Please help, just lost DOUBLE what my Stoploss was.. spreads?

Hi there, so today i made a trade on AUDUSD, my stoploss was 15 pips on a .25c lot which was 50$. When i got stopped out at 3:55pm PST i lost 100$… I am super angry about this, i dont understand how i lost DOUBLE what my stoploss was… I was told spreads go higher at 2pm PST for about 30mins-1hour when NY closes, but i got stoppped out at 3:55pm two hours later.
Is it possible the spread went to 15 pips 2 hours after NY close?

I just do not understand how my stoploss was 50$ and yet i got stopped out at 100$ loss… Any information would be helpful, thankyou for taking time to read this and maybe help.

I unfortunately don’t have an answer but I was just reading this and thinking that brokers must be making a killing.

If it is due to spread, and the spread suddenly jumps 15 pips that means all stops get hit on both the long and short side within that 15 pip range, and price wouldn’t even need to move!

but the thing is, the spread doesn’t even make it hit your stoploss! because then i would of only lost 50$. the market hit my stoploss, added the spread and i lost another 50! so my stoploss was 50, but the spread made me lose 100 in total… i tought if spread went up it just hit your stoploss and you lose whatever your stoploss was… apparently not because i just lost double my stoploss

The stoploss is just a signal to tell your broker “Sell Now!!!”. The price of your stop loss does not guaruntee anything. You will get out of the market at whatever the nearest price is, even if it was 1000 pips away. That is why huge leverage on very small distances can be a killer. If you are risking 15 pips and price instantly spikes 300 pips, then you are going to take a loss 20x your stoploss. These type of things, while rare, can happen.

You are talking about something on a smaller scale, but still possible. Again I don’t know your situation and if this is the case but I am just stating your stoploss isn’t a guaruntee.

One time I got stopped out on Sunday at market open because spread was double digit pips for split second. Actual price had not moved at all. Needless to say I started removing my stoploss on Friday if I wanted to hold over the weekend, or during other low liqudity times.

so the key is to not get stopped out when the spread is high? Like during NY close i was told spread stays high for 30mins-1hour. well 1hour and 55mins after 2pm i got stopped out and the spread must of been huge… So you take stoploss off during low liquidity times like that, but you’re not worried of random spikes?

i have 1:1000 leverage, if i change that to smaller does that protect your account more? you said your stoploss isnt a guarentee, im just trying to make sure i understand this. how do you protect yourself than?

Spread is a bad way to get stopped out. If I am going to get stopped out it better be because price actually moved against me, not because liquidity was thin. Now days I almost never use a stop loss. My stoplosses would be much larger than 15 pips, and I use very small risk % per trade, so even if there was some black swan it wouldn’t do a whole lot of damage.

Account leverage doesn’t matter, how much of the leverage you are using matters. I.E. the actual notional risk you have.

I know you are trading real capital here, but it sounds like you don’t understand some of the basic concepts of Forex markets and orders. Keep plugging away at learning how trade, but I would suggest you get a good knowledge foundation under you first, and in the meantime paper trade. The worst thing is losing money you didn’t need to lose.

I guess, it’s a broker related issue! Have you contracted with your account manager already? What’s the statement?

If you are trading on a live account, then you really should understand the basic concepts of spreads, slippage and how orders are executed etc… You should always keep an eye on the spreads, especially during times where the spreads can widen tremendously. I do not even trade during those times because it is impossible as a short-term trader.

If the spreads are wide and there is little liquidity, your stop loss might get triggered at a specific valuation that you have set, but there may not be any orders at that price by the time your order hits the books, so you may end up selling at a much lower price than you anticipated, assuming you are going long.

^ what he said.
It’s important to understand that the stoploss level is NOT the guaranteed level your order will be closed at.
During market close/open hours (rollovers) it’s common to see such spread widenings it’s basically a gap between the Ask and Bid prices. So, even if you’ve set your stop loss at 50$ it happens to get closed at the next available price AFTER your stoploss level which in your case was 100$.
Such things happen during big events and market crashes/spikes too.
If there wasn’t such a gap/spike/crash recorded with other brokers I’d recommend you contact your broker’s support and open an inquiry. You can/should also request a post-trade execution report on that particular trade.

Also, if the broker you’re using is a market maker and not regulated - I’d advise you to find a better one ASAP!

I use tradersway, but thankyou for taking the time to explain that. i will spend some time learning more about that stuff, i contacted tradersway and yeah they basically told me the spread was big when my order got executed. but at 2pm PST is when NY closes for me, i got stoppped out at 3:55 which means these spreads stay that high for two hours?

So you lost $100 (real money?) IN teh greater scheme of things that is nothing and in fact you are doing the right thing by trying to understand what has gone on here.

You have some good answers already - so I shan’t repeat them. The fact of teh matter is you haven’t a clue what you’re doing, so stop it ! and go through the thread again until you do have an idea. Go through the babypips school and then trade a demo account until you very much DO understand !

"Larnin’ " is not very sexy but without it - you simply cannot reach a climax ! :wink: