Apology I stand corrected. Nonetheless, the stops must be given as absolute prices, not offsets, so the notion of modifying the stops once the order executes (and the market price is revealed) still holds.
jtrader33- If I put in an MOC and I wish to assign stops based on returns, say Buy the Combo and Stop-Loss at $20 loss, then in TWS I would enter the MOC Buy but not know what the Buy price minus $20 was. TWS makes me enter that price, not the $20. Anyway, the OP can easily define a Combo in Excel and enter the order there, and go back and check what price he was actually filled at to modify the stops to be exactly the $20.
Okay, but he's entering with MOCs on Friday's close. There's no advantage to entering the stop as a bracket order. He has all weekend to sort that out. Anyhow, minor point in the big picture here (no automation necessary).
You know more than I do- I was not aware you could go back and add in a stop-loss on a combo. The profit-taker, sure, as a simple LMT order. But not the stops. Thanks- it's helpful.
Will I need to make sure my TWS has a constant connection after I set the combo loss? Or is the combo-loss order sent directly to IB?
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be held on IB's servers like other orders (exceptions like accum/distr notwithstanding). As always, double check all of this with IB.
IB holds all stops on orders on their servers, and watches the markets then executes them for you as situations warrant. You can be disconnected from IB and this does not affect things at all.
Max- While you're double checking on this functionality with IB, it's probably a good idea to ask about which trigger method is the default for combos. If it were me, I'd also probably start with a STP LMT order to prevent excessive slippage just in case there's something quirky with the implementation on combos.
Do you really think IB holds the stop orders? Stops are recognized orders on almost every exchange; they sit on the exchange not on the broker