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a sell stop order at $250 for a few contracts. This means that you
believe (based on some technical analysis) that if corn drops to
$250 it may even go further down and by taking a short position
you would profit from the price drop later on when you settle.
The same logic can be applied if the price of the contract is on
its way up and you want to cut your losses on a short position
(that you have from before) or you want to take advantage of a
momentum play by going long and later settle your contracts at
a higher price. There are of course no guarantees that your stop
strategy will not backfire. For example, as you purchase
contracts to take advantage of a seemingly strong upward
momentum, the contracts could do an about face and head
lower, dragging you into a loss position.
- Stop limit order - This is the same as a stop order with the
exception that your order will execute at your specified price
after the contract price reaches the level you have specified. This
option is for those who want to place a stop order and who do
not want to be at the mercy of the market.
Other Specifications
Some of the following specifications are also used for futures
contracts orders:
- Day / GTC - You can set a time duration for your order. A day
order is only good for that day, meaning that if the order cannot
be filled for that trading day, it is cancelled. A GTC (Good Till
Cancelled, a.k.a. open order) order remains open until the order
can be filled, even if it takes weeks. Some brokers, however, may
have a policy to kill an unfilled GTC order after a period of time,
presuming that the customer might have forgotten about the
order.
- FOK - With Fill Or Kill (FOK) orders, brokers are instructed
to make one immediate attempt to fill the order and if it cannot …
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