Place an Order

API URL: POST https://api.topstepx.com/api/Order/place

API Reference: /api/Order/place

Description

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Place an order.

Parameters

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Name	Type	Description	Required	Nullable
accountId	integer	The account ID.	Required	false
contractId	string	The contract ID.	Required	false
type	integer	The order type: 1 = Limit 2 = Market 4 = Stop 5 = TrailingStop 6 = JoinBid 7 = JoinAsk	Required	false
side	integer	The side of the order: 0 = Bid (buy) 1 = Ask (sell)	Required	false
size	integer	The size of the order.	Required	false
limitPrice	decimal	The limit price for the order, if applicable.	Optional	true
stopPrice	decimal	The stop price for the order, if applicable.	Optional	true
trailPrice	decimal	TrailingStop (type 5) only, and required for that type. The absolute price level the trailing stop starts at, not a distance. See trailPrice.	Optional	true
customTag	string	An optional custom tag for the order. Must be unique across the account.	Optional	true
stopLossBracket	object	Stop loss bracket configuration.	Optional	true
takeProfitBracket	object	Take profit bracket configuration.	Optional	true

Bracket Objects

stopLossBracket

Name	Type	Description	Required	Nullable
ticks	integer	Number of ticks for stop loss	Required	false
type	integer	Type of stop loss bracket. Uses same OrderType enum values: 1 = Limit 2 = Market 4 = Stop 5 = TrailingStop 6 = JoinBid 7 = JoinAsk	Required	false

takeProfitBracket

Name	Type	Description	Required	Nullable
ticks	integer	Number of ticks for take profit	Required	false
type	integer	Type of take profit bracket. Uses same OrderType enum values: 1 = Limit 2 = Market 4 = Stop 5 = TrailingStop 6 = JoinBid 7 = JoinAsk	Required	false

Bracket mode

Each account has a bracket mode, set in the trading platform under Settings > Risk Settings:

• Position Brackets (default). Brackets are managed at the position level by the platform. stopLossBracket and takeProfitBracket are not accepted on this endpoint.
• Auto OCO Brackets. Brackets attach to each order. stopLossBracket and takeProfitBracket are accepted on this endpoint.

Sending either bracket object while the account is in Position Brackets mode rejects the order with errorCode 2 and the message Brackets cannot be used with Position Brackets. You must enable Auto OCO Brackets. The rejected order is still created and its ID is returned in orderId. To fix this, switch the account to Auto OCO Brackets, or omit the bracket objects.

trailPrice (TrailingStop orders)

trailPrice applies only to order type 5 (TrailingStop) and is required for that type. It is an absolute price level, not a trail distance. When the request arrives, the server measures the gap between the contract's last traded price and trailPrice and converts it to a whole number of ticks:

trailDistanceTicks = |lastTradedPrice - trailPrice| / tickSize

• The last traded price is read on the server at the moment the order is received. In a fast-moving market the same trailPrice can produce a different tick distance than you expected.
• Fractions of a tick are dropped.
• Once accepted, the distance is fixed in ticks and the stop price trails the market by that many ticks.
• trailPrice must be aligned to the contract's tick size.

Example. A contract with a 0.01 tick size last traded at 70.50. For a trailing stop 6 ticks away, send the price level 6 ticks from the market: 70.44 for a sell stop (side 1), or 70.56 for a buy stop (side 0). Do not send the distance itself. A trailPrice of 0.06 is read as a price level near zero, which works out to a distance of 7044 ticks and is rejected.

A rejected trailPrice returns errorCode 2 with one of these messages:

errorMessage	Cause
Trail Distance not set.	type is 5 but trailPrice is null.
Invalid trail price. Price is not aligned to tick size.	trailPrice is not a multiple of the contract's tick size.
Cannot trail without a last price	The contract has no last traded price yet, so there is nothing to measure the distance from.
Invalid symbol	No quote is available for the contract.
Trail Distance exceeds maximum (1000)	The computed distance is more than 1000 ticks. The usual cause is sending a distance instead of a price level.

When a trailing stop is returned by the order search endpoints, its trailPrice holds the trail distance expressed in price (ticks x tickSize), not the price level that was submitted. Using the example above, the order reads back with trailPrice 0.06. See Search for Orders.

Error Codes

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errorCode	Name	Meaning
0	Success	The order was accepted.
1	AccountNotFound	The account does not exist or is not owned by the caller.
2	OrderRejected	The order was rejected. errorMessage states the reason.
3	InsufficientFunds	The account does not have enough funds for the order.
4	AccountViolation	The account is in violation and cannot place orders.
5	OutsideTradingHours	The market is not open for the contract.
6	OrderPending	The order is still being processed.
7	UnknownError	An unexpected error occurred.
8	ContractNotFound	The contract ID is not recognized.
9	ContractNotActive	The contract is not the currently active contract.
10	AccountRejected	The account is not allowed to place orders.

errorCode 2 covers every validation rejection, including unsupported order type, invalid side or size, an invalid trailPrice, a duplicate customTag, and bracket rules. Always read errorMessage to identify the specific cause.

Example Usage

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Example Request

cURL Request

curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://api.topstepx.com/api/Order/place' \
  -H 'accept: text/plain' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "accountId": 465,
    "contractId": "CON.F.US.DA6.M25",
    "type": 2,
    "side": 1,
    "size": 1,
    "limitPrice": null,
    "stopPrice": null,
    "trailPrice": null,
    "customTag": null,
    "stopLossBracket": {
      "ticks": 10,
      "type": 4
    },
    "takeProfitBracket": {
      "ticks": 20,
      "type": 1
    }
  }'

cURL Request (TrailingStop)

curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://api.topstepx.com/api/Order/place' \
  -H 'accept: text/plain' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "accountId": 465,
    "contractId": "CON.F.US.MCLE.Z26",
    "type": 5,
    "side": 1,
    "size": 1,
    "limitPrice": null,
    "stopPrice": null,
    "trailPrice": 70.44,
    "customTag": null,
    "stopLossBracket": null,
    "takeProfitBracket": null
  }'

Example Response

Success

{
    "orderId": 9056,
    "success": true,
    "errorCode": 0,
    "errorMessage": null
}

Error

{
    "orderId": 9057,
    "success": false,
    "errorCode": 2,
    "errorMessage": "Brackets cannot be used with Position Brackets. You must enable Auto OCO Brackets."
}