your short's stop fires off the ask. yes, really
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2026 9:39 am
Charts usually draw only the bid line, and that causes a lot of confusion about stops.
- A buy position closes at the bid, so its stop triggers when the bid hits the level.
- A sell position closes by buying back, so its stop triggers when the ask hits the level.
- Take profits work the same way, reversed.
- Spread widens, ask jumps, the short's stop fires, and the bid chart never touched it.
At a normal 0.2 pip spread nobody notices. At 3 pips during rollover or a news spike, a short can be stopped out by a candle that never reached the stop on screen. Some platforms let you display the ask line, and once it is switched on the whole thing becomes visible.
Many traders only learn this after a loss that "shouldn't have happened". It's worth knowing before the first one.
Do you keep the ask line on your chart, and has a short ever been stopped out without the bid chart touching the level?
- A buy position closes at the bid, so its stop triggers when the bid hits the level.
- A sell position closes by buying back, so its stop triggers when the ask hits the level.
- Take profits work the same way, reversed.
- Spread widens, ask jumps, the short's stop fires, and the bid chart never touched it.
At a normal 0.2 pip spread nobody notices. At 3 pips during rollover or a news spike, a short can be stopped out by a candle that never reached the stop on screen. Some platforms let you display the ask line, and once it is switched on the whole thing becomes visible.
Many traders only learn this after a loss that "shouldn't have happened". It's worth knowing before the first one.
Do you keep the ask line on your chart, and has a short ever been stopped out without the bid chart touching the level?