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A trailing stop moves with the market. For a sell (protecting a long), the stop tracks the highest price seen and sits a fixed distance below it. As the price rises, the stop rises with it. When the price falls back by the trail distance, the stop triggers. For a buy, the stop tracks the lowest price and sits a fixed distance above it. The stop only ever moves in your favor. It never loosens.
Trailing stop order form with trail amount in dollars or percent, activation price, trigger condition and Reduce Only

BTC Trailing Stop form with trail distance and an optional activation price.

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How it works

  1. Set the Trail Amount, as a percentage or a dollar amount, and the Trigger Condition price source (Mid or Mark).
  2. Optionally set an Activation Price. Until the market reaches it, the trailing stop is dormant. A sell activates once the price rises to the activation price, and a buy once the price falls to it. With no activation price, tracking starts immediately.
  3. Once active, Pacifica records the extreme price (the peak for a sell, the trough for a buy) and derives the stop level from it: peak minus trail for a sell, trough plus trail for a buy. The stop is updated on every new extreme.
  4. When the price retraces to the stop level, a market order is placed for the full amount, using your Max Slippage. The order may fill only partially.
A trailing stop triggers once. It does not become active again after submitting the market order.

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Settings

The form describes the resulting behavior in words. For example, you can set a sell to activate at a mid price of $110,000, then trail 2% below the peak.

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Trailing exit from the Positions panel

You can also attach a trailing stop directly to an open position from the Positions table (Trailing Stop tab of the TP/SL dialog). A position trailing stop submits a reduce-only market order for the full position size at trigger time. A full fill is still subject to available liquidity and slippage.

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Example

You are long 0.1 BTC at $100,000 and want a stop that stays 2% below the highest price reached:
  • Select Trailing Stop, side Sell, Trail Amount 2%, Trigger Condition Mid, Reduce Only on and Amount 0.1 BTC.
  • BTC rallies to $110,000. The stop is now $107,800. BTC keeps going to $120,000. The stop is now $117,600.
  • BTC pulls back to $117,600. A reduce-only market sell for 0.1 BTC is placed. Its fill price may differ from $117,600, and it may fill only partially.

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Good to know

  • The stop places a market order, so the fill can be worse than the stop level in a fast market, up to your Max Slippage.
  • Trailing stops are listed in the Strategies tab under Trailing Stop. There you can see the current extreme and the current stop level.
  • Trailing stops use Mid or Mark as the price source. Last trade price is not available.