Order Types

Trader Workstation supports over 40 order types that can help limit risk, speed execution, provide price improvement, use discretion, time the market and simplify the trading process.

The table below lists all of our order types sorted by customer trading need. Click an order type to view an extended order type description and a list of supported products. From the description table, click a link to drill down to more detailed information for a specific order, including exchanges on which the order type is supported, a link to the TWS Users' Guide, and sample order applications and examples.

Click here for important information regarding simulated orders.

Please note that for our Institutional customers, IB offers our new family of IBAlgos. To find out more see the IBAlgos Highlights page.

Order Types by Trading Category
Limit Risk Speed of Execution Price Improvement Discretion Time to Market Simplify Trading
Bracket At Auction Auction Discretionary All-or-None Basket
Market-to-Limit Market Block Hidden Fill-or-Kill Conditional
Market-with-Protection Market-if-Touched Box-Top Iceberg/Reserve GAT (Good-after-Date/ Time) OCA
Stops (Adjustable) Market-on-Close Limit Scale GTD (Good-till-Date/Time) Spreads
Stop Market-on-Open Limit-on-Close   GTC (Good-till-Cancelled) Volatility
Stop Limit Midpoint Match
Limit-on-Open   Immediate-or-Cancel  
Trailing Stop Pegged-to-Market Limit-if-Touched      
Trailing Stop Limit Pegged-to-Primary        
  Pegged-to-Stock        
  Relative        
  Sweep-to-Fill        
  VWAP        
Order Types in Alphabetical Order
A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  L  |  M  |  O  |  P  |  R  |  S  |  V 
Order Type Description
Products
All-or-None An AON (All-or-none) order will remain at the exchange (or in the IB system) until the entire quantity is available to be executed. Options, Stocks
At Auction An auction order is submitted at the Calculated Opening Price (COP). If the order doesn't execute, it is resubmitted as a limit order at the COP or best bid/ask. Futures, Stocks
Auction When terms allow, your order will be submitted for inclusion in the price improvement auction, based on price and volume priority. Options
Basket
A group of individual orders that are saved in a single file and submitted as a package.
Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Block A large volume limit order with a minimum of 50 contracts. Options
Box-Top A market order that is automatically changed to a limit order if it doesn't execute immediately at the market price. Options
Bracket Bracket orders are designed to help limit your loss and help lock in a profit by "bracketing" an order with two opposite-side orders using the same quantity as the original order. Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Conditional A Conditional order is an order that will automatically be submitted or cancelled ONLY IF specified criteria for one or more defined contracts are met. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Discretionary A Discretionary order is a limit order for which you define a discretionary amount (which is added to or subtracted from the limit price) that increases the price range over which the order is eligible to execute. The original limit price is displayed to the market. Stocks
Fill-or-Kill A FOK (Fill-or-Kill) order must execute as a complete order as soon as it becomes available on the market, otherwise the order is canceled. Options
Good-after-Time/Date (GAT) A Good-after-Time/Date order is held in the IB system and sent to the exchange on the date and time you enter. Bonds, Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Good-till-Canceled (GTC) A Good-till-Canceled order will continue to work within the IB system and in the marketplace until it executes or is canceled by the customer. Bonds, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks
Good-till-Date/Time (GTD) A Good-till-Date/Time order will remain working within the IB system and in the marketplace until it executes or until the close of the market on the date specified. Bonds, Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Hidden A Hidden order (generally a large volume order) shows no evidence of its existence in either the market data or the deep book. Futures, Options, Stocks
Iceberg/Reserve An Iceberg order allows you to submit an order (generally a large volume order) while publicly disclosing only a portion of the submitted order. Futures, Options, Stocks
Immediate-or-Cancel (IOC) Any portion of an IOC order that is not filled immediately is cancelled. Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks
Limit A limit order is an order to buy or sell a contract at a specified price or better. Bonds, Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Limit-if-Touched An LIT (Limit-if-Touched) is an order to buy (or sell) an asset below (or above) the market, at the defined limit price or better. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a limit order. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Limit-on-Close An LOC (Limit-on-Close) order that executes at the closing price if the closing price is at or better than the submitted limit price, according to the rules of the specific exchange. Otherwise the order will be cancelled. Non US Futures , Stocks
Limit-on-Open A LOO (Limit-on-Open) order is a limit order executed at the market's open if the opening price is equal to or better than the limit price. Stocks
Market A Market order is an order to buy or sell an asset at the bid or offer price currently available in the marketplace. Bonds, Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Market-if-Touched An MIT (Market-if-Touched) is an order to buy (or sell) an asset below (or above) the market. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched, and is then submitted as a market order. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Market-on-Close A market order that is submitted to execute as close to the closing price as possible.
Non US Futures, Non US Options, Stocks
Market-on-Open A market order that is executed at the market's open at the market price. Stocks
Market-to-Limit A Market-to-Limit order is sent in as a market order to execute at the current best price. If the entire order does not immediately execute at the market price, the remainder of the order is re-submitted as a limit order with the limit price set to the price at which the original order executed. Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Market-with-Protection A Market-with-Protection order is a market order that is cancelled and resubmitted as a limit order if the entire order does not immediately execute at the market price. The order's limit price is set by the exchange to be close to the current market price, slightly higher for a sell order and lower for a buy order. Futures, Future Options
Midpoint Match (MPM) An ISE stock order that executes at the midpoint of the bid/ask price. Stocks
OCA Orders in a one-cancels-all group of orders will be canceled when one of the other orders executes. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Pegged-to-Market An order that is pegged to buy on the best offer and sell on the best bid. Stocks
Pegged-to-Primary An order whose price is pegged more aggressively than the current market price, that moves within a fixed interval to the market should prices deteriorate. Stocks
Pegged-to-Stock Specifies that the option price will adjust automatically relative to the stock price, using a calculated value based on data you enter. Options
Relative A Relative order derives its price from a combination of the market quote and a user-defined offset amount. The order is submitted as a limit order and modified according to the pricing logic until it is executed or you cancel the order. Options, Stocks
Request-for-Quote Request market quotes for non-US options, futures and options on futures. Futures, Future Options, Options
Scale The scale orders command automatically creates a series of buy (sell) limit orders with incrementally lower (higher) prices, based on your original limit order. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Spreads A combination of individual orders (legs) that work together to create a single trading strategy. You can combine stock, option and futures legs into a single spread. Futures, Options, Stocks
Stop A Stop order becomes a market order to buy or sell securities or commodities once the specified stop price is attained or penetrated. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Stops - Adjustable You can attach one-time adjustments to stop, stop limit, trailing stop and trailing stop limit orders which modify the stop trigger price, trailing amount and stop limit price. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Stop - Limit A Stop Limit order becomes a limit order once the specified stop price is attained or penetrated. Forex, Futures, Options, Stocks
Stop - Trailing Stop A trailing stop for a sell order sets the stop price at a fixed amount below the market price. If the market price rises, the stop loss price rises by the increased amount, but if the stock price falls, the stop loss price remains the same. The reverse is true for a buy trailing stop order.
Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Stop - Trailing Stop Limit A trailing stop limit for a sell order sets the stop price at a fixed amount below the market price and defines a limit price for the sell order. If the market price rises, the stop loss price rises by the increased amount, but if the stock price falls, the stop loss price remains the same. When the order triggers, a limit order is submitted at the price you defined. The reverse is true for a buy trailing stop limit order. Forex, Futures, Future Options, Options, Stocks, Warrants
Sweep-to-Fill A Sweep-to-Fill order identifies the best price and the exact quantity offered/available at the price, and transmits the corresponding portion of your order for immediate execution. Simultaneously it is identifying the next best price and quantity offered/available, and submits the matching quantity of your order for immediate execution. Stocks
Volatility A TWS-specific order where the limit price of the option is calculated as a function of the implied volatility. Smart-Routed Options that trade on BOX and Eurex (DTB).
VWAP The VWAP for a stock is calculated by adding the dollars traded for every transaction in that stock ("price" x "number of shares traded") and dividing the total shares traded. By default, a VWAP order is computed from the open of the market to the market close, and is calculated by volume weighting all transactions during this time period. TWS allows you to modify the cut-off and expiration times using the Time in Force and Expiration Date fields, respectively. Stocks