IBKR Desktop Limit if Touched

A Limit if Touched order is an order to buy an instrument below or sell above the market. Its purpose is to take advantage of sudden or unexpected changes in share or other prices and provides investors with a trigger price to set an order in motion. Investors may be waiting for excessive strength or weakness to cease, which might be represented by a specific price point. Limit if Touched orders can be used to determine whether or not to enter the market once a specific price level has been achieved. This order is held in the system until the trigger price is touched and is then submitted as a limit order so it will only execute at the limit price or better once triggered.

Creating a Limit if Touched Order in IBKR Desktop

The order panel in IBKR Desktop can be populated by either clicking on a symbol in the Portfolio or Watchlist screens or typing in a symbol in the search bar. Once the symbol is selected the investor can click “Buy” or “Sell” to create an order window. In this example the investor chooses to create a “Buy” order and can select the quantity in shares or dollars if fractional shares are enabled, directly below are three order types; Limit, Market, and Stop. To access the Limit if Touched order type the investor clicks on “Stop” and scrolls down in the drop-down box to “Limit if Touched”.

The investor selects the limit and the trigger price. The trigger price is the price of the stock, if touched will activate the order as limit order at the limit price. Since this is a buy order, they will set the trigger and limit price below the current market. Next, they can set the Time-in-force by clicking on the box. They can select Day or Good ‘Till Cancelled, known as GTC. For more information on these terms please see the IBKR Traders’ Glossary.

Submitting a Limit if Touched order in IBKR Desktop

When the investor is satisfied with the order inputs, they can either click on “Preview” to see a breakdown of the order as well as its effect on margin, “Save” to save the order to be transmitted later, or “Transmit” to send the order. The investor chooses “Submit Buy Order” and the Order Confirmation window appears. Once satisfied they click “Transmit” to send the order. Once sent if not filled, the investor can view trades, modify the order, cancel order from the Order Confirmation screen. If the investor clicks on the three dots next to Cancel order they can Pause execution, Duplicate the order, or create the opposite order ticket.

A Limit if Touched order allows the investor to potentially participate in market moves by creating trigger prices above or below the current market depending on the order side that will send a limit order.