Question about buy and sell

[Luandre Ezra]

Hi I’d like to ask about buy and sell in MT. I know that we buy at the ask and sell at the bid. What about the stoploss and takeprofit? If I open position buy does my SL and TP should be in ask or bid? Same question with order close for position buy should I close it at the ask or at the bid?

[Sardion Maranatha]

Luandre Ezra:

Hi I’d like to ask about buy and sell in MT. I know that we buy at the ask and sell at the bid. What about the stoploss and takeprofit? If I open position buy does my SL and TP should be in ask or bid? Same question with order close for position buy should I close it at the ask or at the bid?

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/70828

[William Roeder]

You buy at the Ask and sell at the Bid.

1. Your buy order's TP/SL (or Sell Stop's/Sell Limit's entry) are triggered when the Bid / OrderClosePrice reaches it. Using the Ask±n, makes your SL shorter and your TP longer, by the spread. Don't you want the specified amount used in either direction?

2. Your sell order's TP/SL (or Buy Stop's/Buy Limit's entry) will be triggered when the Ask / OrderClosePrice reaches it. To trigger at a specific Bid price, add the average spread.
             MODE_SPREAD (Paul) - MQL4 programming forum - Page 3 #25

3. The charts show Bid prices only. Turn on the Ask line to see how big the spread is (Tools → Options (control+O) → charts → Show ask line.)
   Most brokers with variable spread widen considerably at end of day (5 PM ET) ± 30 minutes. My GBPJPY (OANDA) shows average spread = 26 points, but average maximum spread = 134.