Market order versus limit order
The entry form has two modes, Market and Limit. They differ not only in execution price but in what happens to the diary entry and to the TP/SL levels.
Market order
Market mode sends the order for immediate execution at the best available price. The position opens almost instantly, but the exact entry price is not known in advance — it depends on the order book at the moment of sending.
TP and SL percentages in this mode are calculated from the current mark price: the interface takes it as the reference point and converts them into absolute prices before sending. The diary entry is created straight away with the status Open.
Limit order
Limit mode requires an entry price and places a LIMIT order with GTC time in force — it rests on the exchange until it fills or you cancel it. The position opens only if price reaches the level you set.
TP and SL percentages are then calculated from your entry price, not from the market. The diary entry is created with the status Planned and no opening time — that is filled in when the order fills.
The "Enter trade" button next to a signal switches on limit mode and fills the signal price in as the entry, with TP2 and SL prefilled as absolute levels.
What happens to the TP and SL levels
- They always reach the exchange as absolute prices, never percentages: as separate STOP_MARKET and TAKE_PROFIT_MARKET trigger orders flagged to close the whole position.
- The trigger fires on mark price rather than the last trade, which makes it less likely to be knocked out by a random spike.
- Before sending, the interface checks two things: that the take-profit and stop sit on the correct side of the entry price, and that neither of them would fire immediately at the current mark price. Otherwise the exchange would reject them and the position would be left unprotected.
- The entry price is rounded to the instrument tick size — otherwise the exchange rejects the order on precision.
What to do with an unfilled limit order
While the order is unfilled, the diary entry shows a cancel button that removes both the order itself and its attached TP/SL triggers from the exchange. If the order is already gone, the cancellation still counts as successful and the entry moves to the Cancelled status.
The "Sync with exchange" button in the diary reconciles state: filled limit orders become open with their real average price, cancelled and expired ones become cancelled, and entries with no remaining position on the instrument become closed.