Take-profit order

A take-profit order is a resting limit order that closes a position at a price better than the current one, chosen where the expected move is considered complete. Being a limit order, it fills only if the market trades at or through its price with enough size, so a touched target is not the same as a filled target.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

A limit order with a job

Mechanically a take-profit is an ordinary limit order on the opposite side of the position: a sell limit above the market for a long, a buy limit below it for a short. It joins the queue at its price. When price reaches it, the order fills only after the size ahead of it in the queue has traded, and only if enough aggressive volume arrives. A print at the target price on the tape is evidence that the level traded, not that your order was among the trades.

Choosing the level

  • The far side of the range or the value area edge, where responsive activity has appeared before.
  • A prior session's high, low or point of control, where volume has previously changed hands.
  • A high-volume node above a breakout, where the move is likely to slow.
  • Not a reward ratio alone: a target set from the stop distance without a level behind it asks the market for something it never offered.

Partial targets and unfilled targets

Traders often scale out: a first target that fills easily and a second that requires the move to extend. Each exit that fills should reduce the quantity of the protective stop accordingly, otherwise the remaining stop is oversized and becomes a reverse entry. A target that is touched but never fills is a common source of frustration; the honest response is to decide in advance whether a touch without fill means moving the target closer, leaving it, or exiting at market.

In Senzoukria

A target is placed on the open position with "Set stop / target" in the broker account panel, or from the chart's right-click menu ("Sell Limit" above a long, "Buy Limit" below a short), and appears as the TP pill on its price line. The Trading desk's "Protections" stage lists it as the "Profit-side exit" reported by the broker, next to the "Loss-side exit"; missing or unequal remaining quantities are flagged for checking. In the backtest report, the maximum favourable excursion chart shows how far each trade went in your favour before it closed: a point far below the diagonal gave most of its move back, which reads as a target set too far or an exit too late. The Risk / reward levels indicator draws reference lines only and sends no order.

Common mistakes

  • Counting a touched target as a win in a journal or a backtest.
  • Leaving the full-size stop in place after a partial target filled.
  • Placing the target inside the spread's typical noise, so it fills on the way to nowhere.
  • Changing the target after entry because the position is in profit rather than because the level changed.

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Frequently asked questions

Why did price reach my target and the order did not fill?
Your limit order sat in a queue at that price and the size ahead of it consumed the aggressive volume that arrived. Fills at a limit require the market to trade through the level, not only touch it. A backtest that assumes a fill on touch overstates results for exactly this reason.
Should the take-profit be a limit or a market order?
A resting take-profit is a limit order by nature: it waits at a better price. Some traders instead exit at market when a level is reached and the tape shows responsive activity; that trades a possible better fill for certainty of exit. Both are valid if the rule is written down before the trade.
How far should the target be from the entry?
As far as the nearest level where the market has shown a reason to stop: a value area edge, a prior high or low, a high-volume node. A ratio to the stop distance is a check on whether the trade is worth taking, not a method for locating the target.

Keep reading

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