What circumstances can cause a Stop Loss Order to not trigger?

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What circumstances can cause a Stop Loss Order to not trigger? And is the probability of such event? Thank you.
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new.metatrader: What circumstances can cause a Stop Loss Order to not trigger? And is the probability of such event? Thank you.

The question has been asked many times, and usually the answer is because newbie traders don't understand how spread works.

So, please explain in detail and with an example, so we can better understand the issue.

 
For instance, can the distance between where you bought/sold and your Stop Loss Order cause it to not trigger if the price moves quickly? What other reasons are there?
 
new.metatrader #: For instance, can the distance between where you bought/sold and your Stop Loss Order cause it to not trigger if the price moves quickly? What other reasons are there?

You still have not provided a proper example of a live trade in which it suffered such a situation, so we are still unable to offer a proper answer.

But maybe, this can help:

There is a Ask price and a Bid price. Charts only shows the bars/candles based on Bid prices.

  • A "buy" position opens at the Ask price and closes (e.g S/L & T/P) at the Bid price.
  • A "sell" position opens at the Bid price and closes (e.g S/L & T/P) at the Ask price.
Enable the Ask price line on your chart so that you can track the current value visually.
Possible causes if a stop-loss or take-profit is not triggered, can be due to insufficient available liquidity depending on the fill policy defined, or due to a quick transient spike that was too fast for the price to settle and to process the order.
     
    new.metatrader #:
    For instance, can the distance between where you bought/sold and your Stop Loss Order cause it to not trigger if the price moves quickly? What other reasons are there?

    market crashes may cause price to move 100 points or more in a single tick, which if you have a stoploss of less than 100 points, then it may "break thru" your stop loss, but it almost never happens. But yes it can happen. Search Google and you will find many instances of Market Crashes and reports of traders sl not working. This is just something a trader learns to live with. And if it is only a small loss, then any reputable broker will reimburse you any loss if you show them your trade statement that shows price breaking your sl.

     
    Revo Trades #: market crashes may cause price to move 100 points or more in a single tick, which if you have a stoploss of less than 100 points, then it may "break thru" your stop loss, but it almost never happens. But yes it can happen. Search Google and you will find many instances of Market Crashes and reports of traders sl not working. This is just something a trader learns to live with. And if it is only a small loss, then any reputable broker will reimburse you any loss if you show them your trade statement that shows price breaking your sl.

    After reading your post, I think I may have misunderstood the OP's question.

    I thought that the OP was referring to a stop not being triggered and the position remained open.

    I did not occur to me that the OP may have been referring to the closing price slipping from the desired stop price.

    new.metatrader: What circumstances can cause a Stop Loss Order to not trigger? And is the probability of such event? Thank you.

    Can you please clarify?

    This is the reason I asked that you provide an example of a live trade and with details, otherwise we will just end up trying to guess what you mean.

     
    So basically Bid/Ask spread. A very fast price change. And a gap. By the way I always have both Bid and Ask price on the chart.
     
    Fernando Carreiro #:

    After reading your post, I think I may have misunderstood the OP's question.

    I thought that the OP was referring to a stop not being triggered and the position remained open.

    I did not occur to me that the OP may have been referring to the closing price slipping from the desired stop price.

    Can you please clarify?

    This is the reason I asked that you provide an example of a live trade and with details, otherwise we will just end up trying to guess what you mean.

    after i read it again, i am now unsure if i read it right, too haha.

    Stop loss Order could be taken as stop loss or as meaning a pending order.

     
    Fernando Carreiro #:

    After reading your post, I think I may have misunderstood the OP's question.

    I thought that the OP was referring to a stop not being triggered and the position remained open.

    I did not occur to me that the OP may have been referring to the closing price slipping from the desired stop price.

    Can you please clarify?

    This is the reason I asked that you provide an example of a live trade and with details, otherwise we will just end up trying to guess what you mean.

    Sure, allow me to explain. I'm not talking ONLY about Buy Stop or Sell Stop (aka pending orders). The order can be pending or market order. It doesn't matter. Let's take a market order as an example. Let's say you short the market, and put your Stop Loss 10 pips above your sell position. If the price goes against you, and reaches your 10 pip protective Stop Loss, is there a chance that your Stop Loss won't trigger even after the Ask price has reached your Stop Loss price?

    In other words, what can cause a Protective Stop Loss order to not trigger? Sudden movement of price? Gap? Protective stop being too close to your order?


    Can a protective stop loss be too close to your order?

     
    new.metatrader #:

    Sure, allow me to explain. I'm not talking ONLY about Buy Stop or Sell Stop (aka pending orders). The order can be pending or market order. It doesn't matter. Let's take a market order as an example. Let's say you short the market, and put your Stop Loss 10 pips above your sell position. If the price goes against you, and reaches your 10 pip protective Stop Loss, is there a chance that your Stop Loss won't trigger even after the Ask price has reached your Stop Loss price?

    In other words, what can cause a Protective Stop Loss order to not trigger? Sudden movement of price? Gap? Protective stop being too close to your order?

    Already answered ... can be due to insufficient available liquidity depending on the fill policy defined, or due to a quick transient spike that was too fast for the price to settle and to process the order.

     
    i appologise for confusing the Master Fernando.
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