Bracket orders are designed to help limit your loss and lock in a profit by "bracketing" an order with two opposite-side orders. A BUY order is bracketed by a high-side sell limit order and a low-side sell stop order. A SELL order is bracketed by a high-side buy stop order and a low side buy limit order.

The order quantity for the high and low side bracket orders matches the original order quantity. By default, the bracket order is offset from the current price by 1.0. This offset amount can be changed on the order line for a specific order, or modified at the default level for an instrument, contract or strategy using the Order Presets feature in Global Configuration.

Managing Bracket Orders

Once you submit the primary order, the bracket portion of the order will display as a contingent order in the Order Status tab of your Account Details tool.

You can also change or cancel orders with brackets via the Order Status tab, just as you can with non-bracketed orders.

• When you first submit a primary order with brackets you will see that the bracket quantity will display as zero ‘0’. Brackets only become active once a fill has been received on the primary order. As fills are received the bracket’s quantity will increase and the Current Trigger price will adjust based on the price of those fills.
• Canceling the primary order will also cancel the bracket exits associated with it as long as there are no fills against the primary.
• Partially filled primary orders will already have active bracket(s) on the filled shares or contracts. Canceling the remaining unfilled portion of the primary order will not impact the brackets.

Adding Brackets to a New Primary Order:

1. Click Buy or Short (for option orders, click Buy to Open or Sell to Open) in Trade tool.
2. Set up the details of your primary order, including order type, quantity, limit price, timing, and any special conditions.
3. Click Brackets button to access the Bracket settings.
4. In the Bracket settings, choose which exit(s) you wish to use in your risk management strategy for this position: Profit, Trailing Stop, and/or Stop Loss. See Brackets Overview for descriptions and examples of each.
5. Set up the parameters for the selected brackets, while confirming that the Est. Price is in line with your expectations. The estimated price is based on either the designated Limit price for a Limit or Stop Limit order, or the last Trade price if your order is a Market or Stop order.
6. Once the primary order receives a fill, that fill’s price is used to calculate the actual trigger price. If multiple fills are received at different prices, those prices are averaged together and the average fill price is used as a basis for the calculation.

Adding Brackets to Open Orders

1. In the Order Status tab, right-click on the position you are adding brackets to and select Add Bracket...
2. Check the exits you wish to apply to the order, and specify the values and units for each.
3. Click Add Brackets. The brackets now display as contingent orders in your Order Status tab.

Changing a Bracket

Changing a bracket prior to it triggering does not affect the primary order.

1. In the Order Status tab, find primary order and expand it by clicking the arrow in the first column so the contingent orders associated with the primary order display below it.
2. Right-click the Contingent order you wish to change and select Edit Bracket.
3. Make your edits to the brackets and click OK.
4. If your primary order has already received fills, you will see the current trigger price adjust based on the change in the bracket’s value.

Removing a Bracket

In the Order Status tab, right-click on the bracket you wish to remove and select Remove [exit type]. If you wish to remove all bracket orders at once, select Edit Bracket and uncheck the Exit checkboxes.

Notes on Changing or Canceling Primary Orders

• Changing a primary order: Generally a primary order can be changed without impacting the brackets. Changes to the limit price will impact the fill prices, and those will be taken into account as fills are received and the new trigger prices are calculated for the exits.
• Too late to cancel: Orders can fill quickly, so it's often the case that a command to cancel the primary order is too late and is rejected by the system. This simply means the primary and bracket orders will proceed as normal: The primary order would be an open position with the bracket order(s) active.
• Changing primary order AND brackets: You can change the primary order in the Order Status tab, but to change the bracket exits themselves, right-click on the bracket sub-order in the Order Status tab and select Edit Bracket. You cannot change the order AND its associated brackets via the Change Order function.
• Changing a partially filled primary order: When you change an order, the existing order is canceled and replaced with a new order. When you change an order that has been partially filled, the filled portion of the order remains and the unfilled portion becomes a new order.

• When brackets are associated with the order, they remain linked to the filled portion of the order, and the quantity and trigger price are based on the executions up to the point the order was changed.
• The new order created by the change, which consists of the unfilled portion of the original order, and will have a new set of brackets linked to it. Any new fills of this order will be used to increase the bracket quantity and calculate the new trigger price.

• Canceling a partially filled primary order: If an order partially fills, any brackets that were part of the order will become active for the number of filled shares. If you cancel the remainder of the unfilled shares, it will not affect the filled shares or the brackets.
• Voided Executions on the primary order: If the primary order receives one or more voided fills, any brackets against that order will be automatically deactivated (if the full quantity is voided) or adjusted for the remaining valid shares that are still open or have filled.
• Brackets triggering while the primary order is still in open status: When the first fill is received for the primary order, your brackets begin being monitored in the event that one of your target exits is met. If the price touches one of these exits, the bracket will trigger an order and the remaining brackets will be cancelled.

• When this occurs, a new set of bracket exits will be established automatically and any new executions for the primary order will be applied to the new bracket set. Any single primary order can only have one bracket set in contingent status at a time.

• Bracket Exits triggering before the position is updated: Occasionally, usually due to unusually heavy market volume,

  StreetSmart Edge

  ™ may be slow to receive position updates. This condition coupled with high volatility can result in brackets triggering before the position is received by

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  . When this occurs, the bracket order fails. When placing trades in these marketplace conditions, setting looser bracket exits may still provide some protection but allow for the system to update properly and may prevent you from being stopped out of your position prematurely.
• Effects of corporate actions: Order quantities on brackets will not adjust due to corporate actions, including but not limited to stock splits, stock dividends, spin-offs, mergers, and name changes.