API Parameters

Every trading platform has its own format for orders, positions, trades and margins. AutoTrader’s job is to hide those differences and give you a single standard format. You pass values in the standard format defined by the AutoTrader team, and the software converts them internally for your trading platform.

The AutoTrader API is offered in multiple programming languages. The descriptions below are generic and apply to all of them, so there may be small differences. Please also check the language-specific examples for your client setup.

Order Id

Data type: Text or String

An order id uniquely identifies an order. In AutoTrader you deal with 3 types of order ids.

1. Publisher Id — Used in languages like AmiBroker AFL or MetaTrader MQL, where direct HTTP REST communication is not possible. This id is generated by the API functions, and AutoTrader maps it to the actual order. It may not be unique across different users, because it is generated on the client side.
2. System Id — When AutoTrader receives a new order, it assigns a new id. This id is unique across all users of the AutoTrader platform.
3. Platform Id — The id given to the order by your stock broker’s trading platform.

Account

Data type: Text or String

A nickname (also known as a pseudo account) you have given for your broker account. The system maps it internally to an actual trading account. Taking a nickname instead of the real broker account lets you switch broker accounts from the system without changing your code. See how to create a nickname.

Note: You can rename a nickname later from the Trading Accounts screen. The nickname is the name your code passes here, so if you rename it, update the name in your code to match. If you do not, your orders will fail.

Variety

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Variety represents the kind of an order. There are 3 varieties.

Value	Meaning
REGULAR	A regular order
BO	A bracket order
CO	A cover order

Exchange

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

An exchange represents the Indian stock exchange on which the order symbol is traded. Pass the standard code for the relevant exchange and market segment, for example the cash segment, the F&O segment or the commodity segment.

Symbol

Data type: Text or String

A symbol represents a stock or derivative contract. The symbol must be a broker independent symbol. You can use this Indian API stock symbol search tool.

Trade Type

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents a trade type, sometimes called transaction type. The valid trade types are:

Value	Meaning
BUY	A buy order
SELL	A sell order
SHORT	A sell order (added for charting software support — only allowed in csv format used by Desktop client)
COVER	A buy order (added for charting software support — only allowed in csv format used by Desktop client)

Order Type

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents an order type. There are 4 valid order types.

Value	Meaning
LIMIT	A limit order
MARKET	A market order
STOP_LOSS	A stoploss order
SL_MARKET	A stoploss market order

Product Type

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents a product type. There are 3 valid product types.

Value	Meaning
INTRADAY	An intraday or MIS order
DELIVERY	A delivery order
NORMAL	A normal order

Validity

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents order validity. There are 2 valid values.

Value	Meaning
DAY	Order is valid for the day (this is the default)
IOC	Immediate or cancel

Note: Do not confuse Validity with Product Type. They are different things.

Quantity

Data type: Numeric or Integer

AutoTrader passes the quantity as it is to the trading platform.

The confusion usually happens for derivatives: should you pass quantity as a multiple of lot size, or as a number of lots? All trading platforms supported by AutoTrader take quantity in multiple of lot size.

Example: To buy 1 lot of NIFTY Future (assuming a lot size of 75), enter the quantity as:

= (#lots * lots_size) = (1 * 75) = 75

Disclosed Quantity

Data type: Numeric or Integer

Represents a disclosed quantity. It is optional and defaults to zero.

Price

Data type: Decimal or Float

Represents the order price. For a market order, this price defaults to zero.

Note: Price is automatically rounded to the nearest tick price, so you need not worry about price being a multiple of tick size. Example: a price of 50.54 with a tick size of 0.05 becomes 50.55.

Trigger Price

Data type: Decimal or Float

Represents a trigger price. It is used in a stoploss order or a cover order.

Note: Trigger price is automatically rounded to the nearest tick price, so you need not worry about it being a multiple of tick size. Example: a price of 50.54 with a tick size of 0.05 becomes 50.55.

Target (Bracket Order)

Data type: Decimal or Float

Represents the target of a bracket order.

Stoploss (Bracket Order)

Data type: Decimal or Float

Represents the stoploss of a bracket order.

Trailing Stoploss (Bracket Order)

Data type: Decimal or Float

Represents the trailing stoploss of a bracket order. In most cases it should be an absolute value.

Some brokers work a little differently. Their system takes trailing stoploss in number of ticks. So if a stock or derivative has a tick size of 0.05 and you want a trailing stoploss of 1/-, on such a system you would enter 20, calculated as 1 divided by 0.05.

But because AutoTrader is broker independent, it takes trailing stoploss as an absolute value (for example, 1/- as explained above). Even for accounts on those brokers, enter the value as absolute, not in number of ticks. The system reads the tick size and converts it into number of ticks for you.

AMO

Data type: Text or String or Boolean

Indicates whether an order is an After Market Order.

Value	Meaning
TRUE	The order is an AMO
FALSE	The order is not an AMO (this is the default)

Validate

Data type: Boolean

This parameter is only used in AmiBroker. When set to True, the system will not accept back to back BUY or back to back SELL orders. It treats them as duplicate orders caused by a known limitation of AmiBroker. When you get a signal in AmiBroker, it stays active until the candle completes. Every time the strategy runs during this active state, it sees the signal is active and places an order, which results in duplicate orders.

AmiBroker experts can set it to False and manage the signal in their own strategy code. This simple flag was built for beginners.

OrderStatus

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents order status in a broker-independent way. Broker-specific statuses are not uniform, so AutoTrader parses them into a standard status.

Value	Meaning
OPEN	Open
COMPLETE	Complete
CANCELLED	Cancelled
REJECTED	Rejected
TRIGGER_PENDING	Trigger pending
UNKNOWN	Unknown (when the system cannot determine the type from the raw order status received from the stock broker)

MarginCategory

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents margin category.

Value	Meaning
EQUITY	Margin for the Equity section of your account
COMMODITY	Margin for the Commodity section of your account
ALL	Combined margin for Equity and Commodity

PositionCategory

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents position category.

Value	Meaning
DAY	Snapshot of the buying and selling activity for that particular day
NET	Actual or current net position

PositionType

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents position type.

Value	Meaning
MIS	MIS or intraday position
CNC	CNC or delivery position
NRML	Normal position position
BO	BracketOrder position
CO	CoverOrder position

PositionState

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents the state of the position, which can be either OPEN or CLOSED.

Value	Meaning
OPEN	The position is open
CLOSED	The position is closed

PositionDirection

Data type: Text or String or Enumeration

Represents the direction of the position.

Value	Meaning
LONG	A long position
SHORT	A short position
NEUTRAL	A neutral position

Related pages

• Read Portfolio Summary
• API Rate Limits
• Place Regular Order
• Place Bracket Order
• Place Cover Order
• Read Positions
• Read Margins