This option ensures that the order will only reduce a currently open position, not increase it or open a new position. 

This implies that, if the position size falls below the ‘Reduce only’ quantity before the order is executed, then the order will be cancelled.

In case of multiple ‘Reduce only’ orders, if the position size falls below the aggregate quantity of ‘Reduce-only’ orders, then one or more orders may be cancelled. The order in which cancellation occurs is from least aggressive to most aggressive order price.

Note: Unless an order is posted on the order book we do not consider it open (reduce) volume. This means that trigger orders will only be checked for their quantity once they are triggered.

Examples:

1. 1

   You have a Long BTCUSD open position with 1 BTC Volume.

   You want to close the position and submit a Sell order with 1.1 BTC sell volume. If the ‘Reduce only’ option is selected, the order will not be accepted as it would close the current Long BTCUSD position but also open an opposite side, Short BTCUSD position.

2. 2

   You opened a Long BTCUSD position with 1 BTC Volume and 3x Leverage @ 50,000 USD.

   You want to close the position if the price rise above 60,000 USD and submit a limit Sell order with 1 BTC sell volume, limit price 60,000 USD and ‘Reduce only’ option.

   Before the order is executed, the BTC price goes to 45,000 USD and you decide to sell half of your position by submitting a market Sell order with 0.5 BTC Volume and 3x Leverage. The order gets executed and your current position is decreased to 0.5 BTC. Since your current position value is now below the ‘Reduce only’ order volume, the order will be cancelled.
3. 3

   You opened a Long BTCUSD position with 1 BTC Volume and 3x Leverage @ 50,000 USD. You want to close your position either by taking profit if BTC goes to $55,000 or by stop loss if BTC goes to $45,000.

   Since ‘Reduce Only’ trigger orders are only assessed once triggered, you can submit a Take-profit ‘Reduce only’ order with profit price @ $55,000 and simultaneously a stop loss order with stop price @ $45,000. 

   After some time, BTC price reaches $55,000. This triggers the take-profit order and your position is closed. As a consequence, the remaining ‘Reduce only’ stop-loss order would be cancelled if triggered. 

   Partially closed positions

   Please note that if the volume of a stop loss or take profit order set to ‘Reduce only’ is greater than the volume of your margin position, it will cancel when the trigger price is reached, leaving the position open.  This means if you partially close a position, it’s recommended to proportionally adjust the volume of any corresponding ‘Reduce only’ order.

The conditional close feature is useful for automatically setting a stop loss OR profit target for orders with or without margin.

Note:

• It is not possible to place "combined" or "one cancels the other" type orders using a conditional close.
• If you close a spot position on margin using a newly created order, any conditional closing orders intended to close the position can end up creating new spot positions on margin in the opposite direction.

• The setting applies to the current order only (it isn't a global setting for future orders as well).

• The setting does not apply to margin fees. Margin fees (if applicable) are charged in the currency that is provided by Kraken to you to facilitate your ability to open the spot position on margin (if available).

There are two prices that can be used to trigger stop loss, take profit, stop loss limit and take profit limit orders:

• Last Traded Price
• Index Price

For definitions, please refer to our article on price terminology.

Trigger signals can be selected in the order form under the 'Advanced' tab and in the 'Trigger Signal' section, available when a stop loss (limit) or take profit (limit) is selected and a corresponding index is available.

If a corresponding Conditional Close order is attached to the primary order, the selected Trigger Signal will be applied to both primary and conditional order.

Example:

You have a long position on ETH open and the current ETH/USD price is 3,500. You don't want to close your position below 3,000, so you open a sell stop loss limit order with the stop price set to 3,250, trigger signal is set to “Index” and limit price set to 3,000

The “Index” price falls below 3,250, triggering your stop price. A limit order will then be opened to fill at 3,000 (or better).

It is important to note that if any sudden price move was experienced on Kraken only, leading the price to fall below 3,250 while the prevailing market price was above, this “index based” stop limit order would not be triggered. For this order to be triggered, the index price is required to fall below the Stop price set.

By clicking on the order ID, you can access the detailed order description screen (Figure below). The screen reports the trigger signal selected (1) and details on all order and execution prices.

The Stop price (2) is the price below which the order would be triggered. Being the trigger signal set to ‘index’, this order would be triggered if the index falls below the Stop price.

The limit price (3) is the price of the triggered limit order: this order will be filled at the limit price or better.

The trigger price (4) is the price at which the order was triggered - i.e. the first index price recorded when the index fell below the Stop price triggering the order.

Lastly, when the limit order is filled, the Average price (5) will display the weighted average executed price - i.e. the actual price of the volume executed in the market.

You have chosen USD as your preferred “fee currency” for the order. The “post limit order” box has been checked which means the order will cancel if the price has already moved below $7,826.70 by the “start” time.

A conditional close limit order has been set at $10,000. This would result in a sell limit order of 1 BTC being created once the primary order has executed. The conditional close would close the spot position on margin once the price of BTC has reached $10,000.