Trigger price rejected (stop-loss, limit price and circuit rules)

Errors

This applies to broker rejections about the trigger price, such as:

• Trigger price for stoploss sell orders cannot be below the lower circuit price. (Zerodha)
• Trigger price for stoploss buy orders cannot be above the upper circuit price. (Zerodha)
• Trigger price for stoploss sell orders should be lower than the last traded price. (Zerodha)
• Trigger price for stoploss buy orders should be higher than the last traded price. (Zerodha)
• Trigger prices must bracket current price. (Zerodha)
• ORA: Trigger price is less than limit price. (Fyers)
• Trigger price 272.00 less than limit price 272.60.

AutoTrader Web also shows its own message for the last one, before the order is sent:

• A SELL stop-loss order needs its limit price at or BELOW its trigger price.
• A BUY stop-loss order needs its limit price at or ABOVE its trigger price.

What this error means

A stop-loss order has a trigger price. The order becomes active only when the market reaches that trigger. The broker rejects the order when the trigger price does not follow the stop-loss rule, or when it falls outside the day’s price band (the circuit limits).

A stop-loss limit order has a second price, the limit price. It is the worst price you are willing to accept once the order becomes active. The order is also rejected when these two prices point the wrong way round.

The stop-loss rule

For a stop-loss order, the trigger must sit on the correct side of the last traded price (LTP):

• Stop-loss SELL: trigger price must be lower than the LTP.
• Stop-loss BUY: trigger price must be higher than the LTP.

The trigger price must also stay inside the lower and upper circuit limits for that scrip on that day.

The limit price rule

This rule applies only to a stop-loss limit order (SL), because it is the one that has both prices. A stop-loss market order (SL-M) has no limit price of its own.

Stop-loss order	Limit price must be
SELL	at or below the trigger price
BUY	at or above the trigger price

The two prices may also be equal.

The reason is simple. Once the order becomes active it has to trade, so the limit price has to allow the direction it is about to trade in. When you sell, the price is falling, so your limit has to sit below the trigger. When you buy, it is rising, so your limit has to sit above.

The most common way to hit this: you change only the trigger price of an open stop-loss order and leave the limit price as it was. If you move the trigger far enough, the two prices cross and the order is rejected. Change both prices together.

AutoTrader Web checks this before your order is sent. If the two prices are the wrong way round, the Trade screen and the Modify Order window stop you and tell you which price to change. When you modify several orders at once, each order is checked against its own prices, and you are told exactly which ones need fixing.

How to fix it

1. Check the current last traded price (LTP) of the scrip.
2. Set the trigger price on the correct side of the LTP, using the rule above.
3. On a stop-loss limit order, set the limit price on the correct side of the trigger price.
4. Make sure the trigger price is within the circuit limits for the day.
5. Place the order again.

If you are changing an order you already placed, remember to update the limit price whenever you move the trigger price.