Pending orders are the most underused feature in MetaTrader and the most direct solution to chasing price. A limit order at your level either fills at your price or does not fill at all — which removes the decision at exactly the moment you are least equipped to make it.
The four types
Both platforms have these; MT5 adds two more.
| Type | Placed | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Limit | Below current price | Buying a pullback to support |
| Sell Limit | Above current price | Selling a rally to resistance |
| Buy Stop | Above current price | Buying an upside breakout |
| Sell Stop | Below current price | Selling a downside breakout |
The distinction is direction of approach.
Limit orders expect price to come back to you. You are buying lower or selling higher than current price.
Stop orders expect price to continue past a level. You are buying higher or selling lower than current price.
EUR/USD at 1.0850
Buy Limit 1.0820 → fills if price
falls to support
Sell Limit 1.0890 → fills if price
rises to resistance
Buy Stop 1.0880 → fills if price
breaks resistance
Sell Stop 1.0830 → fills if price
breaks support
MT5’s additional types
Buy Stop Limit — when price reaches a stop level, a buy limit order is placed at a specified lower price.
Sell Stop Limit — the mirror.
These express the breakout-then-retest pattern in a single order: wait for the break, then buy the pullback to the broken level.
Useful for that specific approach and unnecessary otherwise.
Why pending orders help
Three reasons, and the first is the important one.
They remove the entry decision from the moment
The FOMO lesson described how a chased entry turns a 1:2 setup into 1:0.3 while the analysis stays identical.
A pending order makes that arithmetically impossible. The order fills at your price or it does not fill. There is no version where you enter forty pips late because the move looked strong.
This is structural discipline rather than willpower — exactly what the Psychology section argues for.
They let you leave the screen
With orders resting at your levels, complete with stop and target, there is nothing to watch for. Watching invites intervention and intervention on average costs money.
They handle timezone problems
If your levels are on a session you cannot be awake for, a pending order trades it for you.
This matters for traders whose local hours do not align with the London–New York overlap, which is a large share of the global retail market.
You will miss trades. Price will come within two pips of your limit, reverse, and run to your target without you. This happens regularly and it is uncomfortable. The comparison worth making is against the chased entries the same discipline prevents — but the missed fill is visible and the avoided bad entry never happens, so the trade-off always feels worse than it is.
Placing one
1. Press F9
2. Type → Pending Order
3. Choose the order type
4. Enter the price level
5. Enter volume, stop loss, take profit
6. Set expiry (optional)
7. Place
The stop and target are entered at the same time as the entry — which means the moment the order fills, the position is fully protected without any further action.
This is a genuine advantage over market orders on market-execution accounts, where there is a gap between fill and protection.
Placing from the chart
Faster, and in MT5 you can drag an order line directly to a new price.
Right-click on the chart at the level → Trading → the relevant order type. The price is pre-filled from where you clicked.
Expiry
Pending orders can be set to expire.
| Setting | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| GTC | Good till cancelled |
| Today | Expires at end of trading day |
| Specified | Expires at a date and time you set |
Worth using. A setup identified on Monday may be irrelevant by Thursday, and an order left resting can fill days later in a context that no longer resembles the analysis.
A reasonable default is expiry at the end of the session or the end of the day for intraday setups, and a few days for swing setups.
Note that some brokers restrict expiry options, particularly on market execution accounts.
Managing pending orders
They appear in the Trade tab alongside open positions, and as dotted lines on the chart.
Modify — right-click → Modify or Delete Order. Change price, stop, target or expiry.
Delete — same menu. Remove an order whose setup is no longer valid.
Drag on chart — in MT5, drag the order line to a new price. Convenient and easy to do accidentally, so verify afterwards.
When to delete an order
Worth having a rule rather than deciding each time.
Delete when the structure that justified the level has broken, when the session you intended to trade has passed, or when a scheduled release falls before the order would likely fill.
Do not delete because price approached and turned away — that is the order doing its job.
Pending orders and news
An important caution.
During high-impact releases, price can gap through a pending order level. The order fills at the next available price, which may be substantially worse than the level you set.
A buy limit at 1.0820 during a gap can fill at 1.0790, and your stop distance — and therefore your risk — is now larger than calculated.
The defence is the same as elsewhere: know what is scheduled, and remove pending orders before major releases rather than leaving them resting through.
The same applies over weekends. Orders left over a weekend can fill on a Monday gap at a price well away from the level.
A practical workflow
How pending orders fit a normal routine.
SUNDAY / WEEKLY
Mark levels on daily and 4H charts
BEFORE THE SESSION
Identify which levels price may reach
Calculate position size for each
Place pending orders with stop,
target and expiry
Check the calendar for conflicts
DURING
Leave the screen
Alerts notify you of fills
AFTER
Delete unfilled orders whose setup
has expired
Journal anything that filled
Twenty minutes of preparation replaces several hours of watching, and the entries are better because they were planned.
Pending orders and signals
A practical note for signal followers.
Signals often specify an entry price that has already been passed by the time you see them. Rather than entering at market — which produces the chased-entry arithmetic — a pending order at the stated entry means you either get the intended trade or none.
Whether price returns is a separate question, and often it does.
Automated copiers handle this by executing within seconds of the signal, so the fill sits close to the stated entry. Telegram Trade Linker also supports a maximum entry deviation, so a signal that has already run too far is skipped rather than filled at a price that changes the risk-reward. Manually, a pending order achieves something similar with more patience required.
What to do next
The next lesson covers modifying and closing trades — including partial closes, trailing stops, and the modification you should never make.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a limit and a stop order?
Limit orders expect price to come back to you — buying lower or selling higher than current price. Stop orders expect price to continue past a level — buying higher or selling lower.
Why use pending orders instead of entering at market?
Because they remove the entry decision from the moment. A limit order fills at your price or not at all, which makes a chased entry arithmetically impossible and lets you leave the screen.
Should I set an expiry on pending orders?
Usually yes. A setup identified on Monday may be irrelevant by Thursday, and an order left resting can fill days later in a context that no longer matches the analysis.
Can a pending order fill at a worse price than I set?
Yes, during gaps and high-impact news. Price can jump through your level and fill at the next available price, which makes your actual stop distance and risk larger than calculated.
When should I delete a pending order?
When the structure justifying the level has broken, when the intended session has passed, or when a scheduled release falls before it would fill. Not because price approached and turned away — that is the order working.
What if a signal’s entry price has already passed?
Place a pending order at the stated entry rather than entering at market. You either get the intended trade with its intended risk-reward, or you get none — which is better than a fill that changes the arithmetic.