Hi Jason,
i am currently about 125 pips up on a trade and am thinking about leaving the trade open over the weekend, i have set my stop at about 100 pips. Can stops be activated as usual over the weekend? I am just a bit concerned as there was some big moves last weekend and i wouldn’t want to find out i was now making a loss because my stop hadn’t activated
Many Thanks
You should take everything that I say with due caution since I’m a newb, but the big moves last weekend were likely due the announcement late last friday that the UK was downgraded from AAA credit rating to AA rating. The market reacted strongly with a huge gap down in GBP first thing monday. This gap down in GBP was also evident as gaps on other currency pairs that react strongly to GBP. Big news like this is pretty rare so it’s unlikely to happen on such a scale any time soon so I wouldn’t be too concerned. However, while unlikely, it’s not impossible.
I think your stop will not be triggered until trading begins again. I think this means that your stop would be triggered at the new open price, which could be lower than where you placed it. It would be good to have confirmation of this from one of the gurus here on BabyPips.
Forex really has been lively recently. I think this is a good time for learning to trade. 
Hi Eddie,
PipWorm is correct. When a stop order triggers, it becomes a market order that will be filled at the best available price. That means if the market gaps through your stop price over the weekend, your order will be filled where the market is trading when the trading desk re-opens for the new week at 5:15pm New York time on Sunday. This could be a substantially worse price, and it is a risk you have to consider when holding open positions over the weekend.
Let’s take the following example.
Trader A has a long position in GBP/JPY with a stop set at 140.00 and the price closes at 140.56 going into the weekend. Over the weekend, there is a major news announcement from the G7 that is very bullish for the yen. When the trading desk reopens on Sunday afternoon, GBP/JPY is trading at 139.00. Since that price is lower than his stop order, it will trigger and become a market order. Since the best available price is 139.00, that is where his stop order will be filled. That’s 100 pips of negative slippage.
It’s important to keep in mind that slippage can either be positive (where you get filled at a better price) or negative (where you get filled at a worse price). These stats show that overall, positive slippage is just as likely to occur on your FXCM platform as negative slippage: http://docs.fxcorporate.com/faq/slippage-statistics.pdf
Here’s an example of positive slippage.
Trader B has a short position in GBP/JPY with a limit set at 140.00 and the price closes at 140.56 going into the weekend. Over the weekend, there is a major news announcement from the G7 that is very bullish for the yen. When the trading desk reopens on Sunday afternoon, GBP/JPY is trading at 139.00. Since that price is lower than his limit order, it will trigger. Since the best available price of 139.00 is better than his limit price, that is where his limit order will be filled. That’s 100 pips of positive slippage.
This page has more info on how to maximize positive slippage and minimize negative slippage.
Jason
Thanks Pipworm and Jason. The information you provided was very useful, i have now closed the position, better to bank the pips i think rather than taking an unnecessary risk. I can always reopen a new position on the open next week if i feel the trend will continue.
hope your learning is going well pipworm seems like you know the ropes pretty well already
Thanks again
Anytime, Eddie :57:
So did you end up getting back into this position?
Hi Eddie,
This weekend was a classic example of the kind of gaps that can occur when major news breaks over the weekend :eek:
[B]EUR/JPY 1 Minute Chart[/B]
Jason