Open Order using amount in USD instead of lots

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Hi, is there any way to open the positions using the amount in USD we want to invest instead of the lot number? 

Or at least to show what was (or will) the amount in USD for every order. It's really confusing to me to manage with lots because I'm trading stocks and cryptocurrencies and I'm not sure how many shares/crypto is 1 lot on every symbol...


Thanks !!

 

You aren't trading USD you are trading rates. So no.

  1. In code: Risk depends on your initial stop loss, lot size, and the value of the pair.
    1. You place the stop where it needs to be - where the reason for the trade is no longer valid. E.g. trading a support bounce the stop goes below the support.
    2. Account Balance * percent/100 = RISK = OrderLots * (|OrderOpenPrice - OrderStopLoss| * DeltaPerLot + CommissionPerLot) (Note OOP-OSL includes the SPREAD, and DeltaPerLot is usually around $10/pip but it takes account of the exchange rates of the pair vs. your account currency.)
    3. Do NOT use TickValue by itself - DeltaPerLot and verify that MODE_TICKVALUE is returning a value in your deposit currency, as promised by the documentation, or whether it is returning a value in the instrument's base currency.
                MODE_TICKVALUE is not reliable on non-fx instruments with many brokers.
    4. You must normalize lots properly and check against min and max.
    5. You must also check FreeMargin to avoid stop out
    Most pairs are worth about $10 per PIP. A $5 risk with a (very small) 5 PIP SL is $5/$10/5=0.1 Lots maximum.
  2. Use a GUI EA like mine (for MT4): Indicators: 'Money Manager Graphic Tool' indicator by 'takycard' Forum - Page 6

 
enrique3:

Hi, is there any way to open the positions using the amount in USD we want to invest instead of the lot number? 

Or at least to show what was (or will) the amount in USD for every order. It's really confusing to me to manage with lots because I'm trading stocks and cryptocurrencies and I'm not sure how many shares/crypto is 1 lot on every symbol...


Thanks !!

Of course it's possible, but you will need an Expert Advisor to do the job for you.
 
whroeder1:

You aren't trading USD you are trading rates. So no.

  1. In code: Risk depends on your initial stop loss, lot size, and the value of the pair.
    1. You place the stop where it needs to be - where the reason for the trade is no longer valid. E.g. trading a support bounce the stop goes below the support.
    2. Account Balance * percent/100 = RISK = OrderLots * (|OrderOpenPrice - OrderStopLoss| * DeltaPerLot + CommissionPerLot) (Note OOP-OSL includes the SPREAD, and DeltaPerLot is usually around $10/pip but it takes account of the exchange rates of the pair vs. your account currency.)
    3. Do NOT use TickValue by itself - DeltaPerLot and verify that MODE_TICKVALUE is returning a value in your deposit currency, as promised by the documentation, or whether it is returning a value in the instrument's base currency.
                MODE_TICKVALUE is not reliable on non-fx instruments with many brokers.
    4. You must normalize lots properly and check against min and max.
    5. You must also check FreeMargin to avoid stop out
    Most pairs are worth about $10 per PIP. A $5 risk with a (very small) 5 PIP SL is $5/$10/5=0.1 Lots maximum.
  2. Use a GUI EA like mine (for MT4): Indicators: 'Money Manager Graphic Tool' indicator by 'takycard' Forum - Page 6

Hi whroeder, thanks so much for all the details and tips, but it's really confusing for me, maybe I'm too new so I will save them and perhaps in a future is much clear the advantage of doing that.

Right now my problem is that I want to invest directly in USD, I mean I want to buy $1000 for Apple for example, and $1000 in BTC, I don't really care how many lots are those (it should care? I can't see why :( ) 

Do you think is ok to use this formula to know "how much" in USD is 1 lot?:

double lotPrice = MarketInfo(_Symbol,MODE_TICKSIZE) * Point();

What will be really useful is to know "how many shares" I'm buying if I buy 1 lot, for every symbol. If I buy 1 lot in Apple, what does it mean? I'm buying 100 shares? 1000? If I buy 1 lot in BTCUSD, what does it mean? I'm buying 10BTC? how can I know and get that from code?

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