In the volatile world of cryptocurrency trading, tools that help automate strategies are invaluable. One such tool is the Plan Order, a conditional order type designed to execute trades based on predefined market conditions. This guide breaks down how it works and how you can use it to manage risk and capitalize on opportunities.
What is a Plan Order?
A Plan Order is a type of conditional trade order. It allows you to set two key price points: a trigger price and an order price.
- Trigger Price: This is the specific market price at which your order is activated.
- Order Price: This is the price at which the system will place the order once the trigger condition is met.
The primary purpose of a Plan Order is to automate your trading strategy. You can use it to automatically take profits (stop-limit order), cut losses (stop-loss order), or enter a new position when a certain trend is confirmed, all without needing to monitor the markets constantly.
Key Characteristics of Plan Orders
Before a Plan Order is triggered, it does not freeze your margin or existing positions. This means your assets remain available for other trades until the moment the order conditions are met.
It's important to understand that the triggering of a Plan Order is not guaranteed. Several factors can prevent it from being placed successfully, including:
- Insufficient available margin or balance.
- Position limits being reached.
- The contract being in a non-trading state (e.g., during settlement).
- Technical or system issues.
Once triggered, the system places a standard limit order at your specified price. This order is then subject to the normal rules of the market—it may filled immediately, partially filled, or not filled at all if the market moves away from your order price. Any unfilled portion will appear in your list of current open orders.
The Lifecycle of a Plan Order
- Setup: You create the order, defining the trigger and order prices.
- Monitoring: The system watches the market price. Your funds are not locked.
- Triggering: When the market hits your trigger price, the system attempts to place a limit order at your specified order price.
- Execution: The newly placed limit order enters the order book and awaits execution. If it fills, it will either open a new position or close an existing one. If the Plan Order fails to trigger or the subsequent limit order fails to fill, your account state (positions and margin) remains unchanged.
A key feature involves price protection. If the order price you set would violate the exchange's limit price rules (e.g., being too far from the mark price), the system will automatically adjust it to the maximum or minimum allowable limit price at the moment of triggering before placing the order.
It's also worth noting that different perpetual swap contracts may have varying limits on the maximum size for a single market plan order. These limits are dynamic and can be adjusted by the exchange in response to market conditions.
👉 Explore advanced trading strategies
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a Plan Order and a regular limit order?
A regular limit order is placed immediately at a specific price and remains in the order book until it is filled or canceled. A Plan Order is inactive until the market reaches your chosen trigger price; only then does it become a live limit order. The key difference is the conditional, automated nature of the Plan Order.
Can I cancel a Plan Order after it's set?
Yes, you can typically cancel a Plan Order at any time before it is triggered. Since it doesn't lock your margin, canceling it immediately frees you from the strategy without any cost or impact on your holdings.
Why did my Plan Order fail to trigger?
The most common reasons for a Plan Order not triggering are insufficient available margin to place the resulting order, the contract being paused for trading (e.g., during funding time or settlement), or the order size exceeding the maximum allowed limit for that specific contract at that time.
If my order is triggered but doesn't fill, what happens?
If the Plan Order is successfully triggered and a limit order is placed but it doesn't get filled, that limit order will remain in your "Open Orders" list. You can then choose to leave it there, modify its price, or cancel it manually.
Is there a fee for setting a Plan Order?
There is usually no fee for simply placing a Plan Order. Fees are only incurred if the order is successfully triggered and the resulting limit order is executed (filled). The fee structure for the executed trade is the same as it would be for a manually placed order.
Can I use Plan Orders for both opening and closing positions?
Absolutely. Plan Orders are versatile. You can set a "take-profit" or "stop-loss" order to close a position, or you can set a conditional order to open a new long or short position when the market breaks through a key resistance or support level that you are watching.