This brings up an interesting point.....how poorly advanced orders are checked or VALIDATED before being submitted. I've been burnt with the Thinkorswim platform is this regard as well. If you go onto the OptionsExpress website, there is a full disclaimer of any liability related to placing advanced orders as well. Also, Interactive Brokers TWS just recently implemented a "feature" that displays a prompt if you initiate an OCO order-set under certain conditions. The problem was: they offered no way to eliminate the prompt which was driving some traders crazy as it would delay their orders from being sent. Bottomline: much more work needs to be done in this area by the trading platform builders. Validation should be done to insure buy stop orders below the current market price can be "flagged" and vice-versa for sell stop orders. Also, the validation needs to be configurable as well with optional ways of throwing out warnings, etc, etc.
Yeah. Apparently the build and designing of front-ends sufficient to the use of skilled traders is an entirely seperate discipline unto itself. You have to keep working at it to find what works for you, and if you study up on the names listed you should probably be able to fill the bill.
Yeah, it seems like it'd be pretty easy for IB to have a warning come up if you enter a "dumb" order like I did. It tells me when a stop loss amount is larger than my default, why can't it tell me when my stop and limit buys on a short would lead to immediate fills when the parent order was filled? Seems super basic.