Invalid S/L or T/P

Beginner Questions
1

Hi am new to Forex trading and am demo account on Meta4.
Please help when I open a new order to sell or buy and I set S/L and T/P, I always get error message “invalid S/L or T/P” even when I adjust the same message comes. I have not been able to practice at all. I have been through Babypips school a number of times and also tried YouTube.

2

There can be a couple of reasons for this message or similar message.

Is your SL or TP very close to the entry order price?
On a buy order is the SL above the entry price and/or is the TP below the entry price? Vice versa for sell orders.
Is the SL so far away from entry that the loss would exceed your account capital?
Is the SL and/or TP order bigger than the entry order position size?
Are you using stop entry orders or limit entry orders?

3 Likes
3

Great post. Clear explanation. When i had it when i started the SL/TP were on the wrong side of the markets

4

Thank you for your response, appreciated. Let me give a bit of detail and I hope this gives you more info to be able to help me further.
In demo trade, I placed a buy order EUR/USD
Buy limit order
Stop Loss 1.18630
TP 1.18605
At price 1.18617 (is this market price?) this is on MT4
I get invalid S/L or T/P

The only thing i seem to do right is place a market order :sob: :sob:

5

Without digging into this too deeply, there are 2 other things you need to consider when setting your stops.

  1. Spread. EURUSD generally runs from 0 to 15 points depending on your broker. Your order will be executed at the price you mentioned, but the stoploss will be executed on other side of the spread. It is not impossible that when you place the order, the spread exceeds you price - stoploss ie should the trade be executed, you would instantly be stopped out.

  2. Stoplevels. Many brokers have stoplevels which dictate how close to the current price you can set a stoploss(or TP). More than 13 points stoplevel would be an excessive stoplevel on EURUSD but possibly combined with spread may be causing issues.

Solution is to make your stops bigger and then report back if you still having problems.

6

For a buy entry order to give you profit, price must rise. Therefore the initial SL must be below the entry price level as this is your escape plan in case price triggers your order but then falls. In the same way, the TP can only be triggered if price has risen and made you some profit, so the TP price level must be higher than the entry price level.

If your buy entry order is set at 1.18617, then the SL must be lower than this level and the TP must be higher.

However, your SL and TP are very close to the entry price and depending on your broker’s spreads, they may not allow exit orders so close to the entry order price. You are wasting your time and energy if you are trying to make less than 5 pips on a trade.

1 Like
7

You have your TP and SL the wrong way around for a buy order.

8

@chrisfraser05 thank you - i think this may be the problem. Let me try again on the demo account.

Thank you everyone for your support and assistance. Appreciated greatly.