Bracket
This order is used when an investor wants to sell securities at a pre-defined level of profit or for a pre-defined loss. The order can be placed as a buy order (to secure a short position) or sell order.
Example of use:
Sell order:
By using a single order, the investor secures the purchase price of the securities so that their sale occurs at the profit level defined in advance or at the level of the maximum pre-defined allowed loss.
Buy order:
Due to the nature of the order, a buy order in this case is mainly used to cover open short term positions (short sales). It is most frequently used if positions accumulate during periods of market stagnation.
Why use a Bracket order?
An investor can only secure one side of the potential development of a price of a stock when using standard orders with Limit Prices and Stoploss orders., e.g. a Limit Price order can be used to realize a profit or a Stoploss order can be used to abandon a position with a sale at an acceptable loss level.
The investor must continuously monitor developments on the market and use this monitoring to determine if the stock is rising or falling and then change these Stoploss or Limit orders, which places huge demands on time. A Bracket order combines both types of "elementary" orders, thereby covering both sides of potential developments in a single order, sparing the investor the need to continuously edit existing and enter new orders.
NOTE:
1) The following limits are in place in order to limit the risk due to the technical delay in the reaction of a Bracket order during sudden changes in prices on the market:
- Such an order can be used on marginalized securities
- The minimum allowed range between the profit Limit Price and the Stop Price is 6% of the lower of the two prices
2) Funds are always blocked for a Bracket order up to the maximum possible amount for the validity of the order, i.e. regardless of if the active area is currently the Limit Price or Stoploss part of the order.
WARNING:
In the event of sudden changes in prices (e.g. the announcement of price-influencing information) a situation may occur where the market price moves outside the range entered by the investor and the Stoploss order will be created with a delay. When using a Bracket order the client is aware that the broker does not bear any responsibility for damages caused by a technical delay in terms of order response to market developments.
Placing an order:
An investor purchased a security at EUR 10.00, where the investor's strategy is to realize a profit of 15%. In the event the price falls, the investor wants to limit acceptable losses to 5%. In this case the investor places a sell order by pressing the "Bracket" button.
The Limit Price is entered into the order window, in this case USD 11.50, using the "High price (USD)" field and the Stop Price, in this case USD 9.50, is entered into the "Low Stop Price (USD)" field. It is also good to enter USD 9.00 into the "Low price (USD) field (once the Stoploss side of the order is activated meaning in the worst case scenario this price will be used - if nothing is entered, the order will be sent as a "Market" order meaning it will be settled at any price).
If the price reaches USD 11.50, a sale will be completed at this Limit Price. If the price drops to EUR 9.50, the Stoploss order is activated and is realized for the current best bid (up to the entered Limit Price of our Stoploss order, in our case EUR 9.00, which we entered into "Low price (EUR)".