Trade Panel
The trade panel is a convenient tool for managing orders and positions from the chart. This panel can be displayed by choosing View > Trade Panel from the top menu bar (or press Alt/option + T). There is also a button available on the tool bar that toggles the display of this panel.
The default Trade Panel layout has two tabs that provide different trading options:
Position – Used to create and manage open positions. Several new buttons have been added to this layout. A Time in Force choice and Exit Strategy control have also been added.
Order – Use this tab to place and modify existing orders. Stop/Trail and Limit orders can also be attached for a stop loss and profit target.
Position Tab
The Position tab may be used to manage your current position for the chart instrument. A default tab has the following elements:
Quantity – This is the quantity for the market orders. It will default the value in order presets
Time In Force Chooser (TIF) – Effective time for the order. Day orders will expire at the end of the day. GTC orders last until they are cancelled (Good Till Cancelled). The options available in this field will vary depending on the broker.
Exit Strategy – defines how an existing position will be closed using a combination of one or more orders (bracket order). See Exit Strategies.
Buy Market Button – Creates a market order to buy the given quantity at the market price
Sell Market Button – Creates a market order to sell the given quantity at the market price
Buy Ask Button – Creates a limit order to buy the given quantity at the ask price
Sell Ask Button – Creates a limit order to sell the given quantity at the ask price
Buy Bid Button – Creates a limit order to buy the given quantity at the bid price
Sell Bid Button – Creates a limit order to sell the given quantity at the bid price
Flatten All Button – If you currently have an open position, this button will cancel all those orders (for the given instrument and account) and close the open position at market price.
Cancel All – If you have open orders for the given chart instrument and account, this will cancel all of those open orders
Break Even – Creates an exit order at the break even price.
Reverse Button – If you have an open position, this will cancel all open orders for the instrument/account before reversing the current position at market price (with the same quantity). For example, if you are long 5 contracts, the reverse button will cancel all open orders then short 5 contracts.
Account Chooser – Enables you to choose the account for the orders
Position Label (Pos)– Displays the current position (N/A for no position). If the label background is blue, then the position is long. Short positions will have a red background as well as a negative number for the quantity.
P/L Label – Displays the current unrealized profit/loss for the open position. A loss will be displayed with a red background (and a negative sign). A profit will be displayed with a blue background. If there is no open position, this label will display N/A.
Order Tab
The Order tab is used to create or modify existing orders. New orders can be created by clicking on the Buy or Sell buttons. An existing order can be modified by selecting it on the chart (left click on the label).
Buy Button – Indicates if the order is a buy or sell. If no order is selected on the chart, you may click on this button to create a buy order.
Sell Button – Indicates if the order is a buy or sell. If no order is selected on the chart, you may click on this button to create a sell order.
Quantity – quantity for the selected order. This will default to the order preset if it is a new order.
Order Type – list of available order types (broker dependent). The selected choice will influence the visible fields below (ie limit price, stop price etc).
Limit/Stop Price – Depending on the type of order these fields may be visible underneath the Order Type field.
Time In Force – effective time for the order. Day orders will expire at the end of the day. GTC orders last until they are cancelled (Good Till Cancelled). The options available in this field will vary depending on the broker.
Limit – Use this option to attach a limit (profit) order. This order will be activated when the primary order is filled
Stop – Use this option to attach a stop order. This order will be activated when the primary order is filled and will be an OCO (one cancels other) order with the limit order above.
Trail – Use this option to attach a trailing stop order (instead of the stop order above).
Submit/Modify Button – Click this button to submit the order to the broker. This button will have a red background for sell orders and a blue background for buy orders
Discard/Cancel – Discards (for new orders) or cancels the order
Account Choice – Account for the order. For new orders, this will default to the Primary account (set in the Accounts panel).
Position Label (Pos)– Displays the current position (N/A for no position). If the label background is blue, then the position is long. Short positions will have a red background as well as a negative number for the quantity.
P/L Label – Displays the current unrealized profit/loss for the open position. A loss will be displayed with a red background (and a negative sign). A profit will be displayed with a blue background. If there is no open position, this label will display N/A.
Trade Panel Settings
General
Location – Select the location of the Trade Panel on the chart.
Exit Attach – When using an exit strategy and click attach (paper clip button) to attach an exit strategy to an existing position. You can attach based on average entry price or the last price.
Entry Price – Average Entry Price for the Position. this is the same as the average fill price for an entry order.
Last Price – Last traded price
Show Order Ticket Panel When Selecting Order – If this is checked, the Order tab will be shown when an order is selected in the chart. The order ticket form will be filled with the order properties.
Show P/L – Displays the Profit/Loss in the Trade Panel.
Panels
The Trade Panel layout can be modified via this tab. The layout of the Trade Panel can be customized from the Panels tab. Existing panels can be modified (double-click on the panel or use the pencil icon on top) or deleted ( select a panel and press on the Delete key or use the "x" icon on top). New panels can be added by clicking on the "+" button.
The Edit Panel dialog contains a table of widgets (form controls). Each row in the table represents a row in the panel (arranged vertically). Optionally a row can have one of the following layouts:
Grid – Widgets within the grid are centered in the row with a fixed number of columns. Optionally a widget may span multiple columns.
Flow – Widgets are arranged from left to right in a row. If there is not enough space, the widgets are wrapped around to the next line.
The screen shot below shows the Edit Panel dialog for the existing Position panel. Rows may be added to the layout by clicking on the "+" button. Existing rows may be modified or removed by selecting and pressing the edit/delete buttons.
The screenshot below shows how to add a new widget to a panel. The vertical order of the widgets can be adjusted by dragging them up/down or selecting and using the up/down arrow buttons.
Widgets
A widget is a generic name for a control, button, label or layout/formatting that can be added to a panel. The following widgets are currently supported:
Controls
Controls are used to execute actions or set properties. The following controls are currently supported:
Account Chooser – Selects the active account for the chart. This account will used for placing, modifying or cancelling active orders.
Buy/Sell Box – Buy/Sell box for placing market orders. This control also contains a quantity chooser and labels for display information such as Day High/Low/Last Price etc.
Exit Strategy – Selector for the active exit strategy and buttons for attaching to an existing position and enabling/disabling the control
Order Ticket – Order ticket form. This may be used to create new orders or modify/cancel existing orders
Quantity Chooser – Allows you to set the quantity for placing an order.
Quantity Selector – Contains preset quantities (in horizontal tab format) for quickly selecting a quantity for order placement.
TIF Chooser – Selects the Time in Force attribute for placing new orders.
Buttons
Buttons are used to execute an action such as placing or cancelling an order. The label, font and color can be customized for any button. Some buttons include additional parameters (such as offset) for customizing the behavior.
Break Even – Creates a stop or limit order at the break-even price for an open position (stop if you are showing a profit, limit if showing a loss). The optional Offset will add an offset (in ticks) to your breakeven price, this can be used for breakeven +1 tick to cover commission costs.
Breakout – Creates two stop orders above and below the current market price with the given offset. When one of the orders is filled the other is canceled (OCO orders). This may be used to enter the market in the direction of trend when it breaks out of a fixed range.
Break Down/Fade Up – Creates a sell stop order below the market and a sell limit above the market with the given offset. These orders are submitted as OCO (One Cancels Other)
Break Up/Fade Down - Creates a buy stop order above the market and a buy limit below the market with the given offset. These orders are submitted as OCO (One Cancels Other)
Buy Ask – Submits a buy limit order at the ask price. Optionally an offset may be set to place the order a given number of ticks below the ask.
Buy Bid – Submits a buy limit order at the bid price. Optionally an offset may be set to place the order a given number of ticks below the bid.
Buy Limit – Submits a buy limit order at a given number of ticks from the input value (Bid Price, Ask Price, Last Price, Day High, Day Low, Open or Previous Close)
Buy MIT – Similar to Buy Limit, but places a Market If Touched order instead.
Buy Mkt – Places a Buy Mkt order
Buy Stop – Similar to Buy Limit, but places stop order instead.
Cancel All – Cancels all active orders for the given instrument and account.
Cancel Buys – Cancels all active buy orders for the given instrument and account.
Cancel Sells – Cancels all active sell orders for the given instrument and account.
Fade – Creates a Sell Limit above the market and Buy Limit below the market using a given number of offset ticks (submitted as OCO orders). This may be used to trade an instrument that is range bound (stays within a given price range).
Flatten – Closes an open position at market price (for the given instrument and account).
Flatten All – Same as Flatten, but also cancels all open orders (for the given instrument and account) and closes the open position at market price.
Reverse – If you have an open position, this will cancel all open orders (for the instrument/account) before reversing the current position at market price. For example, on a filled Buy order, the Reverse button closes any open orders you have and puts a sell order at market price.
Sell Ask – Similar to Buy Ask, but submits a Sell order instead.
Sell Bid – Similar to Buy Bid, but submits a Sell order instead.
Sell Limit – Similar to Buy Limit, but submits a Sell order instead.
Sell MIT – Similar to Buy MIT, but submits a Sell order instead.
Sell Mkt – Similar to Buy Mkt, but submits a Sell order instead.
Sell Stop – Similar to Buy Stop, but submits a Sell order instead.
The screen shot below shows an example of a button dialog. The available parameters (such as input or offset) will be different depending on which button is selected.
Labels
Labels display live information:
P/L Label – Current Profit/Loss for the given instrument and account.
P/L Price Label – Current Profit/Loss measured in price movements instead of a dollar amount.
Position – Current open position and entry price for the given instrument and account.
Spread – Difference between the best bid and best ask prices for the given instrument.
Formatting
Formatting widgets are useful for controlling how the other widgets are arranged on the panel:
Flow Pane – Contains a set of widgets that are arranged from left to right. When there is no more room to display on the current row, the remaining widgets are wrapped onto the next line.
Grid Pane – Contains a set of widgets that are arranged in a grid with a fixed number of columns. The number of rows depends on how many widgets are in the pane.
Horizontal Spacer – Adds horizontal space between widgets
Divider – Draws a horizontal divider (typically displayed on a single row)
Vertical Spacer – Adds vertical space between rows.
The screen shot below shows an example of customizing the trade panel. In this case there is only one panel, so the tabs are not displayed.
Exit Strategies
Exit strategies define how a position will be closed using a combination of one or more orders. See Exit Strategies for the details.
"+" Icon – Click to add a new item.
Pencil Icon – Click here to edit the selected item.
Paper Icon – Copy/Duplicate an exit strategy.
X Icon – Delete the selected item.
Up/Down Icons – Move the items up or down in the panel.
Defaults
When the Trade Panel is modified, the changes are only applied to the active Trade Panel within the chart. At the bottom of the dialog, click on the Defaults button. This will set the default for any new Trade Panels that are created (but will not affect existing Trade Panels).
Templates
Templates can be very useful for creating and applying multiple layouts. If you are trading different instruments you may want to have one or more Trade Panel layouts. From the template drop down button at the top of the Trade Panel there are options to save, manage or apply templates (there is also a Template button at the bottom of the Trade Panel Settings dialog).
In the screen shot below we are saving the customized Trade Panel that we created in a previous section as “Simple Panel”. This new template can then be applied to another trade panel by selecting it in the Templates button drop down.
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