Improve workflow of chart trading.
Hello,
Currently, when using chart trading, PT forces me to place orders in a very specific way that at times can go against my strategy. Since i trade purely from the chart and technical analysis, this is problematic.
Example:
When entering a trade i have three price levels in my head:
- My entry price, the BUY order.
- My EXIT price, the SELL order.
- My RISK, Stop Loss / Stop
Right now, If i use chart trading to create a buy order at a price ABOVE where the stock is CURRENTLY trading, i cannot set a sell order anywhere other than under where it is CURRENTLY trading. This means i cannot setup a plan in advance and execute it when the time is right.
If a stock is currently at $10.00, and i want to buy in at $10.50 and have my stop loss at $10.25, i can't set this in advance. I must wait for the chart to play out for PT to be satisfied to let me place the order.
My ideal solution to this (and many other examples / situations) is to let me design a complete trade and only submit it when *I* feel the time is right.
Workflow:
- Look at chart, plan my entry, exit and risk.
- Press a "Buy" button that lets me set a price on the chart using a horizontal line. I can adjust my position size versus my account size using a control similar to the one shown below.
- Press a "Sell" button that lets me choose where i would like to sell my position using a horizontal line. I can adjust the amount i'd like to sell using a control similar to the one shown below.
- Add additional buys / sells to act as various levels of take profit / stop loss, etc.
- Review the trade on the chart. Do the levels look right? Am i satisfied with my entry and exit? How about my risk? If not, adjust. I am free to do this as no orders have been created with my broker and i can't accidently cause an execution.
If the plan looks good, submit it. Once it is submitted, the order is now live. The transactions have been sent to my broker. Any changes made to the lines (orders) affect the underlying transactions with my broker.
Before i submitted the order, it was just an idea. nothing was sent to the broker. Again, there is zero chance of me making a mistake / clicking the wrong spot on the chart causing an unintended execution.
Also, PT seems to want to use ticks as the basis for placing chart orders. Like, "Set a trailing stop loss 100 ticks behind my buy order." Personally i don't use ticks and sometimes with what i trade they're not even quantifiable. Prices or percentages would be much more useful.
- Set my stop loss $100 behind my current positions value. << Clear and concise.
- Set my stop loss 15% behind my current positions value. << Clear and concise.
- Set my stop loss 100 ticks behind my entry price. << What is the value of each tick? How many ticks are there between my entry and my risk? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN DOLLARS?
Mouseable Pie Chart Control
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Williams Chris 29.06.2016Hi Andrew,
Can you look at this video to get a better understanding of limit and sell orders?
In your case, though, you would need to set up a stop order and Protrader gives you the option to set your SL and TP right from the order ticket. Then Protrader will show you a visual of this so that you can further modify. The only thing about this is that those orders will be triggered as soon as the conditions are satisfied. If price is currently a distance from where you want to enter, you should have plenty of time to modify and cancel orders. Protrader doesn't support, to my knowledge, the ability for a trader to activate or deactivate those pending order lines in the way that you're requesting.
" Prices or percentages would be much more useful."
Percentages are not supported at the time, even though I would love for this to be implemented into the platform out of the box. However, you can set SL or TP by price. Just go to General Settings >> Trading Defaults >> and uncheck Show SL/TP price in offset. Now this will allow you to set TP or SL by price from now on.
