Come on FT this ones an easy one. If a stock is at Ā£1.213 why should I pay 1.22 just to get a limit order to work. We should be able to do at least 3 decimal points. Causing unnecessary losses
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Agreed. Only being able to set limit orders and stop losses to the nearest Ā£0.01 is a wide 1% on a Ā£1.000 share.
We should be able to set prices in Ā£0.001 increments, which in this example is a much narrower 0.1%.
You really shouldnāt need to be that precise with a limit order. Donāt try to use it to hit a moving target; a limit order is more like setting a snare. Get out ahead of the current price by setting your order at the price you think the stock is going to move towards, and wait for the stock to come to you. It will execute at the best available price in the market that is at least / at most the price you specify, depending on whether youāre selling or buying.
So you expect us to pay more than we need toā¦for example BP as of yesterday was Ā£3.0255 so without more than 2 dp I have to pay 3.03. Ive tried several times to just do 1 dp higher and they always fill at the price I set my order at. Not at the actual price
Well, yes, if you had been able to set a buy limit order at 3.0255 then you might have found a seller at that price. But if you really want to catch a bargain, try setting your limit orders at a lower price, like 3.00, and waiting for the price to drift into your trap. Yesterday, for example, that would have saved you more money than an extra decimal point, as BP traded at prices ranging from 2.97 to 3.04 over the course of the day. You have to be patient in doing that, and wait for the price to move in your favour, but if a stock price is varying throughout the day by more than half a penny, your chances of success are good
One other thing, you may know this already and just were typing hastily, but thereās no such a thing as an āactual priceā for a stock. I guess you mean either the price at which the last trade was made (which can be different from one millisecond to the next) or the āmid priceā, which is between the bid and ask prices (the prices that buyers have offered to pay for a share, and that sellers have indicated that they will sell for). If the price you saw was the mid price, then itās entirely correct that youād have had to pay more than that price to buy, and would have received less than that price if you were selling, thatās the nature of the bid-ask spread.
I use webull for level 2 charting and bids. I get what you mean with putting it lower but having the choice of having more than 2 dp is still very usefull
Also Iāve found that FT orders arenāt as quick filling as much as it could. E.g. I can see bids lower than my order limit but yet my order wouldnāt fill (even with high volumes). Maybe Iām expecting too much from it idk
I see Freetrade as a low-budget, no-frills broker, so frankly I donāt expect much in the way of features.
But order execution is fundamental, so if you can actually see other peopleās orders being filled at prices better than you are getting, then I suggest you screenshot it and ask Freetrade about it. And if you get an explanation then post it here in the forum, lots of people would like to know!
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https://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/subpenny612faq.htm
Assume maybe it would get less buyers so be less liquid?
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Doesnāt apply to UK stocks though, UK can be traded up to 4 decimal points.
The app should allow up to 4 dp where the price is less than Ā£10 i thinkā¦?
Edit: Itās because UK stocks are usually traded in pennies, not pounds therefore - it would still be 2dp, but Ā£1 is 100.00p, but FT try to make it easier by showing everything in Pounds rather than penniesā¦
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It does allow 4dp in that case, just not US
I saw someone asking for 5 but I canāt find reference to anyone offering it.
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It does for some stocks, if theyāre already below Ā£1 then you can, but try on something like Ā£DDDD or Ā£BP (as the example above) and you canāt have the 4dp since itās current price is above Ā£1, it should allow you to specify up to 4dp, or in pennies e.g. 123.45p
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Hey FT - any update on being able to deal in 4dp for all UK stocks when using limit orders?
As title - we seem to need an additional decimal place for penny stocks. BOIL for example currently Ā£0.0006 - needs an additional place for any meaningful orders.
Yes, there are 4 decimal places, which allows you to set a price of either 0.0006 (the actual price), or 0.0005/7 which would be around a 17% swing. It needs the extra decimal place to 5 points.
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Yes tbh the screenshot shows the need because the current price says its a certain % above the limit price but is the same to 4dp.
But it only goes to 2 decimal places for shares that are over Ā£1. But as you know, the LSE operates in GBX, so in reality, we need upto 4 decimal places for shares above Ā£1 too.
I donāt feel the need for more decimal places. I love the āset and forgetā or āhands freeā benefit a limit order can bring.
Stuck in a meeting, motorway driving, sure no problem! Once the price is reach the limit order will pop and those share are yours!
Not always unfortunately, Iāve been trying to buy a stock for a while now and even when the Google Finance and FT price shows its lower than my limit price, it never executes. For example, CBOX today is 1.66, my order for it to execute at 1.74 for 5 shares still hasnāt executed; itās been the case for couple of days now. What I would like to do is set my order at 1.741, so it hopefully executes before all other 1.74 orders. So I think more decimals are definitely needed! If someone doesnāt want to use it, thatās okay, they can leave it at just 2 on their orders.