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Understanding the Order Bar The TradeStation Order Bar is used for manual
or discretionary order entry. There are four different tabs located on the left side of
the Order Bar that allow you to switch between different asset classes. The Equities tab
allows you to trade Stocks and Electronic Traded Funds or ETFs, the Options tab allows
you to trade Index and Stock Options, the Futures tab allows you to trade electronically
traded Futures contracts, and the Forex tab allows you to trade multiple currency pairs.
These tabs should be active and live for order entry if you have opened an account in such
asset. We will use the Equities tab to describe most of the Order Bar’s functionality and
point out several differences when using a different asset class.
The Order Bar is divided in three different rows. The top row provides access to order
settings and specifications, the second row contains order actions buttons, and the third
row provides information about the orders and other functionality which we’ll discuss
shortly. Entering Symbols
Use the Symbol field to enter the symbol you wish to trade. Symbols can be typed in manually
or you may use the Symbol Lookup button to the right of the Symbol field to search for
a symbol by its root or description. Please refer to the Symbol Lookup tutorial for more
information about using this utility. Setting the Quantity or Trade Size
Use the Quantity field to enter the size of your trade. For Equities and Options you have
the choice of setting your trade size by number of shares or contracts, or by a dollar amount.
Click the # sign button to change the Quantity to a dollar amount. Notice how the button
changes from a # sign to a $ sign. Clicking the $ sign button will switch the Quantity
back to a number of shares or contracts. Given different margin requirements, this feature
is not available to Futures or Forex. Quantity may also be adjusted by using the directional
buttons inside the field. Selecting Quantity Using the “P” Button
The P button stands for Position. This button is grayed out if you do not hold a position
on the symbol entered in the Symbol box. When available, I can click this button to automatically
populate the quantity field with the amount of shares or contracts of an open position.
In this example, the symbol for Microsoft is in the symbol field; but since I do not
have a position on Microsoft the button is grayed out. I do hold, however, a position
on Cisco Systems. Let’s change the symbol to CSCO and watch what happens. The P button
is now active. Clicking on it will automatically fill in the Quantity field with the 1,000
shares I own on Cisco. Selecting the Price and Order Type
The Limit and Stop price fields will be available based on the type of order selected under
the Order Type dropdown. The Order Type dropdown displays four basic order types: Limit, Market,
Stop Limit, and Stop Market. Other features can be added to all these basic order types
to allow functionality such as trailing stops, if touched orders, activation rules, etc.
We will explain these other features in separate tutorials. If the Order type is set to Limit,
notice how the Limit Price field is available for me to type in a price. Switching the Order
Type to Stop Market will make the Stop Price field active and disable the Limit Price field.
If I select Market as the Order Type, price fields for Limit and Stop prices are grayed
out. Using the Bid, Last, and Ask buttons
You may type in a price manually using your keyboard or you may use the information or
quote buttons located on the third row of buttons in the Order Bar. The B button displays
the inside Bid, the L button displays the Last traded price, while the A button displays
the inside Ask. All three prices are updated in realtime. Clicking any of these buttons
will automatically fill in the price inside the Limit or Stop fields. Looking at the L
button I can see the current trading price for MSFT. I will click the B button to select
the inside Bid as my Limit price. Notice how this price is now showing in the Limit Price
field. I can then use the directional buttons to adjust my price if needed.
Using the “Auto Limit” and “Auto Stop” Feature
The Auto buttons next to the Limit and Stop Price fields allow you to set your price automatically
at the time the order is sent to the market. The Auto functionality is turned off my default.
Click the Auto button to display different price selection methods. A brief description
is displayed next to each method. For example, let’s use Shave which subtracts an amount
from the Ask when buying and adds an amount to the Bid when selling. The amount is user
defined so I will click on Change Increment and select 0.03 or three cents. Notice how
the Limit Price field is grayed out and the word Shave with the amount I selected appears
inside the Limit Price field. Notice the current Ask price in the A button. Clicking the Buy
button should automatically subtract 0.03 from the inside Ask and set this as my limit
price. The information bar next to the quote buttons confirms that the order was received
with a limit price 3 cents below the Ask. To turn off this feature, simply click the
Auto button and select Auto Limit or Auto Stop Price Off.
Selecting the Route for an Equities Order You may choose the market participant to route
your order by clicking the Route dropdown. This feature is only available for Equities
and Options orders. Intelligent is the default selection. It is TradeStation’s proprietary
order routing technology which provides you direct access to the markets without needing
to know which market participant to select. Intelligent routing will examine all attributes
of an order and automatically chooses the best route for you at the time the order is
placed. Selecting the Duration of an order
Click Duration to select how long the order should remain active in the market if not
filled. By default, orders will only be active during regular session hours. However, you
may select other duration periods from the dropdown. For Equities orders, selecting a
duration with a + sign after it will make the order remain active outside regular session
hours, or in the pre and post markets. GTC and GTD are available for all asset classes.
GTC stands for Good Till Cancel, making the order remain active for a maximum of 90 days
or until manually cancelled. GTD stands for Good Till Date and selecting it will display
a calendar button to select the specific date when the order should be cancelled. IOC which
stands for Instant or Cancel and FOK which stands for Fill or Kill are very similar in
behavior. They both will cancel the order if not filled immediately, but IOC allows
partial fills where FOK does not. Thank you
Thank you for completing this tutorial. Remember that your TradeStation Simulated
Accounts are readily accessible to you when logging into your TradeStation Platform. When
placing a trade using a simulated account, you are simulating a trade and are not risking
any real money. All simulated accounts are preceded with “SIM” to indicate that you
are in the simulated environment. Additional Educational Resources are available to you
from the TradeStation Help menu should you have any questions about using the platform.