Bracket order
A protective pair of orders — a stop loss and a profit target — attached to an entry as a one-cancels-other group.
A bracket order pairs a stop loss with a profit target. The moment your entry fills, both orders go live at the broker. When either fills, the other cancels automatically (One-Cancels-Other, OCO). Brackets are the foundational risk primitive of any serious trading setup — every fill should have one attached.
NinjaTrader 8's native ATM strategies provide brackets, but fast-fill edge cases still need careful testing. Robust bracket management needs clear ownership of the bracket lifecycle so exits do not duplicate, disappear, or drift out of sync.
Example
- Long entry at 4500.00 on MES. Stop at 4498.00. Target at 4506.00. As soon as the entry fills, both stop and target are working broker-side. If the target fills, the stop cancels. If the stop fills, the target cancels.
Built into our tools
Related terms
- Breakeven stop
A stop loss adjustment that moves your stop to your entry price (plus an offset) once the trade has reached a defined favorable condition.
- Scale-out
A pre-planned partial exit at a price level less than the full target — typically used to bank some profit and reduce risk on the remaining position.
- Order Lock
A one-click trading-lockout that disables order entry until the next session — designed to prevent revenge trades after a triggering event.