Trailing Stops

Our Trailing Stops track your profitable positions automatically – and close your trade should the market move against you.

This type of Stop Order prevents you having to monitor and move your stops constantly. You set the conditions for your Stop to move automatically, should the market move in your favour. Trailing Stops can be used on long or short trades, helping you to secure your gains as the market moves.

How does it work?

When you open your position you specify two numbers:

• Stop distance – how far away from the opening level your Stop is placed
• Step size – the size of the increments by which the Stop can move

Say you ‘buy’ our Daily FTSE 100 at 4800 - 4802, choosing a Stop distance of 30 points and a Step size of 10 points.

The Stop initially sits 30 points behind your opening price, at 4772. Immediately the FTSE starts to rise. Very soon our closing price has risen to 4812 (10 points above your opening price) and your Stop ‘steps’ up by 10 points to 4782 to re-establish a 30-point distance from the new market level.

The rally continues and by lunchtime the blue-chip index is trading at 4865 - 4867. Your Stop has therefore moved automatically five more times, so you are now sitting on a healthy potential profit with your Stop waiting 33 points behind at 4832.

A surprise leap in US unemployment figures suddenly sends stocks plummeting and within minutes the index is trading back down at 4810 - 4812. Your Trailing Stop has kicked in and your position is closed 33 points below the recent high – at 4832, still well above your opening price of 4802.

With a conventional Stop Order you would still be in the market, looking at a relatively small paper profit. By contrast with a Trailing Stop you are able, in this scenario, to profit from a volatile market.

Setting up Trailing Stops

There is no charge for setting a Trailing Stop. You must, however, first activate Trailing Stops for your account on PureDeal. To do this, simply:

• Go to Preferences (in My Account)
• Select 'Allow Trailing Stops'
• Accept the special terms and conditions
• Click 'Set Preferences'.

You will now find a Trailing Stop check-box on your Deal Ticket for selected forex and indices.

Trailing Stops from IG Index

We offer Trailing Stops on forex bets, plus a range of global indices and commodities.

Trailing Stops can be added when placing a trade, or attached to open positions at a later stage. Please note they are not 'Guaranteed': like standard Stops they may be subject to 'slippage' in illiquid or fast-moving markets.