Hi

after 6 months with IG Index I must admit (to my shame) that I'm not that familiar with the various 'subleties' of using their platform...

For instance I understand that I can set up an 'order to open' which allows me to set a point at which I want the order to open; for example current SP, say, 100p, and I want to open a contract at 105p - pretty straightforward.

I have never attempted to set up an OTO for an order to open at a LOWER price so, I'm assuming this is equally easy (?). In fact I've just done this with AVOCET MINING PLC - current IG buy @ 206.19 with my order level set @ 200. The type of order is showing as 'LIMIT' (instead of the usual 'STOP') so is it really that easy?

Perhaps I'm fretting unneccesarily but I've come unstuck a few times because I haven't completely understood the system; hence the question..

See you soon! Big Al

Hi BigAl,

I don't have a live account with IGindex, but I have just opened a demo account with them to take a look at your question.

What you have said is absolutely correct. If you are buying in at a lower price then it's a limit order if you are buying in at a higher price then it's a stop order. I have a page in my beginners guide with a bit more detail on orders.

The order ticket chooses the type for you based on your direction(buy/sell) and order level. For example buying the FTSE at 5900 (current price 5888.8) is stop buy order, buying at 5800 is a limit buy order. Why you are then given the opportunity to change the order type is beyond me. If I set to buy the FTSE at 5900 it auto populates the type box to 'stop' . If I change it to 'Limit' with the same values I get an error when I try to submit the order. It does beg the question why give me the option to change the order type?

Anyway back to the question bigAl asked, as far as I can tell what you have done is correct.
Tony Loton has written a book all about the different order types called Stop Orders you can order a copy from Amazon here. It's less than a tenner ,delivered, and there's more in there than just details about the different order types, including more detail on how he made a 3000% return in 6 months.


I hope all this info helps.

_________________
May the markets be with you!

Harry,
The Spread betting beginner