Quick answer: Forex orders split into two families. Market orders execute immediately at the current price. Pending orders sit dormant until price reaches a level you set — buy limit, buy stop, sell limit and sell stop on MT4, with two stop limit variants added on MT5. Stop loss and take profit attach to a position rather than opening one, and a trailing stop is different again: it runs on your computer, not the broker’s server, so it stops working the moment you close the platform.
Order selection is the part of a trade plan traders spend the least time on and pay for the most. A correct read on direction, entered with the wrong order type, becomes a missed fill, an entry 15 pips worse than planned, or a stop that quietly stopped working overnight. This guide covers every order type on MetaTrader, what each does at the broker’s server, and where pending orders behave differently from how traders expect.
The Two Families: Market Orders and Pending Orders
Every forex order falls into one of two categories, and the split is about when execution happens rather than which direction you are trading.
A market order executes now, at whatever price the market is offering. A pending order executes later, and only when price reaches a level you specify in advance. Everything else — stop loss, take profit, trailing stop — attaches to a position that already exists.
The practical difference is control. Executing at market guarantees a fill but not the price; most pending orders let you name a price but cannot promise a fill. No order type gives you both.
Market Orders: Certain Execution, Uncertain Price
Executed at market, an order fills against whatever price is available the moment it reaches the server. On a quiet EUR/USD session that is usually the price you saw; around a rate decision or a jobs release it may not be.
MetaTrader has two execution models. Instant execution attempts to fill at the quoted price and returns a requote if the market has moved beyond your tolerance. Market execution fills at the next available price with no requote — faster fills, and a real possibility of slippage. Most forex accounts run market execution; check which applies to yours.
Slippage runs both ways, but negative slippage clusters around news, rollover and the Sunday open. Execute at market when being in the trade matters more than the entry price: reacting to a confirmed breakout, closing a position you no longer want, or exiting before a scheduled event.
The Four Core Pending Orders
These four are available on both MT4 and MT5 and cover the great majority of planned entries. Two sit below the current market, two above it — and the direction of that offset is what separates a limit from a stop.
| Order | Placed relative to market | Logic | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy Limit | Below current price | Buy cheaper on a pullback | Entering an uptrend at support |
| Sell Limit | Above current price | Sell higher on a rally | Entering a downtrend at resistance |
| Buy Stop | Above current price | Buy only if price breaks higher | Breakout above resistance |
| Sell Stop | Below current price | Sell only if price breaks lower | Breakdown below support |
Limit orders express a mean-reversion view: you expect price to return to your level and then move in your favour. They fill at your price or better, which is why a well-placed pending order can beat an at-market entry over hundreds of trades.
Stop orders express a momentum view: you want confirmation that price will trade through a level before committing. The cost is that a buy stop fills at the next available price once triggered, not necessarily at your level.
On EUR/USD trading at 1.0850: if you believe support at 1.0800 holds, a buy limit there fills only if price falls that far. If you want confirmation of a break above 1.0900 instead, a buy stop at 1.0901 enters you only once the level gives way. Same bias; one buys weakness, the other buys strength.
MT5 Adds Two More: Stop Limit Orders
MetaTrader 5 carries six pending order types rather than four. The two extras are hybrids, and the ones traders most often misconfigure.
A buy stop limit posts a buy limit when triggered. You set two prices: a trigger above the current ask, and the limit where the resulting buy limit will sit. Price rises to the trigger, the platform posts the limit below it, and you fill only if price pulls back into it. A sell stop limit mirrors this.
The use case is a breakout you want to trade on the retest rather than the break — no slippage exposure, at the cost of missing every breakout that never looks back. MT4 has no equivalent, so a strategy that depends on it decides your platform.
Stop Loss and Take Profit Are Not Entry Orders
Both attach to an open position or to a pending order, and both live on the broker’s server — so once set, they remain active whether or not your computer is on, your platform is open, or your connection is working.
A stop loss closes a position at a defined loss; a take profit closes it at a defined gain. Neither guarantees the exact price, because a triggered stop becomes an at-market instruction: a weekend gap or a news spike can fill it well beyond the level you set. Trading involves risk of loss, and a stop limits exposure rather than eliminating it. Attaching a protective stop and a target at entry is the single habit that separates traders who survive bad weeks from those who do not.
The Trailing Stop Runs on Your Computer, Not the Server
This is the detail that catches out more traders than any other on this list, and MetaTrader’s own documentation is blunt about it.
Per the MT4 help files: “Trailing Stop is always attached to an open position and works in client terminal, not at the server like Stop Loss.” And: “it will not work, unlike the above orders, if the terminal is off.”
It follows price at a fixed distance, tightening the protective level as the trade moves in your favour — but that tightening is performed by software on your machine. Close the platform, lose your connection, or let the laptop sleep, and it freezes at whatever level it last wrote to the server.
We checked this on both platforms in September 2026: the behaviour is identical on MT4 and MT5, and WebTrader does not offer trailing at all. Three consequences follow:
- Never rely on trailing for an overnight or weekend position unless the terminal stays running
- A VPS keeps the terminal alive; this is the main reason retail traders rent one
- For hands-off risk control, a fixed server-side stop beats client-side trailing every time
How Long a Pending Order Lives
An unfilled pending order sits there forever only if you tell it to. MetaTrader offers an expiration setting at placement.
- Good till cancelled (GTC) — the default; the order stays live until filled or manually deleted
- Specified date and time — the order is removed automatically at the moment you set
- Today / Specified day — additional options on MT5, cancelling at the end of the trading day
GTC deserves more caution than it gets: a buy limit from a Tuesday setup that never triggered can still be live on Friday, ready to fill into a different market. Clearing stale pending orders before the weekend close takes a minute.
Where Pending Orders Behave Unexpectedly
Weekend and holiday gaps. Price opens Sunday at a level it never traded through. A buy limit below the gap is skipped entirely; a sell stop above it fills far from the level you chose. Normal market behaviour, not an execution fault.
Minimum distance rules. Brokers enforce a minimum gap between the current price and any pending order or protective level, published as a stop level in points. Orders inside that band are rejected, and the permitted distance can widen in volatile sessions.
Freeze levels. Some instruments block modification or deletion once price is within a set distance of an order — which is why moving a stop during a fast move is sometimes refused.
Spread at the trigger. Buy orders trigger on the ask, sell orders on the bid. A level set at a round number can trigger earlier or later than the chart line suggests when the spread widens, so a sell stop sitting exactly on a visible swing low invites an unwanted fill.
These parameters differ by broker, and the values on a contract specifications page are self-reported — verify them in the platform against your own account.
Placing a Pending Order on MT4 or MT5
In MetaTrader, press F9 or right-click the chart and choose Trading → New Order. Switch the Type field to Pending Order, pick the variant, set the price, attach protective levels, and add an expiry if you want one. It then appears in the Trade tab and on the chart as a dotted line you can drag to modify.
FXPrimus supports all six MetaTrader pending order types across MT4 and MT5, on forex, metals, indices, energies and synthetic instruments. A PrimusDEMO account is the sensible place to rehearse placement — a mistyped buy stop costs nothing on demo and a great deal live.
Related reading: [MT4 platform guide] · [MT5 platform guide] · [WebTrader]
Choosing the Right Order Type
| Situation | Order to use |
|---|---|
| Need to be in or out immediately | Market order |
| Waiting for a pullback to support in an uptrend | Buy limit |
| Waiting for a rally to resistance in a downtrend | Sell limit |
| Trading a confirmed break above resistance | Buy stop |
| Trading a confirmed break below support | Sell stop |
| Trading a breakout only on the retest (MT5) | Buy / sell stop limit |
| Defining risk on any open position | Stop loss, set at entry |
The pattern: limits when you want a better price and can accept missing the trade, stops when you want confirmation and can accept a worse one. Traders who lose money on order selection are almost always using one where the other belonged.
Forex Order Types — FAQ
What are pending orders in forex?
Pending orders are instructions to open a position later, triggered only when price reaches a level you specify. MetaTrader supports buy limit, sell limit, buy stop and sell stop on MT4, plus two stop limit variants on MT5. They stay inactive until triggered or cancelled.
What is the difference between a limit order and a stop order?
A limit buys below or sells above the current market, seeking a better price on a pullback. A stop buys above or sells below it, seeking confirmation that price is breaking through a level. Limits fill at your price or better; stops fill at the next available price.
Do pending orders work when my platform is closed?
Yes. Pending orders, protective stops and targets are all stored on the broker’s server and execute regardless of whether your terminal is running. The one exception is trailing, which is calculated by the client terminal and stops adjusting when the platform is closed.
What is a buy stop limit order?
An MT5 order type that posts a buy limit once a trigger price is reached. You set the trigger above the current ask and the limit below it. It is used to trade a breakout on the retest rather than at the break.
Why was my pending order rejected?
Most rejections come from the minimum distance rule: brokers require a set gap between the market price and any pending order or stop level. Orders placed too close are refused. Insufficient free margin and an expired price quote are the other common causes.
Can a stop loss fail to protect me?
A stop loss is not a fixed price. When triggered it becomes an at-market instruction, so a weekend gap or news spike can fill it well below your level. It limits exposure rather than capping it exactly. Negative Balance Protection covers the extreme case of a negative balance.
How long does a pending order stay active?
By default, good till cancelled — indefinitely, until it fills or you delete it. MetaTrader also lets you set a specific expiry date and time when placing the order, and MT5 adds same-day expiry options. Clearing stale orders before the weekend is good practice.
Which order type is best for beginners?
Executing at market with a protective stop and a target attached is the simplest starting point, because execution is immediate and risk is defined at entry. Pending orders are worth adding once you plan entries in advance rather than reacting to price in real time.
The Takeaway
Order types are a small vocabulary — two families, six pending variants, three attached instructions — and knowing them properly removes a whole class of avoidable loss. Limits buy patience, stops buy confirmation, and only server-side levels protect you when the platform is closed; trailing, useful as it is, does not. Rehearse the ones you intend to use on demo, then keep the same discipline live: define the entry, the stop and the target before the order goes in.
FXPrimus offers MT4, MT5 and WebTrader with Negative Balance Protection on every live account, plus a free PrimusDEMO account for practising order placement without risk.
[→ Open a PrimusDEMO account] | [→ Compare account types]
Risk disclosure. This article is published for informational and educational purposes and is not financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to trade any instrument or to use any order type or strategy. Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor; you may lose more than your initial deposit unless Negative Balance Protection applies. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Execution behaviour, minimum distance rules and available order types vary by broker, account type and instrument; figures published on contract specification pages are self-reported and should be verified in the platform. Review the full terms and conditions and the relevant risk disclosure before opening an account or placing a trade. FXPrimus is a trading name of entities regulated in multiple jurisdictions; the entity you contract with, and the protections that apply, depend on your country of residence.