English
Back

What is a conditional order

1. What is a conditional order

A conditional order allows you to add trigger conditions for a market order or limit order. The order will be executed only when the condition is met.

With a conditional order, you can set price and time conditions for an order. Time conditions require setting a precise activation time for the order. While, price conditions let you link the performance of one symbol to another within the same market, such as an index, an ETF, or a stock.

1.1 Things to note

  1. Your buying power or relevant holdings will be put on hold immediately after you place a conditional order.

  2. You can only place conditional orders if the order type is limit or market orders.

  3. You can only set one condition per order at this time.

  4. Conditional orders are automatically submitted when the set condition is met. If a conditional order is not triggered or remains unfilled after being placed, it will be automatically cancelled after the time-in-force expires.

  5. It is not guaranteed that all triggered conditional orders will be successfully sent to the upstream clearing broker or exchange. Conditional orders may fail due to insufficient buying power or a margin call. If needed, you can place a new conditional order.

  6. You can cancel or edit a conditional order as long as it has not been filled. However, you can not edit the conditions of a conditional order once it has been submitted. To do do sso, you will need to cancel the unfilled conditional order and place a new one instead.

1.2 Price conditions

Connect the performance of a symbol to another in the same market* by setting a trigger price.

*Note: Connecting the performance of symbols from different markets is not supported. For example, you can't connect the performance of a US stock to a Hong Kong index.

How it works

Example

When you place a conditional order for Symbol XYZ by connecting it to the price of Symbol NDX with a trigger price of 20,000.

  • If NDX is currently at 19,000, the condition will be automatically set as NDX ≥ 20,000.

  • If NDX is currently at 21,000, the condition will be automatically set as NDX ≤ 20,000.

Note: Price conditions may be triggered by corporate actions like stock splits or reverse stock splits. For example, if you set a condition to "submit a market order for Stock XYZ when Stock ABC ≤ 120", and Stock ABC undergoes a stock split that makes its price 120, this will trigger the market order for Stock XYZ.

Available Trigger Time Period

For price conditions, the available trigger time period may vary from product to product.

Product Type Price Condition Trigger Time Period (Local Time)
Hong Kong Stock Continuous Trading Session – Morning 9:30 AM-12:00 Noon (HKT)
Continuous Trading Session – Afternoon 1:00 PM-4:00 PM (HKT)
China Stock Connect Continuous Auction – Morning 9:30 AM-12:00 Noon (BJT)
Continuous Auction – Afternoon 1:00 PM-2:57 PM (BJT)
US Stock Pre-Market Trading Session 4:00 AM-09:30 AM (ET)
Regular Trading Hours 9:30 AM-4:00 PM (ET)
Post-Market Trading Session 4:00 PM-8:00 PM (ET)
US Stock Index Regular Trading Hours 9:30 AM-4:00 PM (ET)
Global Indices The available trigger time periods will vary based on local trading hours. Please refer to the specific market's trading hours for details.

1.3 Time conditions

Submit an order when the trigger date and trigger time are reached.

How it works

Example

When you place a US stock trade, set the trigger date as August 7, 2024, and trigger time as 6:16 AM ET. The order will be submitted on August 7, 2024, at 6:16 AM ET.

Note: If the time condition set exceeds the time-in-force and the order remains unfilled when the time-in-force expires, the conditional order will be automatically cancelled.

 

2. Products available for conditional orders

  • US Market: Stocks, stock ETFs, and stock options.

  • Hong Kong Market: Stocks, stock ETFs, and stock options.

  • Chinese Market: A shares and A share ETFs.