Order size - shares, dollars or percent of buying power

The order size row

The order size row decides how much every BUY and SHORT sends. The preset buttons put their number in the size box with one click, and Manual is the size BUY and SHORT actually send. Type any number you like there.

Shares, dollars or percent

SHARES, USD and percent say what that number means. SHARES is a share count. USD is a dollar amount: the desk divides it by the price, and rounds down to whole shares. Percent is a share of your buying power: the virtual wallet's in paper, your broker's when live.

Safe by default

If the desk does not know your buying power yet, a percent size refuses, and sends nothing. And the presets follow your choice: five hundred is five hundred shares, five hundred dollars, or fifty percent.

NEXT: before you click

NEXT shows what the next BUY or SHORT would send at the current price: the shares, the cost, and the risk to your stop. With a position open, it also shows what you already hold, and its risk. So the size is never a surprise.

In practice

A common setup: dollars for a steady position value whatever the price, or shares when you think in round lots. Either way, set it first, then BUY or SHORT sends exactly that. NEXT, at the end of the row, shows exactly what the next order will send.

Presets and paper

A preset is a shortcut: it writes its number into the Manual box. Type a different number there at any time, and BUY or SHORT sends that. The same five hundred means something else under each unit. Try a new unit in paper first, where nothing reaches your broker. Paper uses the virtual wallet; live uses your broker's buying power.