OCO Trailing Stop and a Stop Loss

[Jam Trades]

Hi I'm wondering if it's possible to write a thinkscript to do the following:

Basically I just want to trailstop until my stop is breakeven then convert to a regular stop-loss order.

1) Have a trailstop working order after an order is filled. I would define the trail offset amount.
2) Once the trailstop price reaches my entry/trade price (breakeven) I want to replace the trailstop order with a stop order where the stop=entry.

Another way to do it would be: once trailstop price = entry then the offset should equal MARK - ENTRY.

Any idea on how to accomplish this?

Thanks

 

[rad14733]

@Jam Trades In order to accomplish what you are describing you would need an OCO Trailing Stop and a Stop Loss... There is no way to have an order automagically change to another type using Thinkscript... A Trailing Stop Limit order would not provide as much protection... The Thinkorswim Learning Center explains the different Order Types and well worth reviewing...

 

[Jam Trades]

@Jam Trades In order to accomplish what you are describing you would need an OCO Trailing Stop and a Stop Loss... There is no way to have an order automagically change to another type using Thinkscript... A Trailing Stop Limit order would not provide as much protection... The Thinkorswim Learning Center explains the different Order Types and well worth reviewing...

Thank you for the reply. I've looked at this and there are two problems:

1) You can't place a stop loss order with a stop price above the current ask. So setting a stop loss order at my trailstop breakeven is not possible as far as I know.

2) If both orders were active (Stop Loss and Trail Stop) then the Stop Loss would never come into play. Since the Trail Stop is always tightly trailing it will get hit first if price drops and so the Stop Loss would never factor in.

The only way I found was to set one order to cancel based on price point and the other to submit at the same price point. It;'s burdensome to enter all that order information for each trade.

I figured it would have been possible to write a thinkscript to just adjust the Trail Stop offset once a price is reached. Something like this

If Mark Price < Entry, then offset = $0.25
If Mark Price > Entry, the offset = Mark - Entry.

 

[rad14733]

@Jam Trades Are you looking for Conditional Order code or Trade Orders...??? I usually have my STOPLOSS set below my entry price and then move it up as the price rises, thus eliminating the potential issue of getting stopped out on entry... If you want it to work as you expect then a Conditional Order would be the way to go...

 

[Jam Trades]

@Jam Trades Are you looking for Conditional Order code or Trade Orders...??? I usually have my STOPLOSS set below my entry price and then move it up as the price rises, thus eliminating the potential issue of getting stopped out on entry... If you want it to work as you expect then a Conditional Order would be the way to go...

The idea would be start with a trail stop loss. Have that follow the price up until the trail stop price is at breakeven (equal to my entry), then either replace that with a stop order (with stop set at entry) or have the offset on the trail stop change at that point, so that it stops following so closely once breakeven is reached. Just looking for ideas on how one might do this.

Again it seems somewhat straightforward in theory. Once I'm breakeven I don't want my trail stop to follow so closely anymore. Obviously I can change it manually but wondering if there is a way to automate.

 

[rad14733]

The idea would be start with a trail stop loss. Have that follow the price up until the trail stop price is at breakeven (equal to my entry), then either replace that with a stop order (with stop set at entry) or have the offset on the trail stop change at that point, so that it stops following so closely once breakeven is reached. Just looking for ideas on how one might do this.

Again it seems somewhat straightforward in theory. Once I'm breakeven I don't want my trail stop to follow so closely anymore. Obviously I can change it manually but wondering if there is a way to automate.

Like I stated previously, we can't automate the orders themselves, we can only do what you want using a Conditional Order... You can code whatever logic you want in them, within reason... Your logic sounds doable... Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain Conditional Orders don't work in Paper Trading and Strategies don't mirror Live Trading closely enough to be worthwhile so you'd need to use trial-by-fire Live Trading to test your logic... If you get the entire logic script laid out we can give it a good review before you try it with real money...

 

[Jam Trades]

Like I stated previously, we can't automate the orders themselves, we can only do what you want using a Conditional Order... You can code whatever logic you want in them, within reason... Your logic sounds doable... Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain Conditional Orders don't work in Paper Trading and Strategies don't mirror Live Trading closely enough to be worthwhile so you'd need to use trial-by-fire Live Trading to test your logic... If you get the entire logic script laid out we can give it a good review before you try it with real money...

great thanks!

 

[MerryDay]

@Jam Trades conditional orders can be tricky and as @rad14733 pointed out, need to be tested live. You can do this by trading one share of a penny stock. And then test your OCO. Thus not incurring any significant losses.
I keep a code editor open w/ my generic OCO script in it. Which I can then cut and paste into the OCO editor and modify as necessary.
HTH