# Smart entries and exits > What Wait for the break, Keep chasing until filled, Move stop after a trim, the per-level stop moves and Wait for the price to come back do, what turns each one on, and why one did not run. *Source: https://tradelabs.org/docs/reference/risk-tools/smart-entries-and-exits* Five settings change **how** a strategy gets in and out of a trade. Each one runs only when a set of conditions is true, so this page lists those conditions for each, shows a worked example, and ends with the reasons it did not run. Four of them are switches on a strategy's **Protections** tab. The fifth sits in **Sell in stages** on the **Risk & exits** tab. For the other guardrails on that tab, see [Protections](/docs/reference/risk-tools/protections/). ## Which one do I need? | Your situation | Use | | --- | --- | | The alert says "buy on the break" ("NUR @ $4.15 BREAK"), and you do not want to buy before the price gets there. | [Wait for the break](#wait-for-the-break) | | Your limit buys often sit unfilled while the price runs away by a few cents. | [Keep chasing until filled](#keep-chasing-until-filled) | | After you take some profit, you do not want the rest of the trade to turn into a loss. | [Move stop after a trim](#move-stop-after-a-trim) | | You sell in stages and want the stop to step up after each stage (entry after the first, +20% after the second). | [Per take-profit level follow-ups](#per-take-profit-level-follow-ups) | | Your **Slippage cap** refuses buys because the price spiked when the alert came in, and it often comes back a minute later. | [Wait for the price to come back](#wait-for-the-price-to-come-back) | > **Note** > > **On a strategy with more than one broker, the first broker you selected decides** whether **Wait for the break**, **Keep chasing until filled**, **Move stop after a trim** and **Wait for the price to come back** are sent with the trade. If the first broker supports a setting, every broker on the strategy gets it. If it does not, no broker gets it. See the [support table](#which-broker-supports-what). ## Wait for the break ### What it does Some traders post an entry that should only buy once the price breaks a level: "NUR @ $4.15 BREAK" means "buy if it gets to 4.15, not now". With **Wait for the break** on, the buy waits at the broker as a stop-limit order and fills only once the price reaches the break, never more than your cap above it. ### What triggers it - [ ] **Wait for the break** is on, in **Protections**, **Order safety**. The number is the most you pay above the break, in percent. Empty means 2%. The highest value is 50%. - [ ] The broker is **Interactive Brokers** (stocks, options and futures), **Robinhood**, **Tradier** or **Schwab** (stocks and options), or **STG** / Cobra (stocks). Spreads never wait. - [ ] The alert is a buy that opens a trade, and it names a break level. Your signal parser reads the level from the alert text, so this works on Discord and Telegram alerts. These count as a break: "NUR @ $4.15 BREAK", "BDRX @ BREAK $1.00", "Entry range: Break of 0.86", "ELPW Entry range: 5.03 break", "Buying break of 2.60". The level is always the price written with the word "break", never the stop loss. - [ ] The break is on the option or stock you buy. An option alert can also break on the **stock price** ("TSLA 425C ON THE BREAK OF $407.30") on Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, Tradier and Schwab: see [Options that break on the stock price](#options-that-break-on-the-stock-price) below. - [ ] **Robinhood**: the regular session is open (9:30 to 16:00 New York time) and the order is not an extended-hours order. - [ ] **Tradier stocks**: the order is not sent in the pre-market or after-hours session. A strategy with **Wait for the break** on always asks your parser, even when TradeLabs Fastlane is on, because a Fastlane answer never carries a break level. ### What happens, step by step Example: the alert is "NUR @ $4.15 BREAK S/L under $3.80", NUR trades at $4.00, and the cap is empty (2%). 1. The alert arrives at $4.00. Nothing is bought. 2. The app sends a stop-limit buy: it triggers at **$4.15** and pays at most **$4.24** ($4.15 plus 2%, rounded up to the cent). 3. The price climbs and trades at $4.15. The order triggers and buys at $4.24 or less. 4. Your stop loss, take profit and trailing stop are set from the price you actually paid, as usual. 5. If the price gaps from $4.10 straight to $4.40, the order triggers but does not fill above $4.24. It stays open, unfilled. 6. Your **Cancellation timer** (if on) starts counting when the break is reached, not when the alert arrived. A break that never comes does not use up the timer. If the price is already at or past the break when the alert arrives: - **Robinhood** places a plain limit buy at your cap ($4.24 here) at once, because Robinhood cancels a stop order whose price has already passed. Its cancellation timer starts at once. - **Interactive Brokers** and **Tradier** send the same stop-limit order. The broker triggers it at once, and it fills only at or under your cap. ### Options that break on the stock price Many option alerts name the level on the **stock**, not the option: "**TSLA | 425 C 3.55 NEXT WEEK** ON THE BREAK OF $407.30" means buy the TSLA 425 call once TSLA itself trades through $407.30. On Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, Tradier and Schwab, Wait for the break handles these too. On Robinhood it waits only during the regular session (9:30 to 16:00 New York time), and it cannot wait on an index option such as SPX, NDX, RUT or VIX, because Robinhood does not give the index level. Example: TSLA trades at $403.10 when the alert arrives, the cap is empty (2%), and your Cancellation timer is 10 minutes. 1. The alert arrives. **Nothing is sent to IBKR.** The Activity page shows "Waiting for TSLA to break $407.30 (now $403.10)". 2. The app watches TSLA's live price every second. Only real-time prices count, so a delayed quote never sets it off. 3. TSLA trades at $407.30. The app places your normal option buy right then, priced at that moment with your usual entry method, limit offsets, slippage cap and stop loss / take profit. 4. A call waits for the stock to reach the break **or higher**; a put waits for the stock to reach it **or lower**. 5. If TSLA gaps far past the break (more than your cap above $407.30, here $415.45), the app does not chase it. It keeps waiting until TSLA is back within the cap. 6. If TSLA never breaks $407.30 within your Cancellation timer, counted from the alert, nothing is bought and the Activity page says why. With the timer off, it waits until the regular session closes (16:00 New York time). An exit alert for the same contract cancels the wait, and a newer entry alert replaces it. If the app restarts while it waits, the wait is dropped, so it never buys on an old alert. ![The Order safety rows of an Interactive Brokers stocks strategy: Slippage cap 2.5%, Wait for the price to come back on, Cancellation timer 5 min, Wait for the break 2%, and Keep chasing until filled 3%, all switched on](/docs-assets/app-strategy-smart-entries.png) *Protections, Order safety, on an Interactive Brokers stocks strategy. The number next to **Wait for the break** is the cap above the break.* ### Why didn't it trigger? - **The broker or instrument does not support it.** The row only shows on the brokers and instruments listed above. On a multi-broker strategy, the first broker decides. - **The alert had no break level.** A level mentioned as a comment on an entry that buys now is not a break. "$SPY $737 CALLS, $.34 entry, looking for the break above $735" buys now. - **The alert came from TradingView.** A TradingView alert carries no break level, so it buys as usual. - **Robinhood, an index option** (SPX, NDX, RUT or VIX) that breaks on the index level. Robinhood does not give the index level, so the alert ends without buying and the Activity page says why. - **Robinhood, break on the stock price, outside the regular session.** Robinhood options trade 9:30 to 16:00 New York time, so nothing waits outside it. - **Break on the stock price, the stock gapped past your cap.** It keeps waiting until the stock is back within the cap, or the window ends. - **Break on the stock price, after 16:00 New York time with the Cancellation timer off.** The wait ends at the close, so nothing is bought. - **Robinhood, outside the regular session.** Robinhood does not accept a stop order in extended hours, so the alert buys as usual. - **Robinhood, under 1 share.** A Robinhood stop order needs whole shares. A buy under 1 share buys as usual. A fractional amount above 1 is rounded down to whole shares (2.7 buys 2). - **Tradier stocks in the pre-market or after-hours session.** Tradier takes only limit orders then, so it sends the normal extended-hours limit. - **It was a sell, a trim or a short.** Only buys that open a trade wait for the break. - **It did trigger, but the price was past your cap.** The order is open and unfilled. Raise the cap, or let the **Cancellation timer** cancel it. ### Works with - **Keep chasing until filled** never moves a break order. Its limit is already your break cap, which is the most the chase may pay. - **Wait for the price to come back** does not hold an alert that **Wait for the break** handles. - **Slippage cap**: on Tradier, the slippage check is skipped for a break order, because the cap above the break already limits the price. - **Stop loss, take profit and trailing stop** attach as usual and are set from the real fill price. ## Keep chasing until filled ### What it does A limit buy can sit unfilled while the market moves a few cents away from it. With **Keep chasing until filled** on, the app moves the unfilled buy up to the current ask every 10 seconds, up to 5 times, and never pays more than your chase cap above your first limit. ### What triggers it - [ ] **Keep chasing until filled** is on, in **Protections**, **Order safety**. The number is the most it pays above your first limit, in percent. Empty means 2%. The highest value is 50%. - [ ] The strategy's **Entry** is **Limit** (on the **General** tab). The row is hidden with a **Market** entry, because a market order fills at once. - [ ] The broker is **Interactive Brokers**, **Tradier** or **Robinhood**, and the strategy trades stocks or options. Futures and spreads are not chased. - [ ] The order is a buy that opens a trade. Exits, trims and shorts are never chased. - [ ] The buy has not filled 10 seconds after it was sent. ### What happens, step by step Example: a limit buy at **$10.00** with a 2% chase cap. The most the chase may pay is **$10.20**. 1. **0 seconds**: the buy is sent at $10.00. The ask is $10.04, so it does not fill. 2. **10 seconds**: still not filled. The ask is $10.06, so the order moves to $10.06 (try 1). 3. **20 seconds**: the ask is $10.12. The order moves to $10.12 (try 2). 4. **30 seconds**: the ask jumps to $10.25. The order moves to **$10.20**, the cap, not $10.25 (try 3). 5. At the cap the chase stops. The order rests at $10.20. 6. **45 seconds**: the ask comes back to $10.20 and the order fills. The chase also stops after the 5th try. In both cases the order stays open at its last price, and your **Cancellation timer** still cancels it if it never fills. If the ask is not above your current limit in a round, nothing is sent that round. How each broker moves the order: - **Interactive Brokers** and **Tradier** change the price of the same order. The order number, and any stop loss and take profit attached to it, stay the same. - **Robinhood** cannot change an order. It cancels the order, waits until Robinhood confirms the cancel, and places a new order for whatever has not filled yet. If the cancel is not confirmed, no new order is placed, so nothing is bought twice. The setting is the **Keep chasing until filled** row in the screenshot above. The 3 next to it is the chase cap. ### Why didn't it trigger? - **The entry is Market.** Only a **Limit** entry is chased, and the row is hidden for a Market entry. - **It was a break order.** A **Wait for the break** order is not chased. Its limit is already the most it may pay. - **Futures or spreads.** Only stocks and options are chased. - **It was an exit, a trim or a short.** Only buys that open a trade are chased. - **Robinhood, fractional shares.** Robinhood chases whole-share limit buys only. - **The ask never went above your limit.** The chase only moves the price up, to the ask, when the ask is higher. - **The app restarted.** On Interactive Brokers and Tradier a restart ends the chase, and the order rests at its last price. - **The Cancellation timer ran out first.** The chase stops when the timer is due. ### Works with - **Wait for the break**: a break order is never chased above the break cap. In practice the chase does nothing on a break order. - **Cancellation timer**: still counts while the chase runs, and still applies after the last try. - **Stop loss and take profit** are set from the price the order actually fills at. ## Move stop after a trim ### What it does When you take some profit, the rest of the trade should not be allowed to turn into a loss. With **Move stop after a trim** on, the first trim or partial take profit that fills moves the stop on what is left to your entry price (breakeven), or to the percent past it that you set. ### What triggers it - [ ] **Move stop after a trim** is on, in **Protections**, **Position limits**. Empty or 0 means breakeven. A number locks in profit: 5 moves the stop to 5% past your entry. - [ ] The broker is **Interactive Brokers** (stocks, options and futures), **Robinhood** (stocks and options) or **Tradier** (stocks and options). Spreads are not covered. - [ ] The strategy has a **Stop loss**. The app never places a first stop for you. On Robinhood a trailing stop also counts. - [ ] A partial exit **fills** and you still hold some of the position. What counts as a partial exit: - **Interactive Brokers**: a trim alert, a **Sell in stages** level, or a **Secure initial investment** sell. - **Tradier**: a trim alert, a sell that leaves shares held, a **Sell in stages** level, or a take profit that fills for only part of the position. - **Robinhood**: a trim alert only. Robinhood's **Sell in stages** levels and **Partial TP** are run by the app and do not move the stop. ### What happens, step by step Example: you buy 100 shares at **$10.00** with a stop loss at **$9.00**. **Move stop after a trim** is on and empty (breakeven). 1. The price rises. A trim alert sells 50 shares at $11.50. 2. When that sell fills, the stop on the other 50 moves from $9.00 up to **$10.00**, your entry. 3. The price falls back. The other 50 close at $10.00 instead of $9.00. 4. With 5 in the box instead, step 2 moves the stop to **$10.50** (5% past your entry). 5. A second trim later does not move the stop again. Only the first one does. The rules it follows: - **It never loosens the stop.** If the stop is already at or past the new level (for example, your trailing stop has moved higher), it is left where it is. - **If the price is already below the new stop** when the trim fills, the stop is not moved, because it would sell at once. The old stop stays in place, and the app tries again every 5 seconds until the price is back above the new level or the trade closes. - **On a short** (Interactive Brokers stocks and futures, Tradier stocks), the stop moves down to the entry, or the percent below it. - The level is set from the price you actually paid, rounded to the safe side. ![The Move stop after a trim row in Protections, switched on with 0% (breakeven)](/docs-assets/app-strategy-stop-after-trim.png) *Protections, Position limits. 0 or empty moves the stop to your entry; a number locks in that percent of profit.* ### Why didn't it trigger? - **The strategy has no stop loss.** There is no stop to move. Set a **Stop loss** on the **Risk & exits** tab. - **The trim closed the whole position.** With nothing left, there is no stop to move. - **The trim did not fill.** The move waits for the fill. On Tradier, a cancelled trim leaves it ready for the next one. - **The stop was already tighter.** A stop at or past the new level is never moved back. - **The price was already below the new level.** The move is waiting and tries again every 5 seconds. - **Robinhood, the partial sell was a Sell in stages level or Partial TP.** On Robinhood only a trim alert moves the stop. - **It already ran on this trade.** It moves the stop once, on the first partial exit. - **Spreads, or futures on a broker other than Interactive Brokers.** Not covered. ### Works with - **Per take-profit level follow-ups** (Interactive Brokers): a level with its own **Then stop at** value wins for that level. See the next section. - **Trailing stop**: the trail's stop is raised to the new level, and a later **Breakeven flip** cannot pull it back down. - **Wait for the break** and **Keep chasing until filled**: the entry used is the real fill price, so the breakeven level is where you actually got in. ## Per take-profit level follow-ups ### What it does On Interactive Brokers, each level of a **Sell in stages** take profit can also say what happens to the rest of the trade once that level sells. **Then stop at** moves the stop on what is left to that percent past your entry (0 means breakeven), and **Trail** starts your trailing stop from there. ### What triggers it - [ ] The broker is **Interactive Brokers** and the strategy trades stocks, options or futures. Other brokers do not show the two columns. - [ ] On the **Risk & exits** tab, **Take profit** has a value and **Take-profit behavior** is set to **Sell in stages**. - [ ] The level has a number in **Then stop at** (empty shows "keep" and leaves the stop alone), or **Trail** switched on. - [ ] The strategy has a **Stop loss**. For **Trail**, it also needs a **Trailing stop**. - [ ] **That level's sell fills.** ### What happens, step by step Example: you buy at **$10.00** with a stop loss at **$9.00**, and set two levels: | Trim at % | Trim amount % | Then stop at | Trail | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 25 | 50 | 0 | Off | | 50 | 25 | 20 | Off | 1. The price reaches **$12.50** (+25%). Level 1 sells 50% of the position. 2. When it fills, the stop on the other 50% moves to **$10.00** (0 = your entry). 3. The price reaches **$15.00** (+50%). Level 2 sells another 25%. 4. When it fills, the stop on the last 25% moves to **$12.00** (20% past your entry). 5. The last 25% runs until the $12.00 stop or an exit alert closes it. With **Trail** on for level 2, your trailing stop would start from $12.00 instead and follow the price up. The same rules as **Move stop after a trim** apply: the stop never loosens, and if the price is already below the new stop, the move waits and tries again every 5 seconds. ![The Take-profit behavior panel set to Sell in stages, with columns Trim at %, Trim amount %, Then stop at and Trail: level 1 at 25% sells 50% then stops at 0, level 2 at 50% sells 25% then stops at 20](/docs-assets/app-strategy-sell-in-stages.png) *Risk & exits, Take-profit behavior, Sell in stages on an Interactive Brokers strategy. **Then stop at** and **Trail** only show on Interactive Brokers.* ### Why didn't it trigger? - **Not Interactive Brokers**, or a spread. The columns do not show elsewhere. - **Then stop at was empty** ("keep"). That level leaves the stop where it is. - **No stop loss.** There is no stop to move. - **Trail was on but the strategy has no trailing stop.** Set a **Trailing stop** on the **Risk & exits** tab. - **The level did not fill.** The follow-up runs on the level's fill, not when the price touches it. - **The stop was already tighter**, or **the price was already below the new stop** (the move waits and tries again every 5 seconds). ### Works with - **Move stop after a trim**: a level with a **Then stop at** value wins for that level, and uses up the one move that **Move stop after a trim** makes. A level with no value lets **Move stop after a trim** run as usual. - A waiting move with a higher percent is not replaced by a lower one from a later level. - **Trailing stop**: **Trail** starts the trail at that level, with the current stop as its floor. ## Wait for the price to come back ### What it does When an alert arrives and the price has already moved past your **Slippage cap**, the buy is normally refused. With **Wait for the price to come back** on, nothing is placed yet: the app watches the price and places the normal order once it is back within your cap, up to your **Cancellation timer**. ### What triggers it - [ ] The broker is **Interactive Brokers**, and the strategy trades stocks, options or futures. Not spreads. - [ ] **Slippage cap** is on with a number. The **Wait for the price to come back** row only shows under it when it is on. - [ ] **Cancellation timer** is on with a number of minutes. The timer is how long the app waits, counted from the alert. Without it, the row says "Turn on the Cancellation timer too" and nothing waits. - [ ] **Wait for the price to come back** is on, in **Protections**, **Order safety**. - [ ] The alert is a buy that opens a trade, and the live price is already past your cap in the bad direction (above the alert price for a buy). ### What happens, step by step Example: the alert is a buy at **$10.00**, the **Slippage cap** is 2.5% and the **Cancellation timer** is 5 minutes. The most the buy may pay is about **$10.25**. 1. The alert arrives, and the live price is **$10.50**. It is past the cap, so nothing is placed. 2. The app checks the price every 3 seconds. On the **Activity** page the broker shows **Queued**, with **Waiting for the price to come back within your slippage cap** and the minutes left. 3. Two minutes later the price is back at $10.25. The app places the order exactly as it would have at the alert, with your usual pricing, stop loss and take profit. 4. That order's **Cancellation timer** still ends 5 minutes after the alert, not 5 minutes after it was placed. 5. If the price is still past the cap when the 5 minutes end, nothing is bought, and **Activity** says the price never came back within your slippage cap. Other ways the wait ends: - **A better price than the alert** (below $10.00 on a buy) never waits. It buys at once. - **An exit alert** for the same ticker on the same strategy (and the same contract, when it names one) cancels the wait. - **A newer entry alert** for the same ticker on the same strategy replaces the wait. - **An app restart** ends every wait. Nothing is bought. The setting is the **Wait for the price to come back** row in the [Order safety screenshot](#wait-for-the-break) above, directly under **Slippage cap**. ### Why didn't it trigger? - **Not Interactive Brokers**, or a spread strategy. - **Slippage cap is off**, or has no number. The row is hidden. - **Cancellation timer is off**, or set to 0. Nothing waits, and the buy is refused as before. Use whole minutes (1 or more): a timer under 1 minute starts the wait, but the order it places then gets no cancellation timer. - **The alert was a Wait for the break alert.** A break order handles its own entry price. - **It was a sell, a trim or a short.** Only buys that open a trade wait. - **The price was inside the cap, or better than the alert.** Nothing needed to wait, so it bought at once. - **The app restarted, a newer entry alert came in, or an exit alert came in.** Each one ends the wait. ### Works with - **Slippage cap**: sets how far is too far. The wait only decides what happens when the price is past it. - **Cancellation timer**: sets how long the app waits, and the order placed after the wait keeps the same end time. - **Wait for the break**: never combined. A break alert is not held by this wait. - **Entry delay** and **Duplicate protection** are not run a second time when the waiting order is finally placed. ## Which broker supports what | Feature | Interactive Brokers | Robinhood | Tradier | Schwab | STG / Cobra | Other brokers | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Wait for the break** | Stocks, options, futures. Options can also wait for the stock price | Stocks, options. Regular session only, whole shares. Options can also wait for the stock price (not index options) | Stocks, options. Not stocks in pre-market or after-hours. Options can also wait for the stock price | Stocks, options. Not in extended hours. Options can also wait for the stock price | Stocks | No | | **Keep chasing until filled** | Stocks, options. Moves the same order | Stocks, options. Cancels and places the rest again, whole shares | Stocks, options. Moves the same order | No | No | No | | **Move stop after a trim** | Stocks, options, futures | Stocks, options. Trim alerts only | Stocks, options | No | No | No | | **Per take-profit level follow-ups** (**Then stop at**, **Trail**) | Stocks, options, futures | No | No | No | No | No | | **Wait for the price to come back** | Stocks, options, futures | No | No | No | No | No | None of the five run on spreads, RSA, crypto, memecoins or prediction markets. On a strategy with more than one broker, the first broker in the list decides, as described at the top of this page.