This article details the order types available when trading futures contracts. For spot and margin trading order types, see Summary of Order Options.
Market Orders
A market order executes immediately in full at the best available price.
Depending on the size of the order and available liquidity in the order book they may execute in a single order or in multiple orders with incremental prices.
For your protection, we will not match your order at a price more than 1% above the best ask or 1% below the best bid. This means that your order may be only partially filled. The unfilled portion will then be cancelled so there is no remaining order in the book.
This order type can optionally be set to reduce-only.
Limit Orders
A limit order executes only at the limit price set or better.
If there is insufficient demand for your order to be matched with an existing order immediately, your limit order is added to the order book.
We recommend using limit orders to control the worst price at which an order can be matched.
This order type can be set to maker-only and/or reduce-only.
Note:
- Limit price must be within 20% of the mark price, if it is crossing the spread and is outside of the 20% price collar, the limit order will be rejected by the trading engine.
- Margin is required to place this order type and a margin check will be made at the time of order placement.
- If at any point the portfolio value of your trading account falls below the initial margin requirement all open limit orders will be cancelled by the system and you will be informed via an automated email.
Stop Loss Market Orders
A stop loss market order allows you to limit your losses from an open position. The trigger price represents the price that, if reached, will trigger the execution of a market order that closes your position.
The price trigger setting by default is the mark price, but can optionally be changed to trigger on the last trade price or index price.
Post-trigger activation checks:
- For your protection, we will not match your order at a price more than 1% above the best ask or 1% below the best bid. This means that your order may not be filled or will only be partially filled. The unfilled portion will then be cancelled so there is no remaining order in the book.
- Margin is not required to place this order type, but a margin check will be made at the time of order trigger. If there is insufficient margin in the account when the order is triggered, the order will be rejected by the trading engine.
EXAMPLE: STOP-MARKET SELL | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a long Futures position and want to limit your loss if the price declines. You submit a stop loss market sell order with a stop price of $4,500. If the Futures price falls to $4,500, your order will trigger and a market order is placed onto the order book. Your Futures position will then close at the best available price, provided there is sufficient demand. |
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EXAMPLE: STOP-MARKET BUY | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a short Futures position and want to limit your loss if the price increases. You submit a stop loss market buy order with a stop price at $5,100. If the Futures price rises to $5,100, your stop buy order is triggered and a market order is placed on the order book. Your Futures position will then close at the best available price, provided there is sufficient supply. |
Stop Loss Limit Orders
A stop loss limit order allows you to limit your losses from an open position. Similar to a stop loss market order, you can set a stop price that, when reached, triggers the submission of a limit order that closes your position.
The limit price you set represents the worst possible price at which your order can be matched. Depending on the distance between the Stop price and Limit price it can either execute immediately as a taker order be placed on the order book.
The price trigger setting by default is the mark price, but can optionally be changed to trigger on the last trade price or index price.
Post-trigger activation checks:
- Margin is not required to place this order type, but a margin check will be made at the time of order trigger. If there is insufficient margin in the account when the order is triggered, the order will be rejected by the trading engine.
- Limit price must be within 20% of the mark price, if it is crossing the spread and is outside of the 20% price collar, the limit order will be rejected by the trading engine.
EXAMPLE: STOP-LOSS LIMIT SELL | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a long Futures position and want to limit your loss if the price declines. You submit a stop loss limit sell order with a stop price of $4,500 and a limit price of $4,400. If the Futures price falls to $4,500, your stop sell order is triggered at a limit price of $4,400. Your Futures position will then close at a price of $4,400 or higher, provided there is sufficient demand. |
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EXAMPLE: STOP-LOSS LIMIT BUY | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a short Futures position and want to limit your loss if the price increases. You submit a stop loss limit buy order with a stop price of $5,400 and a limit price of $5,500. If the Futures price rises to $5,400, your stop sell order is triggered at a limit price of $5,500. Your Futures position will then close at a price of $5,500 or lower, provided there is sufficient supply. |
Take Profit Market Orders
A take profit market order allows you to set a target profit price to close out an open position.
The trigger price represents the price that, if reached, will trigger the execution of a market order to close your position.
The price trigger setting by default is the mark price, but can optionally be changed to trigger on the last trade price or index price.
Post-trigger activation checks:
- For your protection, we will not match your order at a price more than 1% above the best ask or 1% below the best bid. This means that your order may not be filled or will only be partially filled. The unfilled portion will then be cancelled so there is no remaining order in the book.
- Margin is not required to place this order type, but a margin check will be made at the time of order trigger. If there is insufficient margin in the account when the order is triggered, the order will be rejected by the trading engine.
EXAMPLE: TAKE-PROFIT MARKET SELL | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a long Futures position and want to set a target profit price to exit your position. You submit a take-profit market sell order with a trigger price of $5,500. If the Futures price rises to $5,500, your order is triggered and a market order is placed onto the order book. Your Futures position will then close at the best available price, provided there is sufficient demand. |
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EXAMPLE: TAKE-PROFIT MARKET BUY | The current Futures price is $5,000. You have a short Futures position and want to set a target profit price to exit your position. You submit a take-profit market buy order with a trigger price of $4,500. If the Futures price decreases to $4,500, your order will be triggered and a market order is placed onto the order book. Your Futures position will then close at the best available price, provided there is sufficient supply. |
Take Profit Limit Orders
A take profit limit order allows you to set a target profit price to close out of an open position.
The trigger price represents the price that, if reached, triggers the submission of a limit order to close your position.
The limit price represents the worst price at which your order can be matched.
The price trigger setting by default is the mark price, but can optionally be changed to trigger on the last trade price or index price.
Post-trigger activation checks:
- Margin is not required to place this order type, but a margin check will be made at the time of order trigger. If there is insufficient margin in the account when the order is triggered, the order will be rejected by the trading engine.
- Limit price must be within 20% of the mark price, if it is crossing the spread and is outside of the 20% price collar, the limit order will be rejected by the trading engine.
Trailing Stop Orders
Only available on the Pro UI
A Trailing Stop order is designed to protect gains by adjusting the stop price as the price of an asset moves in a favorable direction. It is commonly used by traders to manage risk and lock in profits. The trailing stop order is dynamic, as it automatically adjusts the stop price based on the movement of the asset's price.
Here's how a trailing stop order works:
- Setting a Trailing Offset: When you place a trailing stop order, you specify a trailing price amount or percentage. This is the maximum amount or percentage by which the price can move in an unfavorable direction before the trailing stop order triggers.
- Dynamic Adjustment: As the market price of the asset moves in a favorable direction, the trailing stop order automatically adjusts the stop price by the specified trailing amount or percentage. For example: If the market price increases, the sell stop price moves up, trailing behind the highest market price achieved.
- Locking in Profits: The trailing stop helps lock in profits by maintaining a certain distance from the most favourable price. If the market reverses the stop price stays at its current level. If the market continues to move in a favourable direction, the stop price continues to trail behind, protecting gains.
- Triggering the Market Order: If the price reaches or falls below the stop price, the trailing stop order is triggered and a market order is submitted.
The price trigger setting by default is the mark price, but can optionally be changed to trigger on the last trade price or index price.
Post-trigger activation checks:
- Margin is not required to place this order type, but a margin check will be made at the time of order trigger. If there is insufficient margin in the account when the order is triggered, the order will be rejected by the trading engine.
- Market orders: For your protection, we will not match your market order at a price more than 1% above the best ask or 1% below the best bid. This means that your order may be only partially filled or not filled at all. The unfilled portion will then be cancelled so there is no remaining order in the book.
Post Only
A post-only order is the same as a limit order, except it will be rejected and cancelled if the price entered would execute immediately e.g. a buy limit order above market price, entered as a maker / post only, would be rejected and cancelled.
Immediate or cancel
An immediate-or-cancel order will execute at the price and quantity available - the remainder of the order will be cancelled and will not enter the book.
If there is 0 quantity available at the chosen price level the order will be rejected and cancelled immediately.
Reduce only
Checking the box for reduce-only will only allow the order to execute if it reduces the number of open contracts in an existing position.
If you enter a quantity larger than your existing open position the quantity of the reduce only order will auto-reduce to the size of your open position.
Edit order
You can edit existing orders to update the quantity, limit price and stop price.
If you are reducing the quantity your order will remain in the same place in the queue as before.
If you change the price or increase the quantity of your order you will go to the back of the price-time priority queue.
Trigger signal options
There are various prices that can be used for trigger orders (stop, take profit, trigger entry).
Each price has a distinct way of being calculated and various uses.
These can be changed in the order form under the 'Advanced' tab and under 'Trigger Signal'.
Below are the trigger signal options and their definitions:
- Last Price: The last executed price at which a Futures contract was traded at. If selected as the trigger signal, the order trigger will activate when the last executed price reaches or surpasses your trigger price.
- Mark Price: The mid price of Order Book bounded by a range defined by the CME CF Index Price with anti-manipulation coefficient. If selected as the trigger signal, the order trigger will activate when the mark price price reaches or surpasses your trigger price. Note: this price is also used to value positions and determine liquidations.
- Index Price: The CME CF Index Price determined from aggregate data from constituent exchanges. More information available on the CF Benchmarks page. If index prices from our index provider/s are deemed to be stale for whatever reason, the index price on the platform will not be updated until it is no longer stale.
The decimal and thousands separators shown in this article may differ from the formats displayed on our trading platforms.
Review our article on how we use points and commas for more information.