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Why Did My Stop Loss Trigger Early?

Quick answer: Stops execute on the price you can actually trade at — which includes spread — not the mid or chart price. Around news and rollover the spread widens sharply, so a stop can fill while the chart never appears to touch it.

What actually happens

  • Buy positions close on the bid, sell positions on the ask. Charts usually draw the bid, so a sell's stop can be hit by the ask while the chart line never reaches it

  • Spread widening during news, low liquidity and the 5pm EDT rollover moves the tradable price away from the chart price

  • Slippage can fill a stop beyond its level in fast markets

Rollover is the classic case

The daily reset at 5pm EDT coincides with a one-hour window of thin liquidity and widened spreads. A stop that looked safe minutes earlier can fill in that window. See Market Rollover Explained.

What this means for your account

Server-side execution records are authoritative, not the chart. Equity — which moves with the tradable price — is also what drawdown checks use, which is why a breach can occur while the chart looks fine.

If you believe an execution was wrong: send support the ticket number, symbol, exact time, your platform screenshot and what you expected. Genuine pricing faults are handled under the system-error rules — and deliberately trading a suspected fault is prohibited.

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