Commsec Sell Limit Order

Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 13:51
Last edited 31/03/2020 - 14:32

I got share 'abc' on commsec, trading at $12.30 at 11:15am.

I've set a sell limit order at $12 at . Next minute 11:16am, it activates the order and sold it for $12.18. The share price is $12.35 at 11:16am

The share never once went below $12 (the closest was $12.03 and that was 15min after i got confirmation it got sold at $12.18!). Its still sitting high at $12.5 mark now.

These are small numbers but they're big considering we're here on ozbargain trying save a few dollars on a bigmac. Whats going on?

Im using marketindex.com.au is this not accurate enough to determine that its actually gone below $12?

Is commsec sell limit different to stop loss? commsec has some weird naming terms.

FROM COMMSEC:
"Limit orders allow you to set a maximum purchase price for your buy order, or a minimum sale price for your sell orders. If the market doesn't reach your limit price, your order will not be executed."

Market never went below $12 so why was it executed? Isnt this saying limit orders are essentially stop losses?

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Comments

  • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 13:58
    +4

    A limit order is an order to buy or sell a stock at a specific price or better.
    A stop-loss order is an order placed with a broker to buy or sell once the stock reaches a certain price.

    What was your intention?

    • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:19

      My intention is stop loss.

      FROM COMMSEC:
      "Limit orders allow you to set a maximum purchase price for your buy order, or a minimum sale price for your sell orders. If the market doesn't reach your limit price, your order will not be executed.

      Please note that an 'At Limit' order will not be accepted, without any advice to you, if we consider the limit price to be too far away from the prevailing market price of that stock."

      Commsec doesnt have 'stop loss'. They got 'falling sell', 'rising sell', 'trailing sell'.

      • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 14:24

        I don't use Commsec, however found Commsec 'stop loss'

        Conditional Trading Let us watch the market for you

      • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:30

        since market never reached my limit price at $12, would would it get executed?

        • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 14:37
          +6

          You have instructed them to sell at no less than $12.00, which they have done.

          Once upon a time you would have rang your broker, they would have confirmed exactly what you wanted, given you some insight on how they saw the market and charged you $90 or more.

          • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:46

            @Baysew: They would've given you some insight? as in given you some sort of justification for that sale?

            • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 16:40

              @Thenarrator: They would know the difference between a limit order and stop loss. Because now, it is a do it yourself transaction you are the one that needs to know what you want and how to do it.

  • capslock on 31/03/2020 - 13:58
    +5

    You agreed to sell no lower than $12.00 and they sold it for you at $12.18. I don't understand what the issue is. The price went up after you sold it but that's not unusual.

  • iampoor on 31/03/2020 - 14:00
    +4

    It seems like OP was after a stop-loss order.

  • sir_bazz on 31/03/2020 - 14:03

    Strange.

    You in Qld?

    Asking because if the times you posted were for market open, the first price of thr day is the match of overlapping buyers and sellers.

  • lolz112 on 31/03/2020 - 14:05
    +4

    The sell limit is different to a stop loss. The sell limit is the minimum price you are willing to sell for. As the current price is above what you set as your sell limit the sell order went through right away as people were willing to buy it higher than the $12 you wanted.

    I suggest you look at this if you want set up a stop loss: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/threads/how-to-set-a-stop-…

    • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:22

      so i've made a rookie mistake? wouldve thought no one would be stupid to set sell limit below market that they even allow this to be an option. sigh

      • lolz112 on 31/03/2020 - 14:58
        +2

        Don't think setting a sell limit below market is stupid. If you have a rapidly falling market where no buyer is willing to buy above the market price. The only way to get rid of the stocks would be below the market price. By saying no one would be stupid enough to put a price below the market you are in effect saying that a price cannot fall.

        • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 15:01

          you can sell 'at market'

          • lolz112 on 31/03/2020 - 15:05
            +1

            @Thenarrator: Selling at market is whatever price the next buyer has offered. In your case it appears they've pretty much decided to match you up with the next buyer so they've given you at market. I think you should read up on some demand and supply curves.

          • lolz112 on 31/03/2020 - 15:08
            +1

            @Thenarrator: Just to explain it a bit more. If the last price was $12 but there are no more buyers willing to buy it until $11.50 then no transactions will go through. If I wanted to see if any buyers would bite at $11.75 I could set my limit at $11.75, if I did at market it would just buy at the price of 11.50. It all depends on matching with a buyer.

          • Never Pay RRP on 01/04/2020 - 15:38

            @Thenarrator: "At market" can change very quickly, and hence is not safe for volatile stocks. In your example above, even though you saw the "market" price at $12.30, it is possible for it to have moved well below $12 by the time you executed your order, hence why it is possible to set a sale limit price lower than the market. At market will sell no matter what the price is, a limit order will not sell for less (but can and will sell for more)

            But to answer your original question, sell limit and stop loss are different and you seem to have picked the wrong one.
            The naming conventions are the same on other platforms too, so this is not a Commsec specific problem.

      • CMH on 03/04/2020 - 17:04

        Yes, you made a rookie mistake.

        Hopefully it wasn't much you were playing with.

        Consider it a lesson learnt and move on.

  • Seraphin7 on 31/03/2020 - 14:22
    +1

    A sell limit is the bottom price at which you are prepared to sell. Given you said "sell at a price no lower than $12.00" and sold for $12.18, what's the issue here?

    It seems you meant to set a "stop loss order" at $12.00 that means the shares will be sold when the price hits $12.00. In this circumstance you should expect to get no more than $12.00 for your shares and depending on volatility something less than that.

    • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:31
      -1

      FROM COMMSEC:
      "Limit orders allow you to set a maximum purchase price for your buy order, or a minimum sale price for your sell orders. If the market doesn't reach your limit price, your order will not be executed."

      Doesnt this seem contradictory? market never went below $12.

      • Seraphin7 on 31/03/2020 - 14:34

        Nothing contradictory about it.

        In your case, you placed an order that translated into everyday language was "sell my shares at a price of $12.00 or higher". That's exactly what happened. Had the market fallen below $12.00, your order would not have been filled (at least not until the market came back up to $12.00).

        As noted, this is different to a stop loss order that effectively triggers the immediate sale of your share once the price gets to $12.00.

        • Thenarrator on 31/03/2020 - 14:47

          What situation would one set sell limit order below market price?

          • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 15:19

            @Thenarrator: When the market is closed.

            You may have been taking note of what Wall Street was doing and so that night decided to sell. You have decided you want at least $12.00 per share, as you believe there will be others deciding to sell. Lucky for you, whilst the share price declined from the previous closing price, the market price was still higher than $12.

          • idjces on 31/03/2020 - 15:50

            @Thenarrator: There is no 'market price', the market price is just the price that the very last shares changed owners at. It's not the going rate or current price.

            Everyone contributes either a buy (bid) or sell (ask) price. During open hours, the exchange then matches up all of these orders in a fair manner, until they no longer meet (sellers demand more $ than the buyers will pay).

            Since you entered a sell (ask) price of $12, and there were plenty of buy (bid) orders above $12, the market sold your shares to the present highest bid of $12.18.

          • Seraphin7 on 31/03/2020 - 15:55

            @Thenarrator: Ironically, you might do this in a situation they may not be a million miles away from yours.

            You've decided you want to get out of the stock, you're happy to take the market price "as it is now" (i.e. around $12.30) but don't want to sell for less than $12.00 because there is high market volatility and you don't want to risk the market falling below $12.00 before your order actually hits the market (allowing for navigating through the various transaction confirmations, network latency, etc.).

            In this circumstance, the market moves during all relevant times between $12.03 and $12.35. Your limit order for $12.00 precisely hits the market when the bid to cover your volume is at $12.18 and the transaction completes.

            If the bid happened to be at $11.99 or lower at the precise moment your order hit the market it would sit there as an unfilled order until such time as the bid rose to $12.00 with sufficient volume to cover all previous orders at $12.00 and then yours would be filled (partially or in full depending on bid volume).

        • fredblogs on 02/04/2020 - 13:18

          I agree with OP that the wording is unclear. The market didn't reach OP's limit price.
          They could be more explicit, eg "Sell orders: If the market remains lower than your price, your order will not be executed"

      • sir_bazz on 31/03/2020 - 15:00

        Your order would've gone in as a sell side order at $12.

        Like I said above, the only time it could've been matched, (without hitting $12), is on open, where the price is the average of all matched trades.

  • AwesomeAndrew on 31/03/2020 - 14:23

    I assume you want a stop loss order to sell the stock once the market price goes under $12. You can find them on the conditional orders page on the commsec site (I couldn't find it in the mobile app) and accept the terms and conditions if you haven't already. You then place a falling sell order with a trigger price of $12 and a limit price of whatever you are happy to sell at. However if the share price drops very quickly and goes below your limit price before the order fills, your shares won't sell.

  • whooah1979 on 31/03/2020 - 14:38
    -1

    Take the money that you got from the sale and short it. Then close your short position and buy it back a lower price for a long position.

  • brad1-8tsi on 31/03/2020 - 14:46
    -1

    You got more money than what you wanted. What's the issue?

    • outlander on 31/03/2020 - 15:16

      He wanted to stay in the game, as long as the price was going up. Should the price turn and start heading south, he wanted to get out the moment it hit $12 a share. So no, he didn't get more than he wanted.

      • Baysew on 31/03/2020 - 15:33
        -1

        OP states the price got to $12.03. So on a parcel of say 1000 shares ($12,000) they have missed out on $30.00.

        In this roller coaster market, could have dropped below $12 in a second.

      • brad1-8tsi on 01/04/2020 - 18:29

        @outlander Do you buy & sell shares often? You don't understand how the system works (nor does the OP).

        • outlander on 01/04/2020 - 21:36

          And you do, I suppose?

        • kiitos on 03/04/2020 - 13:45

          I thought outlander nailed it, he described what the op thought he was doing

  • outlander on 31/03/2020 - 15:15

    This is why its always prudent to test new systems. Even if you think you know how things are supposed to work, there's always the chance that guy who made the system doesn't.

  • JimmyF on 31/03/2020 - 16:29
    +1

    I've set a sell limit order at $12

    ok

    Limit orders allow you to set a maximum purchase price for your buy order, or a minimum sale price for your sell orders

    ok, correct. Setting $12, would mean not to sell them under $12.

    and sold it for $12.18

    Ok so what is your issue? You limit was to not sell them below $12, which they didn't.

    $12.35 at 11:16am

    60 seconds is a long time in the stock world, the price could have dipped and then come up again. You are only talking cents here.

    Market never went below $12 so why was it executed? Isnt this saying limit orders are essentially stop losses?

    Read it again

    "Limit orders allow you to set a maximum purchase price for your buy order, or a minimum sale price for your sell orders. If the market doesn't reach your limit price, your order will not be executed."

    You put a sell in, with a limit of not to sell them UNDER $12/share. They sold them as $12.18/share.

  • lewislardboy on 31/03/2020 - 16:40
    +1

    Is it normal to panic and sell a share after it drops 30c? Doesn't the fee to trade make this a less-than-ideal move?

  • [Deactivated] on 31/03/2020 - 19:11

    BBOZ?

  • Deridas on 01/04/2020 - 10:37
    +1

    Sounds like OP misunderstood a normal Limit sell order and a Stop-Loss conditional sell order.

    CommSec doesn't have stop loss as a free option (me thinks).

    I think it's wise for OP to talk to/learn from a friend who knows this stuff.

    • negger on 01/04/2020 - 13:04

      its free

      • Deridas on 01/04/2020 - 19:23

        You're right, looks like they made that free since I was on CommSec

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