The original post was not specifically about a stop order, at least it didn't say that. I can't tell you how many times I've been happy to get filled after hours in a thin market. Either you want the (limit) order to be out there or not. If I have a buy order out at .30 below the closing bid and I get filled after hours, great. If they just warned and it then drops like a stone, well that's the risk I assumed. If I didn't want to accept that risk, I could cancel the order at the close. I don't understand this discussion. Stops are a different issue.
I think if you read the 1st sentence carefully you can safely assume he is talking about a stop loss order of some configuration.
I'm not talking about stops, just straight up plain vanilla limit orders sent to an ECN. Both DAY and GTC limit orders are automatically alive in the premarket and afterhours (unless I am missing something; if I am missing something, than this thread is pointless). I could cancel them at the close for the DAY orders, and that is fine, but it becomes more annoying for the GTC orders. My point was that while I often leave GTC limit orders out there, I do not sit in front of my computer from 7:30am to 8:00pm monitoring for news in the stocks that I trade. I usually sit down 30min before the market opens and for 30min after the market closes, and if something happens like an announcement, warning, etc., which happens 99% of the time in the afterhours, I do not want my order sitting there to potentially get picked off. If my order only is live during mkt hours, that gives me a chance to watch for news before the market opens and cancel those outstanding orders before they would go live at 9:30.
Sounds like IB would need to hold the order on their servers until 09:30 and then send it, cancelling it at 16:00. Hmmm. Maybe I remember seeing that one of the ECNs already has an order flag that sets this "RTH-only" mode. I'm guessing it was ARCA. You might have a look at their web site. If it's something that simple, it could probably get done more quickly. The problem with using a RTH-only StopLimit order is that it won't expire at 16:00.
I would like an option that would close my trade at a set time if my target was not reached. just set to (close at 2:50) I sometimes take a futures position and leave for rest of the trading day. If we are in a tight range and my target was not reached but my stop also wasn't triggered I have to make sure I can get back to close the trade. Before I started using Sierra Charts I could just close down My TWS and have my brother close the trade for me by logging into my account but with Sierra I need data feed from IB running so I have the full days chart data. Oh well. I cant complain IB has more order options than most brokers.
stops: there seems to be confusion. If a stop is native at an exchange, it will be triggered after hours. If it is simulated on our servers, it will not trigger after hours. If you want the simulated stops to trigger after hours all you need to do is change the default configuration on your TWS. GTC day limit orders: I can make the recommendation but I just don't see a great deman for it. Thus it might not get anywhere. If it is an easy programming issue, then perhaps it will be done with no questions asked. time in force orders: I'll recommend these as well.
I agree with the original poster. If I have a day limit order to buy stock below the 4pm closing price, I don't want to take the chance that the order gets executed because of bad news released at 4:15pm. Better to have it get executed at the next day's 9:30am open. For NYSE traded stocks I avoid this possibility by directing my orders directly to the NYSE. The only other alternative is to manually cancel the order myself, except I'm at work. The solution is allowing a specified cancellation time on a day order or the option to have it cancelled at the close of the normal trading day.