The following order types are available for perpetual futures trading on VALR:
- Market
- Limit
- Reduce only conditionals (take profit and stop loss)
- TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price)
Take-profit and stop-loss (TPSL)
For users wishing to manage futures exposure, VALR offers conditional orders that can be added to a position as TPSLs.
TPSL orders are reduced-only orders triggered when a specific price is reached. You can locate TPSL in the positions tab on the exchange screen, after which a modal will pop up on the website or mobile app.
Order types for TPSL
TPSL orders can be executed as either a limit or market TPSL after trigger, which can be selected on the TPSL modal.
Limit TP/SLs are placed at the limit price and will only match if another order for a different account matches at the same price or better. Limit orders might remain in the order book if they do not match and the position will remain open until the order is matched. The limit order can be cancelled or modified once placed. If a triggered limit TPSL would match with an order for the same account, that TPSL is cancelled due to prevention of self-trading.
Market TP/SLs are placed as limit orders at the max slippage allowed for that particular pair. Limit orders might remain in the order book if they do not match and the position will remain open until the order is matched. The limit order can be cancelled or modified once placed.
Trigger price
A TPSL order can be triggered by either last traded or mark price. Please note that for a single TPSL both orders share the same trigger and it is currently not possible to trigger the TP on last and the SL on mark and vice versa. Users should be aware of the risks involved depending on the trigger type chosen (e.g. price wicks, mark price irregularities)
Creating multiple full-position TPSL
VALR supports creating multiple full-position TPSL orders through the UI and API.
Each TP/SL that a user creates is an independent conditional order. If the user only specifies one side (either TP or SL), that order alone will trigger and place based on its configuration. When a user sets both TP and SL in a single order, then that order is a conditional one-cancels-other (OCO), where if one side triggers, the other side is cancelled.
Should the user wish to separate the trigger of their full position TP from their full position SL, then place these orders separately and they will trigger independently.
Where multiple full position TPSL’s are created and the position is fully closed either through the user’s action or trigger and match of a TPSL, the remaining TPSLs are cancelled and will not be placed.
Creating multiple partial position take-profit / stop-losses
VALR supports multiple partial position TPSL orders through the API
There is a combined limit of maximum 5 partial and full position untriggered TPSL’s per position.
TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price)
TWAP is a type of order execution strategy that allows you to break up a large order into multiple smaller suborders that execute over a specified time period. This is useful when trying to minimize slippage as well as when trying to achieve an average price over a period.
The following inputs are required on a TWAP order:
- The total quantity that you wish to buy/sell
- The total running time over which you wish to execute the TWAP (up to 72 hours)
- The frequency (cadence) of the TWAP i.e. how often a suborder should be submitted
The TWAP will calculate how many suborders are expected by dividing the total running time by the frequency e.g. a 1 hour TWAP with 1 minute frequency will have 60 suborders. It will then aim to submit suborders for total TWAP quantity divided by the number of suborders. Suborders are placed with IOC (Immediate or Cancel) expiry.
There are optional configurations that you can add to your TWAP:
- You can add a limit price: All suborders will be placed as limit orders with the chosen limit price. If no limit price is chosen, orders are executed at Market.
- You can randomise your order: Each suborder will have a random factor applied to its quantity in order to obfuscate your TWAP execution. The total TWAP quantity will still be targeted.
- You can add a trigger price: The TWAP will only begin once the mark price of the pair reaches the trigger price. Thereafter the running time begins.
- TWAP is compatible with spot margin (by choosing to allow margin) and is also compatible with perpetual futures where reduce-only can be chosen.
The following are worth keeping in mind for TWAP orders:
- TWAP orders can be used on all VALR pairs that have order books. This includes spot, spot margin and perpetual futures.
- Balances are not reserved on TWAP submission. They are only checked and utilized for each suborder as its submitted to the exchange.
- VALR's slippage protection mechanisms apply to triggered limit/market orders
- VALR does not guarantee the execution or trigger of your order. Orders can fail or partially match for reasons such as slippage, rapid market movements, poor liquidity, insufficient user balances, insufficient borrow availability amongst other reasons.
Order Restrictions
The following order restrictions are available for perpetual futures trading on VALR:
- Reduce Only
- Post-Only
- Post-Only Reprice
Reduce Only
Selecting reduce only will ensure that any order placed can only reduce an existing position. Any orders that increase a position will fail if they are reduced only.
When multiple reduce-only orders are placed, priority is given to the orders closest to market price (more likely to be matched). Additional reduce-only orders will have their quantities reduced or will be cancelled.
Post-Only
A post-only order is a limit order designed to avoid crossing the order book and as a consequence paying taker fees. A post-only will only be sent to the VALR exchange if it does not execute against an existing order immediately. If a post-only order would match immediately, it is cancelled.
Post-Only Reprice
Post-only reprice works similarly to post-only except for the fact that in scenarios where the order is placed at a price that would match, the order is instead repriced to a certain distance away from the other side of the book, as measured by tick size. The default is that the order is placed one tick away from the other side of the book if the order would otherwise match. However, the number of ticks can be configured via the VALR API.