Automatic Exit Strategy

Modified on Fri, 27 Dec at 10:09 AM

SL/TP are automatic position protection features that let you focus on trading instead of placing orders. For instance, with these exit strategies, you can preset Stop Loss and Take Profit levels when entering a position. You can also set rules for automatically moving the stop to the breakeven point and for a trailing stop that follows the price to protect your profits. These features enable you to create your own personalized trading strategy.

Exit strategies use orders that are opened by the user through ATAS. If an order was not opened through ATAS, it will not be processed by the strategy. Therefore, if a position is opened through ATAS with strategies enabled, it should also be managed through ATAS. Otherwise, the exit strategy will be disrupted.

When using Exit Strategies, placed orders are sent to the broker's server. However, if the internet connection is lost or ATAS is closed, there will be no automatic cancellation or movement of orders. For this to happen, the computer must be connected to the internet with an active ATAS account.

Advantages of using an Exit Strategy:

Less chance of errors in order management.
Speed (the computer sends and adjusts orders much faster than a person can).
Discipline (less likely to deviate from the trading plan).
Full alignment with your trading strategy.
Less emotional influence.

The SL/TP function is available both on the Chart Trader panel (when trading from the chart) and in the Smart DOM trading panel.

To activate the SL/TP function, you need to open Chart trader, enable Stop Loss and Take Profit in the SL/TP settings window and click Apply:

There are two tabs in this window: Simple and Multi-level.

Settings for the Simple tab:

Time in Force (TIF) - choose the "lifetime" of exit orders. DAY means the order is valid until the end of the current trading session or until it is triggered by the price. Good Till Cancel means the order is valid until it is manually canceled or triggered by the price.

Take Profit - the distance from the open position price to the take profit (in ticks/percent/absolute price value).

Stop Loss - the distance from the open position price to the stop loss (in ticks/percent/absolute price value).

By enabling only these two options, you get a simple exit strategy that sets a stop loss and take profit equal to the size of the position at the specified distance.

Example: Buy, entry price = 100, price step = 1, Stop Loss = 10, Take Profit = 10. The strategy will set the take profit at a price of 110 and the stop loss at a price of 90.

Breakeven - an option designed to move the stop to the breakeven point of a position when a certain profit is reached.

Parameters:

Breakeven - the profit amount (in ticks/points) at which the position will be moved to breakeven.
Offset - the offset for moving to breakeven (in ticks/points).

Example: Buy, entry price = 100, price step = 1, Breakeven = 10, Offset = 1. When the profit on the position becomes greater than or equal to 10 ticks, the stop loss will be moved to 101.

Trailing - an option designed for setting exit orders and further trailing of the stop order.

Parameters:

Stop - the size of the trailing stop, how much the price needs to move in the direction of profit for the stop to adjust (in ticks/percentages).
Step - the trailing stop step, how much the stop will move (in ticks/percentages).

Example: Buy, entry price = 100, price step = 1, Stop= 10, Step= 5, Stop Loss = 7

Initially, the stop loss is set at 93.

When the price reaches 110 or higher, the stop moves to 98.

The next move will be at 120, moving the stop to 103, and so on.

Multi-Level - this section allows for more flexible customization of automatic Stop Loss and Take Profit for an open position, enabling you to set exit orders at multiple levels.

Settings of the Multi-Level tab:

Volume Type:

Absolute, lots
Percentage

Time in Force (TIF) – selecting the "lifetime" of exit orders. DAY – valid until the end of the current trading session or until triggered by price. Good Till Cancel – valid until manually canceled or triggered by price.

Exit Levels - adding and configuring Stop Loss and Take Profit levels.

Example: A buy with the volume of 2 contracts, entry price = 100, price step = 1,

Exit Level 1: Quantity 1, Stop Loss = 10, Take Profit = 10.

Exit Level 2: Quantity 1, Stop Loss = 20, Take Profit = 30.

The strategy will set exit orders for 1 contract at the first level with a take profit at 110 and a stop loss at 90, and exit orders for 1 contract at the second level with a take profit at 130 and a stop loss at 80.

In SL/TP, there is also a Watch mode, which activates when you manually move orders that were automatically set by the strategy.

For example: a standard strategy is activated with settings for stop and take profit at 10 ticks. Here is what the initial setup looks like:

After manually moving the take profit (1), the Watch mode is activated (2), and the distance to the take profit in the strategy interface updates to the new value (3). However, the strategy settings remain unchanged. When the strategy is disabled and reactivated, exit orders will be set at a distance of 10 ticks according to the original settings.