| Updated: October 30, 2024MetaTrader 4 Trading – Placing, Modifying and Deleting Pending Orders
This lesson will cover the following
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- Placing Pending orders
- Modifying Pending orders
- Deleting Pending orders
Placing Pending Orders
In order to place a pending order, one needs to open the “Order” window. It can be reached by using the “Tools – New Order” menu command, by pressing the 
button from the “Standard” toolbar, by pressing F9 of the keyboard, by using the “New Order” command from the “Market Watch” and “Terminal Trade” window context menus and by using a double-click on the instrument name in the “Market Watch” window. Next, “Pending Order” needs to be selected in the “Type” field of this window.
One needs to select an instrument (symbol) he/she intends to trade and to specify the trade volume and the values of Stop Loss and Take Profit orders. If one considers necessary, a comment can be written in the field of the same name. In the “Pending Order” field one should do the following:
– Type – to select a type of pending order – Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, or Sell Stop.
– at price – to set the price level, at which the order must be triggered.
– Expiry – to set the expiry time of the order. If the order has not been triggered by that time, it will be deleted automatically. One should note that the order may not expire earlier than in 10 minutes.
The “Place” button will submit the order to be executed. This is performed in two stages. First, the brokerage company will place the order, after it has been submitted. Upon executing this action, a line, containing the number and status of the pending order, will appear in the “Terminal Trade” tab. If the “Show trade levels” option is enabled, levels of the pending order placed, including Stop Loss and Take Profit levels, will be shown on the chart. Second, if prices correspond with the order provisions, the order will be deleted and a trading position will be opened at its place. The trading position ticket will coincide with the pending order ticket. These changes will be presented in the “Terminal Trade” window. One should note that Stop Loss and Take Profit orders are triggered only at active positions and not at pending orders.
Modifying Pending Orders
When operating in the market, one often needs to modify or delete the pending order he/she placed. In order to do so, one needs to execute the “Modify or Delete Order” command from the context menu, or use a double-click with the left mouse button on the pending order status bar in the “Terminal Trade” window. This will call the window, managing orders. New price level, at which the pending order will be triggered, new price levels for Stop Loss and Take Profit and new expiry time of the order are to be set in this window. After the order has been modified, one needs to press the “Modify” button. If zero values are set for the Stop Loss and Take Profit orders, this means that they are disabled.
If the pending order has been successfully modified, the values of the respective fields in the “Terminal Trade” window will be changed. If the “Show trade levels” option has been enabled in the terminal settings, the price level for the pending order and levels for Stop Loss and Take Profit orders, attached to it, will be changed correspondingly on the chart as well.
Deleting Pending Orders
In case market situation has changed, one may consider necessary to delete a pending order. In order to do that, he/she needs to execute the “Modify or Delete Order” command from the context menu or use a double-click with the left mouse button on the status bar of the pending order in the “Terminal Trade” window. This will call the window, managing orders. In order to delete an order, the button of the same name must be pressed in this window. Pending orders can also be deleted automatically at the time, which has been given in the “Expiry” field. When a pending order has been deleted, the respective record will appear in the “Terminal Account History” window.