Halt rules and limit bands - LULD escape, resume stop and band guard
Tick Halt rules on a side, and three rules protect that side's positions and entries. Small caps halt often, and these rules decide what the desk does about it. Until you tick Halt rules, none of the three applies to that side.
In this video
The 30-second version
The same topic in thirty seconds, made for a phone screen.
Both videos use the desk in paper mode with made-up symbols and prices.
Read the transcript
Halt rules
Tick Halt rules on a side, and three rules protect that side's positions and entries. Small caps halt often, and these rules decide what the desk does about it. Until you tick Halt rules, none of the three applies to that side. Each rule works on its own, and band guard is off at zero.
LULD escape
LULD escape: a long exits fast when price approaches the limit-down band, and a short when it approaches limit-up. A band approached in your favour never triggers it, and the escape leaves earlier by the live spread. Test the escape in paper first, to see when it fires against the band.
Resume stop
Resume stop: when a halt resumes at a loss for your position, it exits immediately. If it resumes in your favour, the position is held.
Band guard
Band guard percent refuses an automatic entry while the official band against it is closer than this percentage. Estimated bands never block. Zero is off. So a tight percentage refuses more entries, and a loose one refuses fewer. Set it in paper first, and watch the strip near the band before you rely on it.
Entries on a halt
And whatever the ticks say, manual and automatic entries on a halted stock are refused. Open positions can still be closed.
The strip shows it
The trading panel's strip shows the band, in market hours, and says when the price is near it, so you can see the risk before the rule acts on it. Use the strip to check the band before a fast small-cap trade.