What happened to my stop?

[Steph 7]

I am having consistent issues with closing my trades when I had not intended to or at a price different than I was expecting.  It happened again today. I have captured as much details as I could think were relevant. Please feel free to give your insight or opinions. 

This trade was bad from the start. I tried to correct my mistake and just made more mistakes. Upon more mistakes.That I realize at least. However, I do not understand the ending most. 

Ticker: OSTK

First tried to short at $17.26 and again at $17.20 but I was getting an error, not realizing the error was NO SHORTS. Attempted a 3rd time but bought 100 shares at $17.20. Within the following second, 4 buy orders were sent and cancelled (according to the log) but I was panicking trying to get out. Dumbfounded and lucky, I sold them at $17.39. Lesson still not learned....clicked a button.

Thirty seconds later I am back in at $17.62 and with 200 shares.  Not sure how the # of shares changed, I have it defaulted to 100. It immediately dropped and came right back up and I tried to salvage this error. Held for a few mins and sold half close to B/E to limit possible damage but I was seeing an upward overall movement and so I set a stop at what I thought it would hit ($17.80) It touched it twice but I did not get filled. After it rejected previous close twice, I hoped it would come back  but that was very slow to happen. So at 10:46:48 (log) I changed my target price of $17.80 to B/E of $17.62 with hopes it would get there by end of day.  What actually happened...at 10:46:48 five things simultaneously occurred, $17.62 was Sent and Accepted, $17.12 was Sent, Accepted and Executed. What????   This happens to me a few times a week. I do not understand what I am doing or whats happening for it to sell at a different price than what I enter.

Of course, by end of day, OSTK had risen significantly!

I am in SIM. This is all in effort of learning. I have watched videos and read the forum on setting stops but apparently I need more instruction. Any suggestions??

[PeterD 49]

Steph, how did you enter these orders? Did you use function keys (hotkeys), the Montage buttons or just through the Montage directly? Also, when you set your stop, what type of stop did you use? (limit, range, market, etc) Depending on the answer I might need more info. Plus, if you did use anything with a script (the first 2 options) can you post the script. Thanks.

[Steph 7]

Here are screen shots of what I use d today. I enter the price in box that says trigger price. I have tried using other methods I saw, range, limit.  This in particular is hardest for me. Setting stops. I am unsure and just try stuff.

[Steph 7]

The only hotkeys I use are when partialing, the 2nd and third ones. The scripts are from BBT but I changed all the 5's to 2's.

[PeterD 49]

From this I can't be sure what the issue might be. Do you keep your Orders window open? Next time you do this, keep a close eye on it of the orders as they are sitting waiting to be executed (and take a screenshot of the pending trades). That should give you a clue as to what is going to happen. DAS should only execute as per the commands in the Orders window.

[IamKarthi 342]

I think this is what would have happened! My guess.

1. Yes, You default the Montage to 100 shares, but when you short it twice, the No. of shares automatically changes to the current No. of shares (200 - if you clicked twice and 300-if you clicked thrice) . Although the order is rejected the #of shares remain in the Montage. You need to change it again to 100. 

2. When you have a Stop-Limit order, the price may touch your target, but you may not get filled. (depends on where you are in the queue of orders, compared to others - First in First Out)

3. The third point about the order getting sent at $17.62 and getting executed at $17.12 is something very important. This is called Slippage and can happen depending on the Float and Volatality of the stock. $OSTK is a Low float stock with poor spread and bad slippage. That is why BBT moderators discourage trading Lowfloat stocks and recommend the Midfloat stocks with very good spread/slippage like $AMD, $MU, $AAPL etc.,

I had a similar experience with $PDD couple of months back. Take a look at the image below. My order was sent/accepted at $20.45 but executed at $20.69. But this is normal.