Managing Bracket Orders

Once you submit a primary order with a bracket, the bracket portion of the order will display as a contingent order under Order Status & Messages tab in the My Account tab.

You can also add, change, or remove bracket orders from the Order Status view, just as you can with non-bracketed orders.

When you first submit a primary order with brackets you will see that the bracket quantity will display as zero ‘0’. Brackets only become active once a fill has been received on the primary order. As fills are received the bracket’s quantity will increase and the Current Trigger Price will adjust based on the average price of those fills.
Canceling the primary order will also cancel the bracket orders associated with it as long as there are no fills against the primary.
Partially filled primary orders will already have active bracket(s) on the filled shares or contracts. Canceling the remaining unfilled portion of the order will not impact the brackets.

Stock symbols and price and volume data shown here and in the software are for illustrative purposes only. Charles Schwab & Co., its parent or affiliates, and/or its employees and/or directors may have positions in securities referenced herein, and may, as principal or agent, buy from or sell to clients.

Adding Brackets to a New Primary Order:

In the Trading tab, choose a Buy or Short order action (for option orders, click Buy to Open or Sell to Open).
Set up the details of your primary order, including order type, quantity, limit price, time in force, and any special conditions.
Click Add Bracket if the Bracket panel is not already open.
In the Bracket panel, choose which type(s) of bracket you wish to use in your risk management strategy for this position: Profit Exit, Trailing Stop Exit, and/or Stop Loss Exit. See Bracket Overview for descriptions and examples of each.
Set up the parameters for the selected brackets, while confirming that the Est. Price (for Profit exits and Stop Exits) is in line with your expectations. The estimated price is based on either the designated Limit price for a Limit or Stop Limit order, or the last Trade price if your order is a Market or Stop order.

Once the primary order receives a fill, that fill’s price is used to calculate the actual trigger price. If multiple fills are received at different prices, those prices are averaged together and the average fill price is used as a basis for the calculation.

Adding Brackets to Open Orders

In the Order Status panel, click on the order you are adding brackets to and click Apply Bracket.
The order will open in the trading panel. Check the bracket parameters you wish to add, and specify the values and units for each.
Click Verify Order. The brackets now display as contingent orders in your Order Status tab.

Adding Brackets to Positions

When you establish a bracket at the time of order entry or from the order status, the starting price is automatically based off of the average fill price OR for trailing stop brackets, off of the Bid or Ask at the point in time the bracket becomes active. However, when you establish a bracket AFTER the order fills (in other words, now that it's a position rather than an order), you will need to specify a starting price and quantity.

Select a starting price from the Bid, Ask, Last, or enter a custom price in the Other field. If you are adding the bracket to a position with multiple fill prices, Avg Cost will also be an available selection.
Enter the portion of your position to which you wish to apply the bracket in the Quantity field. Click the arrows to increase or decrease the quantity by 100 share increments, or type a number in the field.
Choose which exit(s) you wish to use in your risk management strategy for this position: Profit, Trailing Stop, and/or Stop Loss. See Bracket Overview for descriptions and examples of each.
Set up the parameters for the selected brackets, while confirming that the Est. Price is in line with your expectations. The estimated price is based on the Starting Price you selected above.
Click Verify Order, and then if the order is satisfactory, click Place Order. The brackets will then display in the Order Status tab, where you can view, edit, or delete them as necessary.

Editing a Bracket

Changing a bracket prior to it triggering does not affect the primary order.

In the Order Status panel, click the bracket order you wish to change and click Change.
The order will open in the trading panel. Edit the bracket parameters as necessary.
Click Verify Order when you are finished.
If your primary order has already received fills, you will see the current trigger price adjust based on the change in the bracket’s value.

Canceling a Bracket

In the Order Status panel, click on the bracket you wish you remove and click Cancel. If you wish to remove all bracket orders at once, click Change and uncheck the bracket checkboxes.

Notes on Changing or Canceling Primary Orders

Changing a primary order: Generally a primary order can be changed without impacting the brackets. Changes to the limit price will impact the fill prices, and those will be taken into account as fills are received and the new trigger prices are calculated for the exits.
Too late to cancel: Orders can fill quickly, so it's often the case that a command to cancel the primary order is too late and is rejected by the system. This simply means that once the primary order executes, brackets will be placed in the market now that an open position exists.
Changing a partially filled primary order: When you change a partially filled primary order, you are essentially canceling and replacing the old order with a new order.

When brackets are associated with the order, they remain linked to the filled portion of the order, and the quantity and trigger price are based on the executions up to the point the order was changed.

The new order created by the change, which consists of the unfilled portion of the original order, will have a new set of brackets linked to it. Any new fills of this order will be used to increase the bracket quantity and calculate the new trigger price.
Canceling a partially filled primary order: If an order partially fills, any brackets that were part of the order will become active for the number of filled shares. If you cancel the remainder of the unfilled shares, it will not affect the filled shares or its brackets.
Voided Executions on the primary order: If the primary order receives one or more voided fills, any brackets against that order will be automatically deactivated (if the full quantity is voided) or adjusted for the remaining valid shares that are still open or have filled.
Brackets triggering while the primary order is still in open status: When the first fill is received for the primary order, your brackets begin being monitored in the event that one of your target exits is met. If the price touches one of these exits, the bracket will trigger an order and the remaining brackets will be cancelled.

When this occurs, a new set of bracket exits will be established automatically and any new executions for the primary order will be applied to the new bracket set. Any single primary order can only have one bracket set in contingent status at a time.
Bracket Exits triggering before the position is updated: Occasionally, usually due to unusually heavy market volume, StreetSmart.com® does not immediately receive position updates. This condition coupled with high volatility can result in brackets triggering before the position is received by StreetSmart.com. When this occurs, the bracket order fails. When placing trades in these marketplace conditions, setting looser bracket exits will still help provide protection but allow for the system to update properly and may prevent you from being closed out of your position prematurely.
Effects of corporate actions: Order quantities on brackets will not adjust due to corporate actions, including but limited to stock splits, stock dividends, spin-offs, mergers, and name changes.