Skip to content
Tented Docs

Working orders

After you send an order, you need to see what is working, move the price when the market runs away from it, and know when it fills. A trade with an order at IB shows a working-order chip in its header. The chip reads the size and price as IB books them, the same way TWS does, so the two screens agree.

The chip appears on drafts and open trades while an order is working or parked. From left to right:

  • A Working badge, or In TWS · not sent for a parked order.
  • The order’s label: the name of the scenario or action it was sent with, when it has one.
  • The size and price as IB books them (4 @ 16.00). IB’s sign convention applies: a credit shows as a negative price and a debit as a positive one.
  • A price stepper.
  • The live mid (mid 15.90), in the same convention.
  • The × button.

At narrow window widths the badge words, label, mid and the Update prices move into tooltips.

How traders use it

Section titled “How traders use it”
  • Chase a fill. Step the price a tick toward the market and click Update. The same order changes in TWS; you do not cancel and resend.
  • Compare the limit with the market. The chip shows the order’s live mid next to your price.
  • Stage an order and release it later. Send with Transmit off, review it in TWS, then click Transmit on the trade page.
  • Back out. Click the × to cancel before the order fills.
  • Come back later. Reopen Tented with an order working and the next connection settles whatever happened in between.

In this topic

Section titled “In this topic”

Only one order can work per trade. While it does, a draft’s Commit and an open trade’s Close at are hidden (Commit or Send is disabled). Working orders exist for orders sent to IB; with the thinkorswim provider, record fills with Save or in the Journal.