I have a question… brokers Chat agents seem to know nothing (they never do)… can you help?
I am sure I have seen that Brokers have a policy regarding TPs & SLs during volatility/Slippage periods… or maybe I imagined it…?
Is there such a thing as a Policy that a Broker will ensure that a trade is closed in profit either ‘at the set TP price level’… or… ‘or better price’…?
And conversely… for a SL… a loss will either be taken ‘at price level’ … or… ‘or worse’…?
Am I imaging I’ve read this…?
But if price went to your SL and then re-bounded before there was availability for them to react and execute the exit, surely you wouldn’t want them to get you out at a better price than your SL? Surely you’d want to stay in that position? They would have to assume so or else you would have put the SL at a price incurring less loss.
No, what I mean is if price hit SL, but didn’t trigger the SL, and continued in the direction against me, then it would close me at ‘a worse’ price…
Converse for TP… price hits my TP, but doesn’t execute and keeps going in my favour, so they agree to close in profit ‘at price’ … ‘or better’.
Yes, a SL will be triggered either at the level you set or the first available price. This has to be worse for you. The only way round this is to pay the premium for a guaranteed stop-loss, but this is expensive and I find a GSL cannot be adjusted once you’re in the trade.
Thanks @tommor … but by first available price I take it you mean at SL price level of the Stop… or next available price would ‘be worse’ meaning a greater loss.
Does that then mean then that a Take Profit is either ‘at price level set’… ‘or better’…?
I thought I had seen Brokers advertise this terminology on their sites… TP= At price ‘or better’ and SL = at price ‘or worse’.
The 2 Broker Chat agents I spoke to thought I was speaking a different language… but we all know how poorly trained Chat agents are at Brokers.
My main requirement is that during high volatility, if price goes through my TP, then I get that price (profit) … ‘or better’ (next available price).
I hope I’m starting to make sense…? 
Too funny!!! LOL!!!
Tom has this covered by the looks of things.
Basically you’re talking about slippage and there is positive slippage (in your favor) and negative slippage (not in your favor). Positive slippage occurs if a limit order (be it a TP or an entry order) cannot be executed at your price specified but at a better price. Negative slippage occurs if a stop order (be it a SL or an entry order) cannot be executed at your price specified but at a worse price.
One caveat: be careful at MT4 brokers where you are allowed to input that maximum deviation from order price. If you used that option (assuming the broker is allowing it i.e. some do and some don’t) and price goes outside of that maximum deviation then the order is simply not executed at all.
Your SL/TP becomes a market order when triggered. It is then filled. May be higher or lower depending on where market is once you have a market order.
Thanks again @dpaterso … yes, that’s the phrase I was looking for … ‘positive or negative slippage’.
So… just to clarify… if a market order shoots through my TP… then my profit will either be at the TP level I set… or ‘positive slippage’ i.e. ‘a better price’ than where my TP had been set meaning more profit.?
Is that the case for all Brokers…? (or most)…?
I’ve been banging my head against the computer all day trying to clarify this. !
Oh and one last thing (here we go again):
This all works nicely in theory. But if you have an account with a bucket shop: chances are they will not execute any order in your favor especially in the case of a TP order. The basic trick is that they will hold onto that TP order until price retraces to that price. As I said on another thread: for the most part these brokers are not amateurs. Stop orders: bucket shop will always slip them.
Subject to my post above this one: yip. You have it spot on.
Great…Thanks @dpaterso nope… I’m with one of the Big Brokers … so they should be OK, (apart from having idiot Chat Staff) … I don’t mind ‘getting’ my TP… but during News Events (yes I’m still digging that grave for myself) … if i get ‘or better’… then jobs a goodun 
To be honest I’ve always used it as yardstick i.e. if you get TP or limit orders slipped in your favor then stick with that broker!!! LOL!!!
Hi again… following up with this thread @dpaterso - I just had ‘negative’ slippage on a TP… when I asked the broker to investigate the trade… they said that positive or negative slippage can happen to both SLs or Tps … I thought I’d seen somewhere a broker saying that Tps can be at price or better (positive)… and SLs at price or worse (negative)… if both can be either positive or negative… then it means that the SL or TP is just a guide … the broker said in the case of my trade that although my TP was closed with negative slippage… that the price it closed at was ‘the next best price’… that doesn’t seem like a next ‘best price’ to me… it’s worse than where i set my TP… any thoughts on that? Regards…Paul
Hello.
Well. It depends on whether your TP order was a LIMIT order or a STOP order. LIMIT orders cannot be slipped against you. But STOP orders can. So let’s just take a long trade as an example. If you were in this long trade, in profit, and you were trailing a STOP (to lock in profits on the trade). That STOP (which in effect is your TP) can be slipped against you. Merely because it’s your TP order does not change the fact that it is still a STOP order.
@dpaterso … that makes sense (I think)… I am placing Stop orders with a TP as I am trading the news spikes…(my TP had neg slippage) … if my understanding is correct, a limit order would in the same volatility scenario most probably not have been executed…?
I popped back here to edit my post as I need to clarify something that may not make sense or be confusing but then I saw you typing (but I’ll leave the original intact so as not to confuse further).
Above I said it depends on whether your TP order was LIMIT order or a STOP order. This is confusing at best simply because it’s an impossible scenario.
Let’s take the long trade from above. You would not be able to use a LIMIT order to lock in profits simply because you cannot (in this scenario) place a LIMIT order BELOW where price is trading. Hope that makes sense. But you can use a limit order to TP if price reaches a certain level ABOVE where it is trading while you’re in the trade. Hope that makes things a bit clearer and less confusing.
In just looking at your last query I think the above may clear it up??? If not: just ask.
Only way to ALMOST guarantee no slippage is to trade with a broker that offer guaranteed stops. But you do pay for the privilege, they’re only available on certain instruments, and then can only be placed when markets are quiet. In other words: you’d not be able to change a stop order to a guaranteed stop order just before some news data release is going to come out that’s for sure. Broker’s are not that generous (even the good ones!!! LOL!!!). Here’s one example for the sake of interest (and YES everyone it’s just for the sake of example and no broker punting so keep your panties on):
https://www.etxcapital.com/en/education/learn-cfd-trading/cfd-trading-risk-management
@dpaterso … thanks for the update… however I look at the question, it’s clear that in my News Trading scenario that I’m never going to completely eradicate Slippage … either when it affects the price that my Buy or Sell Order was executed… or whether the SL or TP that I set is at that price or better/worse… it’s gong to be a case of working ‘with’ slippage as I have been, and then tweeking my strategy in order to accommodate those differences.
The guaranteed stops brokers option looks good on paper, but if as you say they won’t allow this just before or during news events then that looks like it’s not going to help either.
The best I can hope for, is to try an understand what factors can ‘reduce’ slippage rather than try to eliminate it.
Would going with a broker that has higher levels of liquidity help?.. If so how would one go about rating the liquidity level of a broker ?
Any other factors of a Broker I should look for that would potentially reduce slippage…? I guess it’s mostly going to be a case of trial and error.
Having said that, I actually do have some level of initial confidence in my strategy … but obviously, the less slippage my strategy encounters the greater the profit!
Hello.
Well you’re talking to the wrong person here when it comes to news trading I’m afraid. I spent a good deal of time trying that years ago and it never worked. Too many things against you I’m afraid. But hey: that’s just me. It’s become very apparent to me over the last few years that one really does have to be comfortable with a certain style that suits you. I think this is more important than a lot of people may think to be honest.
I’m not entirely sure that different brokers will make a difference. But as I say I’m not sure. Only reason I say this is because it theoretically shouldn’t make a difference i.e. if price has moved hard and fast in any particular direction then that price is just no longer available for any broker to be able to execute an order at that price (here I’m making the assumption that trades are with an honest broker of course). COULD be exceptions i.e. a broker that has much quicker systems and is closer to the the pulse. But there I don’t think we’re talking about your average retail broker. Point I’m trying to make is that the differences in pips gained or lost between different brokers could be negligible.