Stop Adjustments and Trailing Stops
A stop does not have to stay where it started. Stop adjustments move your stop target on a schedule you define, and trailing stops tighten automatically as the trade earns profit.
Stop adjustments
Stop Adjustments let the bot change the stop target based on the current time. Enable them in the Trade Stop section of the bot editor, then add rows pairing a time of day with the stop target you want in force from that time on. This is a common way to give a trade room early in the session and run a tighter stop into the close.
Stop Adjustments on Days in Trade or Days to Expiration chooses which day each adjustment schedule applies to, so multi-day trades can run different stop schedules on day one than on expiration day. Stop Adjustments by Time holds the schedule itself: the times of day the bot adjusts the stop target and the corresponding targets.
Build a schedule
Each schedule is a set of rows. Click Add Adjustment to add one, then fill in the Adjustment Time and the stop target that takes effect from that time on. A row can also flip its Disable Stops switch instead of setting a new target, which turns the stop off entirely from that time forward, useful when you want a stop through the volatile open but none into a quiet close.
A worked example for a two-day trade measured In Trade: on trade day 1, no adjustments, so the base stop from the Trade Stop section applies all day. On trade day 2, one row at 10:30 tightens the stop target, and a second row at 15:00 tightens it again into the close. At any moment the stop in force is simply the most recent row that has passed, or the base stop before the first row.
Trailing stops
Trailing Stops close a trade based on a stop amount that adjusts upward as the trade becomes more profitable. Instead of measuring from your entry, the stop follows the best profit the trade has seen and protects part of it.
Three settings define the behavior:
- Trail Calculated By picks the unit. Percentage uses percent profit of the position. Option Dollars uses option prices per one quantity, where $1.00 equals $100 of real profit per contract.
- Profit Trigger for Trailing Stop arms the trail. Once the trade's best seen profit crosses this level, the trailing stop is enabled for the rest of the trade.
- Trailing Stop Allowance is how much the trade may give back from its best seen profit before it is stopped out.
Two examples straight from the bot editor: with percentages, a 30 percent Profit Trigger and a 10 percent Allowance arm the trail once profit exceeds 30 percent, and if the best profit seen reaches 35 percent, the trade stops when profit drops below 25 percent. With Option Dollars, a $3.00 trigger and a $2.00 allowance on a trade that has seen a $4.00 best profit will stop the trade when profit falls below $2.00.
Trailing stop speed
Trailing Stop Speed works like the regular Stop Speed setting: it controls the check interval, the number of hits required to stop out, and how long limit orders work before being replaced with fresh quotes and more slippage. Choose a preset, or pick Custom to tune the trigger checks and order handling yourself.
Using both together
Adjustments and trails solve different problems. Stop adjustments are deterministic: at a given time on a given day, your stop is exactly where the schedule says. Trailing stops are reactive: they only tighten when the trade has produced profit. Many traders schedule a loose overnight stop with adjustments and let a trailing stop capture the upside on the days the trade works.
Both features build on the base stop covered in Stop Losses Explained, and every field in the section is documented in Bot Settings: Trade Stop, Trailing Stops, and Launch on Stop.