Order types and execution
Market, limit, stop-market, stop-limit and bracket orders each trade certainty of fill against certainty of price.
Leverage risk. Futures losses can exceed your margin deposit. Contract specs, margins, sessions and funded-account rules here are illustrative; verify current specifications with the exchange, your broker or the provider.
Choosing an order
Market: fills now at the best available price. Limit: your price or better, may not fill. Stop-market: becomes a market order at the trigger — fills, but price is not guaranteed. Stop-limit: becomes a limit at the trigger — price controlled, fill not guaranteed.
Bracket / OCO (one-cancels-other): attach a stop and a target to an entry so both exits are working immediately. Server-side vs client-side handling differs by platform; know which yours uses.
Measure slippage in ticks and convert with tick value. In fast markets, the book can be thin for a moment and stops fill several ticks away.
Worked example
Slippage on a stop (illustrative MES)
- Stop-market sell for 3 MES at 4,990.00. Fill at 4,989.00 = 4 ticks worse.
- Slippage = 4 ticks × $1.25 × 3 contracts = $15.
- Same slippage on 3 ES: 4 × $12.50 × 3 = $150.
Slippage is normal; budget for it in ticks per contract.
Common misconceptions
“A stop-limit protects me better than a stop-market.”
It controls price but can leave you in a runaway losing position without a fill.
“My platform's stop is always held at the exchange.”
Some platforms hold orders locally or on their servers; connectivity problems matter.
Checkpoint