Stop-limit order
A stop-limit order carries two prices: a stop (trigger) price that activates it once the market trades there, and a limit price that caps the price at which it may then fill. Once triggered it is an ordinary limit order, so it controls the fill price but can remain unfilled if the market runs past the limit.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Two prices, two events
A buy stop-limit waits above the market with a trigger and a limit at or above that trigger; a sell stop-limit waits below the market with its limit at or below the trigger. While it waits, nothing is displayed in the order book: other participants cannot see it. When a trade prints at or through the trigger, the order is activated and enters the book as a limit order at its limit price. From then on it behaves like any other limit order: it takes whatever is offered up to the limit, and any remainder rests at the limit, in the queue, until it fills, is canceled or expires.
CME's documentation for its futures describes two kinds of stop order: the stop-limit, which goes on the book as a limit order once activated, and the stop with protection, which is activated the same way but may only execute inside a protection range. How a platform's plain 'Stop' button is transmitted to the exchange is decided by the broker's gateway, not by the chart.
A worked example
Take a contract with a 0.25 tick trading at 4,999.50 and a buy stop-limit with its trigger at 5,000.00 and its limit at 5,000.50, two ticks of room. The table compares it with a plain stop at the same trigger in three situations. Prices are illustrative.
| What trades after the trigger | Stop-limit result | Plain stop result |
|---|---|---|
| Offers remain at 5,000.00 to 5,000.50 | Fills inside the limit | Fills at market, usually at a similar price |
| One print at 5,000.00, then the offer jumps to 5,002.00 | Rests as a bid at 5,000.50, below the market, unfilled | Fills near 5,002.00 or higher |
| Price trades 5,000.00 and falls back to 4,998.00 | May have filled at 5,000.00 to 5,000.50 and now shows a loss | Same entry, same loss |
Where it fits
- Breakout entries where you refuse to pay more than a set price: the limit expresses how far you accept to chase.
- Markets where a stop fill can land far from the trigger, such as thin overnight hours, if missing the trade is acceptable.
- Not for loss protection in most cases: a protective order that may not execute defeats its purpose, as the stop-loss entry explains.
- The distance between trigger and limit is the real parameter. Zero distance fills only if size is still available at the trigger itself; a wider distance fills more often and costs more when it does.
In Senzoukria
The full order ticket on the Trading page has a stop-limit type, shown as STP·L and described in the app as 'Stop limit — becomes a limit order at the trigger'. It needs both a 'Stop price' and a 'Limit price'; the backend refuses a stop-limit that lacks either before anything is sent. The compact order pad has an STP LMT cell: with 'Ticks diff.' ticked, the trigger is placed that many ticks from the last traded price on the aggressive side (above the market for a buy) and the limit sits at the trigger price itself, as the cell's note 'limit at the trigger price' says. With 'Ticks diff.' unticked, the cell refuses and points to the full ticket. A stop-limit with room beyond the trigger is therefore set in the full ticket.
Common mistakes
- Reading the trigger as the fill price. The trigger only activates the order.
- Leaving a triggered, unfilled stop-limit working after the move: it is now a resting limit order that can fill much later, on a pullback, when the setup is gone.
- Using a zero-distance stop-limit on an instrument that moves several ticks per print.
- Assuming a stop-limit protects an open position through a gap.
Related
In the same section
- Market-if-touched order
- Stop run
- Stopping volume
- Sticky strike vs sticky delta
- Straddle
- Static drawdown
- Strangle
- Stacked imbalances
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Frequently asked questions
- Is a stop-limit visible in the order book before it triggers?
- No. Before activation it sits at the broker or the exchange as a conditional order and appears in your working orders, not in market depth. Once triggered, the unfilled part becomes a displayed limit order at its limit price, and from then on it is part of the size you see on the DOM at that price.
- What happens if the market gaps through my stop-limit?
- The order is triggered but cannot fill if nothing is offered at or better than the limit. It stays working as a limit order at the limit price until price comes back to it, you cancel it, or its time in force expires. That is the trade-off of the order type: a capped price in exchange for no guarantee of execution.
- Should I use a stop or a stop-limit for protection?
- For protection, a plain stop is the usual choice because leaving the market matters more than the exact price. A stop-limit can leave the position open when price runs through the limit. The stop-limit is more common for entries, where missing the trade is an acceptable outcome.