TradeStation Help

Adding a Stop to an Open Position

When you have an open position that was not generated by a strategy, you may want to apply one or more strategies that will generate an exit order for your open position. Before applying an exit strategy, you must apply the Historical Entry strategy to generate an entry that represents your open position. Based on this entry, you can then apply one or more exit strategies to exit the open position.

 Activate a Chart Analysis window containing an open hold position symbol.

1. Insert the _Historical Entry strategy.
   
   Adding this strategy to the chart will create a single long or short entry order according to the input values. The strategy inputs should match the characteristics of your open position. The inputs for _Historical Entry are as follow:
   • MyEntryPrice - The average price of the open position.
   • Quantity - The number of shares in the open position.
   • LongOrShort - The type of open position - whether it is long or short. Use 1 for a long position and 2 for a short position.
   • EntryBarDate_YYMMDD - The date of the entry for the open position, in YYMMDD format.
   • EntryBarTime_HHMM - The time of the bar when the entry occurred (if you are using a minute-based interval for your chart).

   For details on how to modify a strategy's inputs, see Editing Input Values for a Strategy.

2. An exit strategy can be applied to exit the open position. See Discretionary Position Strategies to find an exit strategy for this purpose
   • If the open position is Long, you can use any strategy that contains an appropriate Sell order (indicated by a check mark in the LX column in the Insert Analysis Techniques & Strategies dialog).
   • If the open position is Short, the exit strategy should contain an appropriate Buy To Cover order (indicated by a check mark in the SX column of the Insert Analysis Techniques & Strategies dialog).

   If you get a historical exit instead of one that occurs in the future, you will need to modify the input parameters of the exit strategy to eliminate it and ensure that the exit occurs in the future.

3. At this point, you can automate the strategy and enable automatic execution for the strategy. Automating the strategy will allow it to make calculations from the point of entry for your open position and generate orders when the conditions for exit occur. The orders generated will be displayed in the TradeManager window. For more information, see Automating a Strategy.

If you choose to enable the actual execution of the strategy, the strategy-generated orders will be executed through your TradeStation account(s), see Enabling Automated Execution for a Strategy for details.