Order Entry Preferences

Use the Triggers dialog to specify the price pattern that will trigger a Stop or If Touched order. This feature is designed to help the trader mitigate the risk of a bad price tick triggering a stop order inadvertently.

There is no guarantee that this feature will prevent all circumstances of a bad price tick triggering a stop order or prevent a bad stop order fill price.

Access using the menu bar File > Preferences > TradeStation Order Entry and select an asset class (Equities, Options, Futures, or Forex) > Triggers.

Controls the TradeStation order server settings for stop order trigger types for all asset classes.

When working with multi-leg options orders, there are no trade ticks, so natural pricing is used. See below for examples of trigger types for all asset classes.

Trigger Types for Stop and If Touched Orders

The following describe the use of single, double, and twice triggers with stop and if touched orders.

Single Trigger

		Stop Orders		If Touched Orders
Trigger Type	Order Type	Description	Example	Description	Example
Single Trade Tick (STT) (Selected by Default)	Buy Orders	One trade tick must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, a trade tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.	One trade tick must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your buy order.	If you place an order to Buy at $50, a trade tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Single Trade Tick (STT) (Selected by Default)	Sell Orders	One trade tick must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, a trade tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.	One trade tick must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your sell order.	If you place an order to Sell at $50, a trade tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Single Trade Tick within NBBO (STTN)	Buy Orders	One trade tick must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, the trade tick must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	One trade tick must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, the trade tick must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Single Trade Tick within NBBO (STTN)	Sell Orders	One trade tick must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, the trade tick must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	One trade tick must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, the trade tick must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Single Bid/Ask Tick (SBA)	Buy Orders	One Ask tick must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, one Ask tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.	One Ask tick must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, one Ask tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Single Bid/Ask Tick (SBA)	Sell Orders	One Bid tick must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, one Bid tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.	One Bid tick must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, one Bid tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Single Ask/Bid Tick (SAB)	Buy Orders	One Bid tick must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, one Bid tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.	One Bid tick must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, one Bid tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Single Ask/Bid Tick (SAB)	Sell Orders	One Ask tick must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, one Ask tick at or below $50 will trigger the order.	One Ask tick must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, One Ask tick at or above $50 will trigger the order.

Double Trigger

		Stop Orders		If Touched Orders
Trigger Type	Order Type	Description	Example	Description	Example
Double Trade Tick (DTT)	Buy Orders	Two consecutive trade ticks must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two consecutive ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive trade ticks must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two consecutive trade ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Double Trade Tick (DTT)	Sell Orders	Two consecutive trade ticks must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two consecutive ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive trade ticks must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two consecutive trade ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Double Trade Tick within NBBO (DTTN)	Buy Orders	Two consecutive trade ticks must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two consecutive ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	Two consecutive trade ticks must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two consecutive trade ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Double Trade Tick within NBBO (DTTN)	Sell Orders	Two consecutive trade ticks must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two consecutive ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	Two consecutive trade ticks must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two consecutive trade ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Double Bid/Ask Tick (DBA)	Buy Orders	Two consecutive Ask ticks must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two consecutive Ask ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive Ask ticks must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two consecutive Ask ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Double Bid/Ask Tick (DBA)	Sell Orders	Two consecutive Bid ticks must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two consecutive Bid ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive Bid ticks must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two consecutive Bid ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Double Ask/Bid Tick (DAB)	Buy Orders	Two consecutive Bid ticks must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two consecutive Bid ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive Bid ticks must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two consecutive Bid ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Double Ask/Bid Tick (DAB)	Sell Orders	Two consecutive Ask ticks must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two consecutive Ask ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive Ask ticks must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two consecutive Ask ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.

Twice Trigger

		Stop Orders		If Touched Orders
Trigger Type	Order Type	Description	Example	Description	Example
Twice Trade Tick (TTT)	Buy Orders	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive trade ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Twice Trade Tick (TTT)	Sell Orders	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two consecutive trade ticks must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive trade ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Twice Trade Tick within NBBO (TTTN)	Buy Orders	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive trade ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Twice Trade Tick within NBBO (TTTN)	Sell Orders	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or below the stop price of $50 to trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive trade ticks in the same day must print within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive trade ticks must be greater than or equal to the inside bid and must be less than or equal to the inside ask, at or above the If Touched price of $50 to trigger the order.
Twice Bid/Ask Tick (TBA)	Buy Orders	Two non-consecutive Ask ticks must print in the same day at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive Ask ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive Ask ticks in the same day must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive Ask ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Twice Bid/Ask Tick (TBA)	Sell Orders	Two non-consecutive Bid ticks must print in the same day at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive Bid ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive Bid ticks in the same day must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive Bid ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.
Twice Ask/Bid Tick (TAB)	Buy Orders	Two non-consecutive Bid ticks must print in the same day at or above your stop price to trigger your buy stop order.	If you place a stop order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive Bid ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive Bid ticks in the same day must print at or below your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched buy order.	If you place an If Touched order to Buy at $50, two non-consecutive Bid ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.
Twice Ask/Bid Tick (TAB)	Sell Orders	Two nonconsecutive Ask ticks must print in the same day at or below your stop price to trigger your sell stop order.	If you place a stop order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive Ask ticks at or below $50 will trigger the order.	Two non-consecutive Ask ticks in the same day must print at or above your If Touched price to trigger your If Touched sell order.	If you place an If Touched order to Sell at $50, two non-consecutive Ask ticks at or above $50 will trigger the order.

Trigger Types for Activation Rules

The above trigger types (single, double, and twice) also allow you to specify the type of tick, number, and pattern of ticks that will trigger a specific row of an activation rule. Bid/Ask and Ask/Bid triggers use the comparison operator (>/>= or </<=) for the row to determine which type of tick to compare.

Examples

The following are examples of different types of Stop and If Touched triggers. Click an arrow to expand a item, or again to collapse.

Equities examples

Market If Touched (MIT) and Limit If Touch (LIT) Trigger Type Examples (For Equities)

Let’s look at a table that shows If Touched trigger types for buy and sell orders for equities:

Underlying Price		Trigger Price for Limit Orders	Trigger Price for Market Stop Orders	Trigger Price for Market If Touched (MIT) Orders	Trigger Price for Stop Limit Order		Trigger Price for Limit if Touched (LIT) Order
45	Buy Orders	Buy limit <= 40	Buy stop >= 50	Buy MIT <= 40	Buy stop limit >= 50	Order sent at limit price	Buy LIT <= 40	Order sent at limit price
45	Sell Orders	Sell limit >= 50	Sell stop <= 40	Sell MIT >= 50	Sell stop limit <= 40	Order sent at limit price	Sell LIT >= 50	Order sent at limit price

Example 1: If you place a Market if Touched buy order at <= $40, when the underlying price is $45, and then the underlying price moves to $40 or lower, a market order is triggered.

Example 2: If you place a Market if Touched sell order at >= $50, when the underlying price is $45, and then the underlying price moves to $50 or higher, a market order is triggered.

Options examples - Single-leg

Market If Touched (MIT) and Limit If Touched (LIT) Trigger Type Examples (For Single Options)

Let’s look at a table that shows If Touched trigger types for buy and sell orders for single options:

Option Price		Trigger Price for Limit Orders	Trigger Price for Market Stop Orders	Trigger Price for Market If Touched (MIT) Orders	Trigger Price for Stop Limit Order		Trigger Price for Limit if Touched (LIT) Order
1.50	Buy Orders	Buy limit <= 1.20	Buy stop >= 1.80	Buy MIT <= 1.20	Buy stop limit >= 1.80	Order sent at limit price	Buy LIT <= 1.20	Order sent at limit price
1.50	Sell Orders	Sell limit >= 1.80	Sell stop <= 1.20	Sell MIT >= 1.80	Sell stop limit <= 1.20	Order sent at limit price	Sell LIT >= 1.80	Order sent at limit price

Example 1: If you place a Market if Touched buy order at <= $1.20, when the option price is $1.50, and then the option price moves to $1.20 or lower, a market order is triggered.

Example 2: If you place a Market if Touched sell order at >= $1.80, when the option price is $1.50, and then the option price moves to $1.80 or higher, a market order is triggered.

Options examples - Multi-legged Stop Order Trigger Types (Vertical Spread)

Let’s look at examples for both the SBA and SAB trigger types using the following option chain:

Calls
Bid	Ask	Strike
1.18	1.41	120
0.71	0.92	125

SBA Trigger Types (Vertical Example)

For an SBA trigger type, let’s use a 120/125 long call vertical as an example, where 120 is long and 125 is short. Follow these steps to calculate the spread price used to evaluate stop triggering:

Multiply the ask price of the 120 strike (1.41) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total ask price is 1.41.
Multiply the bid price of the 125 strike (0.71) by the minimum ratio quantity of the short call (-1) to see that the total bid price is -0.71.
Add the total ask price of the 120 strike (1.41) and the total bid price of the 125 strike (-0.71), to see that the trade will trigger if the spread price of 0.70 is >= the stop price.

Strike	Leg Price	Minimum Ratio Quantity	Total Price
120	1.41 (Ask Price)	+1 (long)	1.41 (Ask Price)
125	0.71 (Bid Price)	-1 (short)	-0.71 (Bid Price)
			0.70

SAB Trigger Types (Vertical Example)

The SAB trigger type is more conservative than the SBA, and will not trigger stops as easily. For example, let’s use the same 120/125 long call vertical, where 120 is long and 125 is short. Follow these steps to calculate the trigger price:

Multiply the bid price of the 120 strike (1.18) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total bid price is 1.18.
Multiply the ask price of the 125 strike (.92) by the minimum ratio quantity of the short call (-1) to see that the total ask price is -.92.
Add the total bid price of the 120 strike (1.18) and the total ask price of the 125 strike (-.92), to see that the trade will trigger if the spread price of 0.26 is >= the stop price.

Strike	Leg Price	Minimum Ratio Quantity	Total Price
120	1.18 (Bid Price)	+1 (long)	1.18 (Bid Price)
125	0.92 (Ask Price)	-1 (short)	-0.92 (Ask Price)
			0.26

Options examples - Multi-legged Stop Order Trigger Types (Butterfly Spread)

Let’s look at examples for both the SBA and SAB trigger types using the following option chain:

Calls
Bid	Ask	Strike
1.18	1.41	120
0.71	0.92	125
0.42	0.62	130

SBA Trigger Types (Butterfly Example)

For an SBA trigger type, let’s use a 120/125/130 long call butterfly as an example, where 120 is long, 125 is short, and 130 is long. Follow these steps to calculate the trigger price:

Multiply the ask price of the 120 strike (1.41) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total ask price is 1.41.
Multiply the bid price of the 125 strike (0.71) by the minimum ratio quantity of the short call (-2) to see that the total bid price is -1.42.
Multiply the ask price of the 130 strike (0.62) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total ask price is 0.62.
Add the total ask price of the 120 strike (1.41), the total bid price of the 125 strike (-1.42), and the total ask price of the 130 strike (0.62) to see that the trade will trigger if the spread price of 0.61 is >= the stop price.

Strike	Leg Price	Minimum Ratio Quantity	Total Price
120	1.41 (Ask Price)	+1 (long)	1.41 (Ask Price)
125	0.71 (Bid Price)	-2 (short)	-1.42 (Bid Price)
130	0.62 (Ask Price)	+1 (long)	0.62 (Ask Price)
			0.61

SAB Trigger Types (Butterfly Example)

The SAB trigger type is the inverse of the SBA. For example, let’s use the same 120/125/130 long call butterfly, where 120 is long, 125 is short, and 130 is long. Follow these steps to calculate the trigger price:

Multiply the bid price of the 120 strike (1.18) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total bid price is 1.18.
Multiply the ask price of the 125 strike (0.92) by the minimum ratio quantity of the short call (-2) to see that the total ask price is -1.84.
Multiply the bid price of the 130 strike (0.42) by the minimum ratio quantity of the long call (+1) to see that the total bid price is 0.42.
Add the total bid price of the 120 strike (1.18), the total ask price of the 125 strike (-1.84), and the total bid price of the 130 strike (0.42) to see that the trade will trigger if the spread price of -0.24 is >= the stop price.

Strike	Leg Price	Minimum Ratio Quantity	Total Price
120	1.18 (Bid Price)	+1 (long)	1.18 (Bid Price)
125	0.92 (Ask Price)	-2 (short)	-1.84 (Ask Price)
130	0.42 (Bid Price)	+1 (long)	0.42 (Bid Price)
			-0.24

Order Entry Preferences - Triggers