Conditional Trading

Conditional Trading allows for greater customization of order handling to meet your specific needs and provides you the flexibility to place and cancel orders based on certain criteria being met or based on the status of linked orders.

There are four types of Conditional orders available through the Active Trader Pro®:

  • Contingent
  • One Cancels the Other (OCO)
  • One Triggers the Other (OTO)
  • One Triggers a One Cancels the Other (OTOCO)

Fidelity offers Conditional orders on a best efforts, "not held" basis. Use of Conditional Orders indicates your understanding and acceptance of the risks associated with these orders (PDF).

Note: Sell Short orders are not available through the Conditional Trade ticket.

  • Accessing the Conditional Trade Ticket

    The Conditional Trade ticket can be accessed from the Trade & Orders menu. The Conditional ticket defaults to a Contingent order; use the Trade Type drop down to select a different order type. Depending on the Trade Type selected the fields available in this order ticket will change. For example, you may see two or three orders depending on whether you chose OCO or OTOCO.

  • Contingent

    A Contingent order allows you to trigger the placement of an equity or single-leg option order if certain criteria are met. Users can specify triggers based on the following security types:

    • Stock/ETF
    • Index ‒ Select and index from the pre-built list. Please note that index values update at 15 second intervals, which may impact the release of your order to the marketplace.
    • Option ‒ Option Agreement is needed to use an Option symbol in the Criteria or Order section.

    Available Contingent Ticket Triggers

    The following triggers can be selected, based on security type, when creating a contingent trade:

    Trigger Stock/ETF Index Option
    Last Trade Yes Yes Yes
    Bid Yes No Yes
    Ask Yes No Yes
    Volume Yes Yes No
    Day Change % Up Yes Yes No
    Day Change % Down Yes Yes No
    52-Week High Yes Yes No
    52-Week Low Yes Yes No

    After setting your Symbol and Trigger you have the ability to select a Direction:

    • Greater than
    • Greater than or equal to
    • Less than
    • Less than or equal to

    Time in Force (TIF): You can choose from Day, Good 'til Canceled (good for 180 days or life of option contract), or Custom. The TIF for your Criteria may be the same or different than the TIF for your Order.

    • Untriggered orders will cancel at the earlier of the Criteria or Order Expiration dates.
    • If the order is Open (triggered), the order will cancel at the Order Expiration date if the order has not executed.

    After placing a Contingent order you will see it in the Orders tool listed as a Contingent order with a status of Untriggered. Once the Criteria specified in the order has been met, the order is then sent to the marketplace and will be listed in the Orders tool as Open (triggered).

    Certain Contingent orders may not be eligible for execution after being triggered for release to the marketplace, including limit or stop prices too far away from the market or on the wrong side of the market. Please monitor these orders for reasonability. As a general guideline, an order may be canceled if it is more than 30% away from the market depending on where the order was routed for execution.

  • One Cancels the Other (OCO)

    A One Cancels the Other order gives you the ability to place two live orders so that if either one of the orders executes the other is canceled. Cancelation of the linked order is done on a "best efforts" basis.

    Note: Partial execution of one of the orders will also trigger an attempt to cancel the other order.

    OCO orders are commonly used to place orders on both sides of the market for the same security and are also known as bracket orders. For example, if an account has long shares of XYZ stock, the owner may want to have an order to sell XYZ at a Limit above the current market and an order to sell XYZ at a Stop below the current market. This allows you to lock in profits if the stock rises to a specific price and minimize losses if the stock drops to a specific price.

    Time in Force (TIF)

    The TIF for Order A and Order B need to be the same. For example:

    • If Order A = Day, then Order B = Day
    • If Order A = GTC, then Order B = GTC
    • If Order A = Custom, then Order B = Custom
    • When Custom is selected in Order A and the Date is set to the current date, then the expiration times for Order A and Order B can be different.
    • When Custom is selected in Order A and the Date is set to day after the current date, then the expiration dates and times on Order A and Order B can be different.

    After placing an OCO order you will see both orders on the Orders tool. Each leg of the OCO order will have a unique identifier. For example: OCO 1A and OCO 1B.

    Since Order A and Order B are both live orders in the marketplace you can cancel either Order while the other leg remains open.

  • One Triggers the Other (OTO)

    A One Triggers the Other order gives you the ability to place a primary and secondary order at the same time. The primary order is a live order at the marketplace where the secondary order is not sent to the marketplace until the primary order executes.

    Note: The primary order needs to execute in full for the secondary order to be sent to the marketplace.

    An OTO order is primarily used to place a buy and sell order on the same security at the same time. For example, if you would like to buy shares of XYZ stock and immediately place a sell stop or sell limit on the shares, this can be accomplished with an OTO order.

    Time in Force (TIF)

    You can have different TIFs for your primary vs. secondary orders.

    After placing an OTO order you will see both orders on the Orders tool. Each leg of the OTO order will have a unique identifier. For example: OTO 1A and OTO 1B.

    Note: If your attempt to cancel your primary order is successful, this will automatically cancel your secondary order. However, canceling your secondary order will not automatically cancel your primary order.

  • One Triggers a One Cancels the Other (OTOCO)

    A One Triggers a One Cancels the Other order gives you the ability to place a primary and two secondary orders at the same time. The primary order is a live order at the marketplace where the secondary orders are not sent to the marketplace until the primary order executes. Once the primary order executes in full the two secondary orders are sent to the marketplace as a One Cancels the Other (OCO) order. The execution of either leg of the OCO order triggers an attempt to cancel the other order.

    Note: The primary order needs to execute in full for the secondary OCO orders to be sent to the marketplace.

    An OTOCO order is commonly used to place a buy and corresponding sell orders (above and below current price) on the same security at the same time. For example, if you would like to buy shares of XYZ and know your profit and loss targets prior to entry, you could utilize an OTOCO order by placing a Buy, Sell Limit, and Sell Stop.

    Time in Force (TIF)

    The TIF can be different on your primary and secondary orders. However, both secondary orders have the same TIF rules as an OCO order.

    After placing a One Triggers a One Cancels the Other (OTOCO) order you will see all three legs of the order in the Orders tool with unique identifiers. For example: OTOCO 1A, OTOCO 1B, and OTOCO 1C.

    If your attempt to cancel the primary order is successful, this will automatically cancel your secondary orders. However, canceling either one of your secondary orders will not have an impact on the other two open orders.