Gap Level Regulation is used to limit slippage for pending orders and is applied when the price of your pending order falls inside a price gap due to volatility or other factors.
Gap Level Regulation applies to all account types (Cent, Mini and Classic) except ECN accounts.
What is Gap Level?
Gap Level represents the difference in points between the requested price of a pending order and the first market price after the gap.
Different trading instruments have different Gap Level values. (Refer to the table below for Gap Level values.)
When is Gap Level Regulation applied?
Gap Level Regulation is applied when the requested price specified in your pending order falls within the gap and the difference in points between the first market price (after the gap) and the requested price of your order is equal to or exceeds a certain number of points (Gap Level) for a particular instrument. Your order will be executed at the first market price after the gap.
Which accounts and instrument groups is Gap Level Regulation applied to?
Gap Level Regulation is applied to the following instruments:
- all currency pairs with suffix -c (Cent account)
- all currency pairs with suffix -m (Mini account) including cryptocurrencies and USOIL
- all currency pairs with no suffix (Classic account) including cryptocurrencies and USOIL
- all currency pairs with suffix -k (Mini and Classic account)
- all currency pairs with suffix -p (Classic account)
The Gap Level values for different instruments
| Trading instrument | Gap Level, in points |
|---|---|
| AUDCAD | 8 |
| AUDJPY | 8 |
| AUDNZD | 8 |
| AUDUSD | 10 |
| CADCHF | 8 |
| CADJPY | 8 |
| EURAUD | 12 |
| EURCAD | 8 |
| EURCHF | 10 |
| EURGBP | 8 |
| EURJPY | 10 |
| EURNZD | 24 |
| EURUSD | 8 |
| GBPAUD | 10 |
| GBPCAD | 15 |
| GBPCHF | 12 |
| GBPJPY | 15 |
| GBPNZD | 24 |
| GBPUSD | 10 |
| NZDCAD | 8 |
| NZDJPY | 8 |
| NZDUSD | 16 |
| USDCAD | 10 |
| USDCHF | 10 |
| USDJPY | 8 |
| XAGUSD | 40 |
| XAUUSD | 40 |
| BCHUSD | 21 |
| BTCUSD | 24 |
| ETHUSD | 140 |
| LTCUSD | 35 |
| XRPUSD | 210 |
| USOIL | 9 |
Examples of Gap Level Regulation
Example 1:
You place a pending Buy Stop order for EURUSD at the price 1.30560. Then, a price gap appears. The last Ask price before the gap was 1.30550, and the first Ask price right after the gap was 1.30620. To determine the price that your Buy Stop order will be executed at, you need to find the difference in points between the first Ask price after the gap and the price you specified in your order:
(1.30620 - 1.30560) = 0.00060 = 6 points.
Now, check the table to find the Gap Level value for the instrument you are trading - in this case EURUSD. In our example, your order falls in the gap which basically means that the difference between the first market price after the gap and the order price is less than the Gap Level value (6 < 8).
That's why your Buy Stop order will be executed at the price you specified in your order, 1.30560. This means that your order will be executed at a price which is 6 points more profitable than the current market price.
Example 2:
Imagine that you placed a pending Sell Stop order for GBPUSD at a price of 1.40280. A price gap then appears. The last Bid price before the gap was 1.40300, and the first Bid price after the gap was 1.40170. To find the price that your Sell Stop order will be executed at, you need to check the difference in points between the first Bid price after the gap and the price you specified in your order:
(1.40170 — 1.40280) = 0.00110 = 11 points.
Now check the table and compare this difference with the Gap Level value for the given instrument. In the example above, the first market price differs from the order price by an amount greater than the value of the Gap Level (11>10). So, your Sell Stop order will be executed at the first market price after the gap which is 1.40170.