Alert & Conditional Order Conditions

Following are the conditions you can specify when creating an Alert or Conditional Order on a stock or option symbol. See more on Creating Alerts or Conditional Orders Overview.

For a demonstration and more information on using Alerts or Conditional Orders, visit the Training page.

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Stock/ETF, Call, or Put	Click Stock/ETF for conditions using an equity symbol. Select Call or Put when using an option symbol for your condition.
Symbol	Enter the symbol you want to monitor. Click the drop-down arrow in the symbol field to select from the symbols in which you hold positions. Avoid placing alerts or conditional orders on any stock that does not have bid/ask quotes, including Pink Sheet securities. Such alerts will not fire. TIP: For option symbols, you can copy and paste the symbol from the option chains located in the All in One tool, Trade tool or Symbol Hub by right-clicking on the Option symbol and selecting Copy, then Paste into the desired field, again using right-click.
Variable	Select the type of data you wish to monitor for the symbol. Bid - Bases your conditions on the inside Bid price. Ask - Bases your conditions on the inside Ask price. Volume - Bases your conditions on the daily cumulative volume. Trade Price - Bases your conditions on the last sale price reported. It is not uncommon for erroneous trade reports to come through the Time & Sales display with prices away from of the market. You will be responsible for any orders that are executed, even if they are based upon inaccurate information. To minimize possible issues, consider using the Bid or Ask variable when sending conditional orders. This is not a guarantee that orders will not be sent based on ‘bad prints’ and will not completely remove the risk of alerts firing based on inaccurate data. Time - You can set your alert or conditional order to trigger at a specific time during regular market hours or before or after a set time.
Operator	The following operators are available depending on the variable: Increases to (or above) Decreases to (or below) Gains Loses Increases from open by Decreases from open by Increases from close by Decreases from close by For the Time variable, choose from: is (the alert or order will trigger at the specified time or date) is earlier than (alert or order will only trigger prior to this time or date) is later than (alert or order will only trigger after this time or date) is between (alert or order will only trigger between these times) Notes about the Gains and Loses operators: The Gains and Loses operators initialize from the moment the alert or conditional order is activated. So if you create an alert or order that triggers when the Bid gains 1 point, the alert or order uses the Bid at the moment you activate the it as the starting point. If you wish to set a percentage Value or use a Trailing Stop, you must use Gains or Loses as your operator. Gains/Loses vs Increases to/Decreases to: If the selected Operator is "Gains" with a 2.00 Value, the alert will then fire when the chosen Variable reaches the Variable + 2.00. For example, if the Variable is Trade Price and the Trade Price is $10.00, the Alert would fire when the Trade Price = $12.00 ($10.00 + $2.00). Alternatively, if "Increases to" is selected as the Operator with a 2.00 Value, the alert will then fire when the chosen Variable reaches 2.00 or above.
Value	The amount by which you want the variable to change. For Time, enter the time you wish to set your alert or order to trigger at, before, or after.
Points, $, % or Shares	The Variable and Operator you choose will change your available options for these fields.
Trailing Stop	Works only with the Gains and Loses operator, and can be applied to a point value or a percentage. Trailing Stop Alert or Conditional Order example: You are long 1000 shares of XYZ, which was purchased at $20 per share. If you have a risk threshold of 10%, you would want to be alerted or send an order if the bid for XYZ decreases to $18 per share, or $2 less than the highest price reached after the Trailing Stop was entered. You enter an Alert or Conditional Order with the Trailing Stop enabled (when the bid is at $20) to trigger when the Bid loses $2. Assuming the bid then increases to $25 per share, the Trailing Stop will trigger when the Bid decreases to $23 per share. $25 - $2 = $23 per share. If the stock never moves above $20 per share for the same type of Alert or Conditional Order, it will only trigger if the Bid loses $2. $20 - $2 = $18.
And/Or/Then	Click Add Another Condition to add up to 2 additional conditions to your Alert or Conditional Order. When you select And, all conditions must be met at the same time for the alert or order to trigger. When you select Or, any condition can trigger the alert or order independent of the other(s). When you select Then, the previous condition must be met prior to the 'Then' condition being met. You cannot create an alert or conditional order with a combination of 'And' and 'Or' or 'Then' and 'Or' conditions when you have 3 conditions. Remove unwanted additional conditions by clicking the minus icon at the end of the condition row.