: Why are stoploss values calculated from the bid when buying based on the ask? I am trying to calculate a stop loss in Metatrader 4. I came across this example on their site. The example creates an order at the ASK price,

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I think you're flummoxed by the purpose of the bid and ask quotes. In general terms when you buy a security using a market order, you buy from the lowest ask price, and when you sell a security using a market order, you sell to the highest bidder.

For what you're working on you're setting up a buy with a stop out sell order. You will create your buy order using the current ask quote and set a stop loss sell order based on some function of the current bid price.

For these sorts of formulaic trades you need to be cognizant of the bid/ask spread so it makes sense to generate the orders based on the corresponding quote.