Order Types

Trader Workstation supports many different order types that can help limit risk, speed execution, provide price improvement, allow privacy, time the market and simplify the trading process through advanced trading functions.

Order Types by Category

Click an order type to view more detailed information for a specific order, including exchanges on which the order type is supported, a link to the order setup instructions in the TWS Users' Guide, and sample order applications and examples.

Limit Risk	Speed of Execution	Price Improvement	Privacy	Time to Market	Advanced Trading
Bracket	At Auction	Auction	Hidden	All-or-None	Accumulate/Distribute
Market-to-Limit	Discretionary	Block	Iceberg/Reserve	Fill-or-Kill	Basket
Market-with-Protection	Market	Box-Top	VWAP - Guaranteed	Good-after-Time/Date	Conditional
Request for Quote	Market-if-Touched	Limit		Good-till-Date/Time	One-Cancels-All
Stops - Adjustable	Market-on-Close	Limit-on-Close		Good-till-Canceled	Spreads
Stop	Market-on-Open	Limit-on-Open		Immediate-or-Cancel	Volatility
Stop - Limit	Midpoint Match	Limit-if-Touched
Trailing Limit if Touched	Pegged-to-Market	Passive Relative
Trailing Market if Touched	Pegged-to-Stock	Pegged-to-Midpoint
Trailing Stop	Relative/Pegged-to-Primary
Trailing Stop Limit	Sweep-to-Fill

Order Types in Detail

Order Type & Description	STK	OPT	FUT	FOP	FX	BOND	FUND	WAR	EFPs	COMB
All-or-None An AON (All-or-none) order will remain at the exchange (or in the IB system) until the entire quantity is available to be executed.
At Auction An auction order is submitted at the Calculated Opening Price (COP). If the order doesn't execute, it is resubmitted as a limit order at the COP or best bid/ask.
Auction When terms allow, your order will be submitted for inclusion in the price improvement auction, based on price and volume priority.
Basket A group of individual orders that are saved in a single file and submitted as a package.
Block A large volume limit order with a minimum of 50 contracts.
Box-Top A market order that is automatically changed to a limit order if it doesn't execute immediately at the market price.
Bracket Bracket orders are designed to help limit your loss and help lock in a profit by "bracketing" an order with two opposite-side orders using the same quantity as the original order.
Conditional A Conditional order is an order that will automatically be submitted or cancelled ONLY IF specified criteria for one or more defined contracts are met.
Discretionary A Discretionary order is a limit order for which you define a discretionary amount (which is added to or subtracted from the limit price) that increases the price range over which the order is eligible to execute. The original limit price is displayed to the market.
Fill-or-Kill A FOK (Fill-or-Kill) order must execute as a complete order as soon as it becomes available on the market, otherwise the order is canceled.
Good-after-Time/Date (GAT) A Good-after-Time/Date order is held in the IB system and sent to the exchange on the date and time you enter.
Good-till-Canceled (GTC) A Good-till-Canceled order will continue to work within the IB system and in the marketplace until it executes or is canceled by the customer.
Good-till-Date/Time (GTD) A Good-till-Date/Time order will remain working within the IB system and in the marketplace until it executes or until the close of the market on the date specified.
Hidden A Hidden order (generally a large volume order) shows no evidence of its existence in either the market data or the deep book.
Iceberg/Reserve An Iceberg order allows you to submit an order (generally a large volume order) while publicly disclosing only a portion of the submitted order.
Immediate-or-Cancel (IOC) Any portion of an IOC order that is not filled immediately is cancelled.
Limit A limit order is an order to buy or sell a contract at a specified price or better.
Limit-if-Touched An LIT (Limit-if-Touched) is an order to buy (or sell) an asset below (or above) the market, at the defined limit price or better. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a limit order.
Limit-on-Close A LOC (Limit-on-Close) is an order that executes at the closing price if the closing price is at or better than the submitted limit price, according to the rules of the specific exchange. Otherwise the order will be cancelled.		Non US Futures
Limit-on-Open A LOO (Limit-on-Open) order is a limit order executed at the market's open if the opening price is equal to or better than the limit price.
Market A Market order is an order to buy or sell an asset at the bid or offer price currently available in the marketplace.
Market-if-Touched An MIT (Market-if-Touched) is an order to buy (or sell) an asset below (or above) the market. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a market order.
Market-on-Close A market order that is submitted to execute as close to the closing price as possible.		Non US Futures, Non US Options
Market-on-Open A market order that is executed at the market's open at the market price.
Market-to-Limit A Market-to-Limit order is sent in as a market order to execute at the current best price. If the entire order does not immediately execute at the market price, the remainder of the order is re-submitted as a limit order with the limit price set to the price at which the original order executed.
Market-with-Protection A Market-with-Protection order is a market order that is cancelled and resubmitted as a limit order if the entire order does not immediately execute at the market price. The order's limit price is set by the exchange to be close to the current market price, slightly higher for a sell order and lower for a buy order.
Midpoint Match (MPM) An ISE stock order that executes at the midpoint of the bid/ask price.
One-Cancels-All (OCA) Orders in a one-cancels-all group of orders will be canceled when one of the other orders executes.
Passive Relative A Passive Relative order derives its price from a combination of the market quote and a user-defined offset amount. While similar to a Relative order, it applies the offset in the opposite direction to make the order less aggressive, versus the Relative order which applies the offset to become more aggressive.
Pegged-to-Market An order that is pegged to buy on the best offer and sell on the best bid.
Pegged-to-Midpoint An order that is pegged to buy/sell at the midpoint of the NBBO.
Pegged-to-Stock Specifies that the option price will adjust automatically relative to the stock price, using a calculated value based on data you enter.
Relative/Pegged-to-Primary A Relative or Pegged-to-Primary order derives its price from a combination of the market quote and a user-defined offset amount. The order is submitted as a limit order and modified according to the pricing logic until it is executed or you cancel the order.
Request-for-Quote (RFQ) Request market quotes for non-US options, futures and options on futures.
Scale The scale orders command automatically creates a series of buy (sell) limit orders with incrementally lower (higher) prices, based on your original limit order.
Spreads A combination of individual orders (legs) that work together to create a single trading strategy. You can combine stock, option and futures legs into a single spread.
Stop A Stop order becomes a market order to buy or sell securities or commodities once the specified stop price is attained or penetrated.
Stops - Adjustable You can attach one-time adjustments to stop, stop limit, trailing stop and trailing stop limit orders which modify the stop trigger price, trailing amount and stop limit price.
Stop - Limit A Stop Limit order becomes a limit order once the specified stop price is attained or penetrated.
Stop - Trailing Stop A trailing stop for a sell order sets the stop price at a fixed amount below the market price. If the market price rises, the stop loss price rises by the increased amount, but if the stock price falls, the stop loss price remains the same. The reverse is true for a buy trailing stop order.
Stop - Trailing Stop Limit A trailing stop limit for a sell order sets the stop price at a fixed amount below the market price and defines a limit price for the sell order. If the market price rises, the stop loss price rises by the increased amount, but if the stock price falls, the stop loss price remains the same. When the order triggers, a limit order is submitted at the price you defined. The reverse is true for a buy trailing stop limit order.
Sweep-to-Fill A Sweep-to-Fill order identifies the best price and the exact quantity offered/available at the price, and transmits the corresponding portion of your order for immediate execution. Simultaneously it is identifying the next best price and quantity offered/available, and submits the matching quantity of your order for immediate execution.
Trailing Limit if Touched An LIT (Limit-if-Touched) is similar to a trailing stop limit order, except that the sell order sets the initial stop price at a fixed amount above the market price instead of below. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a limit order.
Trailing Market if Touched A TRAIL MIT (Trailing Market-if-Touched) is is similar to a trailing stop order, except that the sell order sets the initial stop price at a fixed amount above the market price instead of below. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a market order.
Volatility A TWS-specific order where the limit price of the option or combo is calculated as a function of the implied volatility.
	STK	OPT	FUT	FOP	FX	BOND	FUND	WAR	EFPs	COMB

Important Information Regarding Simulated Order Types

IB simulates certain order types (for example, stop or conditional orders) where an exchange or other market center does not natively support such order type. While simulated orders offer substantial control opportunities, they may be be subject to problems relating to performance of third parties outside of IB control, such as market data providers and exchanges.

Although we attempt to filter external data to ensure the best possible execution quality, IB cannot anticipate all of the reasons that a simulated order may not receive an execution, or may receive an erroneous execution. Unsatisfactory (non)executions may result from events, including [i] erroneous, missing or inconsistent market data; [ii] IB data filters (example: we may ignore last sale data that is reported outside the prevailing bid-ask as it often represents untimely or erroneous transactions; this may impact triggering of simulated orders); [iii] transactions subsequently deemed erroneous by an exchange; [iv] market halts and interruptions.

Customers should understand the sensitivity of simulated orders and consider this in their trading decisions.