i was wondering how do people trade when they can't be at the terminal. if you create an e.g. buy-limit order in advance, then go to work the next day, you still don't know what the price will be at market-open, which is needed to calculate the number of shares (which is based on the entry price and stop loss price, to maintain a fixed risk value ). are people using special orders to over come this, or what? i guess you can do it on the mobile phone at work, but not if you are sleeping and want to trade US shares.
Tips for creating orders when you can't be at the screen (e.g. work, sleeping)
Wysiwyg
Everyone wants money
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My tip is ... avoid trading at work and sleep. Especially the latter. 
Trade duration (1 min., 1 day., 1 week., etc.) should be a major consideration.
Trade duration (1 min., 1 day., 1 week., etc.) should be a major consideration.
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Generally speaking, I know what price I want to buy at and just place a limit order at that price.
If the price doesn't reach that level then no problem, since I only want to buy at that price or below anyway.
Only time it's a problem is if I want to sell ASAP because it's gone wrong or otherwise sell on a specific day regardless of price. But even then, a limit order usually works.
My trades are always intended to be fairly long term - weeks, months or years not hours or days. This approach wouldn't really work for day trading, at least not easily.
If the price doesn't reach that level then no problem, since I only want to buy at that price or below anyway.
Only time it's a problem is if I want to sell ASAP because it's gone wrong or otherwise sell on a specific day regardless of price. But even then, a limit order usually works.
My trades are always intended to be fairly long term - weeks, months or years not hours or days. This approach wouldn't really work for day trading, at least not easily.
pixel
DIY Trader
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When I was still working "for da man", I would prepare the day's intended trades as well I could; then leave the computer running and tell Mrs P what to look out for and where to act.
That was last century, well before conditional orders had been invented; in the early days, she even had to phone our broker and get him/her to sell "at Market" when the time had come.
Nowadays, you can even place conditional orders by algorithms, although that may require a special skill set in dealing with computer programming. I'm sure you can find brokers that offer algo facilities.
That was last century, well before conditional orders had been invented; in the early days, she even had to phone our broker and get him/her to sell "at Market" when the time had come.
Nowadays, you can even place conditional orders by algorithms, although that may require a special skill set in dealing with computer programming. I'm sure you can find brokers that offer algo facilities.
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This got touched on in the interactive brokers thread.
You can place orders to execute at market during certain times of the day which makes life easier.
End of day trading is exactly that - end of day trading, in theory you should be able to place all your orders for the next day the night before and not have to check it. buying on open and close is usually suggested given the volumes although you can get funky and start playing around with all type of conditional orders to be honest.
You can place orders to execute at market during certain times of the day which makes life easier.
End of day trading is exactly that - end of day trading, in theory you should be able to place all your orders for the next day the night before and not have to check it. buying on open and close is usually suggested given the volumes although you can get funky and start playing around with all type of conditional orders to be honest.
US stocks close at 8am East Coast time. Get up earlier and trade the close before work. West Coast people can trade at the open before sleeping, 10.30pm open. Got 1-2 hours of market hours to fill your trade and put stops in, easy.
some great tips here. really like this forum. yeah, i could get up, or investigate conditional orders . i thought of basic limit orders b4, but if you get e.g. a better price, you'll still be buying the same number of shares instead of more. but then again, i've been using ATR stops lately (3 atr), so for many shares i buy, regardless of price i might be buying the same amount anyway.
thanks everyone.
thanks everyone.
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