The trade will be executed only if the exchange rate at the time of execution is between the two bounds. (You are not required to use lower and upper bounds when requesting a market order.)
From
the Quote Panel, click the One-Click
Mode button:
The Quote Panel adds Units fields (as pictured above) in which you
can change the size of the trade. These fields are pre-filled with default
values.
Scroll
to the currency pair you want to trade, verify and update the number of
units you want to trade, and then click the BUY or SELL side of the quote.
By default, a verification window appears for you to confirm your trade. (To avoid seeing this window, de-select the Confirm One-Click Trades preference in the Trading tab in the User Preferences window.)
|
Buy/Sell |
Choose between buy (long) and sell (short). To find out about the differences between buy and sell, refer to the trading basics section on the FXTrade web site.
|
|
Market |
Choose the currency pair you wish to buy or sell from the pull-down menu. This field shows the following currency pair by default:
(To find out about the three-letter acronyms used for currency codes, go to FXLookUp.)
|
|
Units |
The number of units of the currency pair you wish to buy or sell, expressed in terms of the base currency of the pair. You can use the following shortcut abbreviations when typing: k = thousand (that is, 10k = 10,000), m = million (that is, 1m = 1,000,000). You can set a value that will always appear by default in this field on the Trading tab of the User Preferences.
|
|
Quote |
This read-only field is constantly updated to show the most recent exchange rate for the selected currency pair.
|
|
The order will result in a trade only if a price is obtained from the OANDA FXTrade servers that is higher than or equal to this limit.
| |
|
The order will result in a trade only if a price is obtained from the OANDA FXTrade servers that is lower than or equal to this limit.
| |
|
If the order results in a trade, then this stop loss value will be associated with the trade. Setting a stop loss limit protects against the possibility of losses "running away" from you. Use this feature as "insurance" if there's a sudden movement in the market at a time when you are experiencing computer problems or are away from your trading screen.
| |
|
If the order results in a trade, then this take profit value will be associated with the trade. Setting a take profit limit closes a position at a specified level, thereby locking in your expected profits.
|
The following read-only fields, shown at the bottom of the Buy/Sell window, provide information on your account and on your proposed trade. These values are automatically updated when you change the other fields in the window.
|
Units Available
|
The maximum number of units of the base currency that you can trade for the chosen currency pair. This value is based on your available margin funds. If you already have a position in the pair and you select the opposite trade, the units released from closing the existing trade are added to the total number of units.
|
|
PIP Value
|
Shows the profit or loss in the account's home currency for a 1-pip change in the exchange rate.
|
|
Trade Value |
The total cost of the trade, in the account's home currency.
|
|
Margin Used |
The amount of your account's margin used by this trade.
|
|
Take Profit |
The total amount gained if the exchange rate reaches the Take Profit level, shown in the account's home currency or in pips. (This value is 0 if you haven't set a Take Profit.)
|
|
Stop Loss |
The maximum amount lost if the exchange rate reaches the Stop Loss level, shown in the account's home currency or in pips. (The value is 0 if you haven't set a Stop Loss.) |
Limit Orders are executed when the exchange rate reaches a specified threshold, before a specified expiry period.
To place a limit order:
|
|
Buy/Sell Window for a Market Order |
Click on an open order in the Orders Table to modify its options.
You must manually close an order. Closing the browser or disconnecting from the system will not close it.
|
Buy/Sell |
Choose between buy and sell. To find out about buy and sell, refer to the trading basics section on the FXTrade web site.
|
|
Market |
Choose the currency pair you wish to buy or sell from the pull-down menu. This field shows the following currency pair by default:
(To find out about the acronyms used for currency codes, go to FXLookUp.) |
|
Units |
The number of units of the currency pair you wish to buy or sell, expressed in terms of the base currency of the pair. You can use the following shortcut abbreviations when typing: k = thousand (that is, 10k = 10,000), m = million (that is, 1m = 1,000,000). You can set a value that will always appear by default in this field on the Trading tab of the User Preferences.
|
|
Quote |
The target rate. The order will request a trade when the exchange rate for the selected currency crosses this target rate.
|
|
Expires
|
The amount of time before the limit order will expire. Use the pull-down menu to choose from periods ranging from one hour to one month (the default is one week). The exact expiry time is displayed at the bottom of the window.
|
|
Lower Bound |
When the quoted rate is reached and a trade is automatically requested, the order will result in a trade only if a price is obtained from the OANDA FXTrade servers that is higher than or equal to this limit. (If the order is not executed, it is canceled.)
|
|
Upper Bound |
When the quoted rate is reached and a trade is automatically requested, the order will result in a trade only if a price is obtained from the OANDA FXTrade servers that is lower than or equal to this limit. (If the order is not executed, it is canceled.)
|
|
Stop Loss |
The Stop Loss Limit comes into effect if the order becomes a trade. Setting a stop loss limit protects against the possibility of losses "running away" from you. Use this feature as "insurance" if the market suffers a downturn at a time when you are experiencing computer problems or are away from your trading screen.
|
|
Take Profit |
The Take Profit Limit comes into effect if the order becomes a trade. Setting a take profit limit closes a position at a specified level, thereby locking in your expected profits.
|
|
Expires |
This read-only field shows the exact date and time when the order will expire. It is updated based on the expiry period you chose.
|
|
Units available |
This read-only field shows the maximum number of units of the base currency that you can trade for the chosen currency pair. This value is based on your available margin funds. If you already have a position in the pair and you select the opposite trade, the units released from closing the existing trade are added to the total number of units.
|
buttons, or by typing a new value.
Click the radio buttons under these values to view them by quoted price
or by difference in pips.
