Summary
Use Buy Pending Order or Sell Pending Order when you want your EA to place an order at a specific price level instead of entering the market immediately.
Pending orders are useful when you want to trade only if price reaches a defined level, for example:
buy if price breaks above the previous candle high
sell if price breaks below the previous candle low
place an order at a moving average
place an order at a session high or low
place breakout orders above and below a range
Important: there is no separate Order Type dropdown inside the block.
You choose the correct block first:
Buy Pending Order
or:
Sell Pending Order
Then you define the Open Price Level where the pending order should be placed.
Also known as: pending order, buy limit, buy stop, sell limit, sell stop, breakout order, pending entry, order expiration, OCO order.
What is a pending order?
A pending order is an order that waits at a defined price.
It does not open a trade immediately.
The trade only opens if market price reaches the pending order level.
Example:
Current EURUSD price: 1.08500 Buy Pending Order level: 1.09000
The buy trade only opens if price reaches the pending order level.
Buy Pending Order vs Sell Pending Order
There are two separate blocks:
Buy Pending Order Sell Pending Order
Use Buy Pending Order when the future trade should be a buy.
Use Sell Pending Order when the future trade should be a sell.
The block itself defines the trade direction. The Open Price Level defines where the order is placed.
There is no “Order Type” dropdown
You do not select “Buy Limit”, “Buy Stop”, “Sell Limit”, or “Sell Stop” from a separate dropdown.
Instead, the behavior comes from:
1. Which pending order block you use 2. Where you place the Open Price Level
For example:
A Buy Pending Order above current price behaves like a breakout buy order.
A Buy Pending Order below current price behaves like a pullback buy order.
A Sell Pending Order below current price behaves like a breakout sell order.
A Sell Pending Order above current price behaves like a pullback sell order.
So if you are looking for a “buy limit order”, use the Buy Pending Order block and place the open price below the current market price.
If you are looking for a “buy stop order”, use the Buy Pending Order block and place the open price above the current market price.
Open Price Level
The Open Price Level defines where the pending order is placed.
You can use:
Option | Meaning |
Ask | Current ask price |
Bid | Current bid price |
Mid | Midpoint between bid and ask |
Custom Price | A specific price level from a source such as Candle, Indicator, Market Property, Value, Account, or Trade Info |
Most pending order strategies use Custom Price.
Examples:
Buy Pending Order at previous candle high Sell Pending Order at previous candle low Buy Pending Order at Moving Average 20 Sell Pending Order at session low
Price level vs price fraction
For the Open Price Level, use a real price level.
Good examples:
Previous candle high Previous candle low Moving Average value London session high London session low
These are actual prices on the chart.
Do not confuse this with a price distance.
Example:
ATR = 25 pips
ATR is not an exact price level. ATR is a distance / price fraction.
Use ATR for stop loss or take profit distance with Custom Price Fraction, not as the Open Price Level unless your setup explicitly converts it into a real price level first.
Money Management
At the top of the block, choose how much to risk or trade.
Common options:
Option | Use when |
Fixed Volume | You want to enter a fixed lot size, for example |
Risk % of Equity | You want to risk a percentage of equity |
Risk % of Balance | You want to risk a percentage of account balance |
Risk Fixed Amount | You want to risk a fixed money amount |
Martingale | You want lot size to adapt based on previous trade results |
Custom Sequence | You want advanced sequence-based sizing |
Some risk modes require a stop loss because the EA needs to calculate position size from the risk amount.
Stop Loss and Take Profit
You can configure stop loss and take profit inside the pending order block.
Common modes:
Mode | Use when |
No Stop Loss | You intentionally do not want a stop loss |
Fixed Pips | You want a fixed pip distance |
Percentage of Price | You want SL/TP based on asset price percentage |
Percentage of Take Profit | You want SL based on TP distance |
Custom Price Level | You have an exact price, like candle low |
Custom Price Fraction | You have a distance, like ATR |
Example:
Buy Pending Order at Candle High ID 1 Stop Loss at Candle Low ID 1 Take Profit fixed at 100 pips
For ATR-based stop loss:
Stop Loss Mode: Custom Price Fraction Value: ATR
not Custom Price Level.
OCO Orders
OCO means One Cancels Other.
If enabled, the EA places a mirrored pending order at the same distance from current price.
If one order gets triggered, the other pending order is automatically deleted.
Use this for breakout setups where price may break either direction.
Example:
Buy Pending Order above range Sell Pending Order below range If buy triggers → sell order is deleted If sell triggers → buy order is deleted
OCO helps avoid being stuck with the opposite pending order after one side of the breakout has triggered.
Order Expiration
Order Expiration controls how long the pending order stays active.
Options include:
Option | Meaning |
None | Order stays open until filled or manually/deleted by logic |
Fixed Time | Order expires at a specific clock time |
Relative Time | Order expires after a set number of days, hours, minutes, or seconds |
Use expiration when your order is only valid for a limited time.
Example:
If you place a pending order based on a 1-hour candle, you may want it to expire after 1 hour if it is not triggered.
Example 1: Buy breakout above previous candle high
Goal:
Buy only if price breaks above the previous candle high.
Logic:
Run per Candle → Trade Rule: setup condition is true → Count Trades: buy trades = 0 → Buy Pending Order
Pending order settings:
Open Price Level: Custom Price → Candle High ID 1 Stop Loss: Custom Price Level → Candle Low ID 1 Order Expiration: Relative Time → 1 hour
Example 2: Sell breakout below previous candle low
Goal:
Sell only if price breaks below the previous candle low.
Logic:
Run per Candle → Trade Rule: setup condition is true → Count Trades: sell trades = 0 → Sell Pending Order
Pending order settings:
Open Price Level: Custom Price → Candle Low ID 1 Stop Loss: Custom Price Level → Candle High ID 1 Order Expiration: Relative Time → 1 hour
Example 3: Pullback entry at a moving average
Goal:
Only enter if price pulls back to a moving average.
Logic:
Run per Candle → Trade Rule: price is above MA20 → Count Trades: buy trades = 0 → Buy Pending Order
Pending order settings:
Open Price Level: Custom Price → Indicator → Moving Average 20 Order Expiration: Relative Time → 4 hours
This can be useful on higher timeframes where the moving average changes after each candle.
Example 4: Breakout order with OCO
Goal:
Place a breakout order on both sides of a range and cancel the opposite order after one side triggers.
Possible setup:
Buy Pending Order above range high OCO enabled Mirrored sell order below range low
If price breaks upward and triggers the buy, the mirrored sell order is automatically deleted.
When to use Delete Orders instead of expiration
Use Order Expiration when you simply want the pending order to expire after a fixed time.
Use Delete Orders when you want another logic condition to cancel the pending order.
Example:
If price reaches the invalidation level before entry → Select Trades → Delete Orders
This belongs in a separate Delete Orders guide because deleting orders requires trade-selection logic.
The usual order is:
Select Trades → Trade Rule / condition → Delete Orders
or:
Trade Rule / condition → Select Trades → Delete Orders
depending on the setup.
Common mistakes
Looking for an “Order Type” dropdown
There is no separate Order Type dropdown.
Choose Buy Pending Order or Sell Pending Order, then define the Open Price Level.
Using the wrong price source
If you want the order at the previous candle high, use:
Candle High ID 1
If you want the order at a moving average, use:
Indicator → Moving Average
If you want the order at a fixed price, use:
Value
Forgetting Count Trades
Without Count Trades, the EA may place repeated pending orders.
Recommended structure:
Trade Rule → Count Trades → Buy Pending Order / Sell Pending Order
Forgetting expiration
Pending orders can remain active if they are not triggered.
Use Order Expiration if the setup should only be valid for a specific time.
Confusing pending orders with open trades
A pending order is not an open trade yet.
Once the pending order is triggered, it becomes an open trade.
Use Delete Orders for pending orders.
Use Close Trades for open trades.
Best practices
Use pending orders when you want price to come to your level instead of entering immediately.
Place Count Trades close to the pending order block.
Use Order Expiration when the order should not stay active forever.
Use OCO for two-sided breakout setups.
Use Visual Mode in MT5 to confirm that pending orders are placed, triggered, expired, or deleted as expected.
Conclusion
Use Buy Pending Order or Sell Pending Order when you want to place an order at a defined future price.
There is no separate Order Type dropdown. The direction comes from the block you choose, and the pending order behavior comes from where you place the Open Price Level. For controlled setups, combine pending orders with Count Trades, Order Expiration, OCO, or Delete Orders logic.