A stop order is an order placed below the current market price and is triggered if the stock reaches at or below the stop price. Once a stop order is triggered, your order will become a market order. For a NYSE/AMEX/LSE/TSX stock, a stop order is triggered by the last trade. If a sell stop order is placed above the current market price of the stock, it will not be accepted by the exchanges and will be cancelled.

The advantage of the stop order is that you do not need to monitor your stock investments on a daily basis of how your stock is performing. The disadvantage of the stop order is that the stop price can be activated by a short term fluctuation on the stock's price.

Let us consider the example where you buy a stock on the NASDAQ market at $30 per share. If you have an investment strategy where you do not wish to lose much more than 10% of your initial investment, you then place a stop loss order for $27 (after buying the stock). This means that if the stock falls at or below $27 per share, your holding will be sold at the prevailing market price.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that once the stop price is reached, your stop order becomes a market order and the price at which you sell may be much lower from the stop price. In the above example, you may have a market fill at $25 which is more than your anticipated loss of 10%. This is to be considered in a fast moving market where stock prices fluctuate very rapidly.

Long options positions expiring in-the-money will be exercised during the last day before expiration. Long out-of-the-money options will expire worthless.

If you prefer not to exercise a long in-the-money options position, please ensure to close it prior to expiration day.

Please note that Swissquote doesn’t sell the contract for you (no auto-sell). Exercising options is free of charge.

You will be asked to close your position a few days before the expiration of your Futures contract.

Without action from your part, the Bank will close the position prior to expiration day.

Physical delivery is not supported by the Bank. Rollover strategies are supported over the phone (additional charges may apply).

Settlement will be two or three working days after the transaction, depending on the exchange. However, the amount of this trade will be taken into account immediately in your available funds.

If the stock price is:

• Less than EUR 50, there are no restrictions 
• Between EUR 50 and EUR 100, the tick is EUR 0.05 (a limit of 63.24 is not possible; has to be 63.20 or 63.25) 
• Between EUR 100 and EUR 500, the tick is EUR 0.10 
• Above EUR 500, the tick is EUR 0.50