Order Types - River Markets

Basic Order Types

Market Order

Executes immediately at the best available price.

Use case: When you need immediate execution and price is less important
Example: Market buy 100 contracts → fills at current best ask price

Limit Order

Rests on the order book at a specified price.

Use case: When you want price control and can wait for execution
Example: Limit buy $100$ @ $0.65$ → only fills at $0.65 or better

Time in Force

IOC : Immediate or Cancel - executes immediately for any available quantity, and cancels any unfilled remainder.
- Example: IOC buy 10 contracts; if only 6 are available now, 6 fill and 4 are canceled.
FOK : Fill-Or-Kill - must be filled completely and immediately, or the entire order is canceled.
- Example: FOK buy 10 contracts; if all 10 cannot fill right now, nothing is executed.
GTD : Good-Till-Date - stays active until a specific date/time, unless filled or canceled earlier.
- Example: GTD limit buy valid until 2026-02-20 15:00 UTC.
GTC : Good-Till-Cancelled - stays active until fully filled or manually canceled (subject to platform-level max lifetime limits).
- Example: Rest a GTC limit order on the book until market reaches your price.

Conditional Order Types

Conditional orders are not placed immediately. They activate (“trigger”) when specific conditions are met.

Stop Orders

Stop orders trigger when price moves to a predefined stop price, using the traded price. On a buy stop order, the order is triggered if someone trades at or above the stop price. On a sell stop order, the order is triggered if someone trades at or below the stop price.

Stop Market
Stop Limit

Triggers when market trades at or through your stop price, then executes as a market order (immediate fill at best available price).

The market is currently trading at $0.70. You want to enter a short position
if the market trades below or at $0.60.
→ Stop Market SELL @ $0.60
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.60
→ Sends market sell order → fills immediately

Triggers when market trades at or through your stop price, then executes as a limit order at your specified limit price.

The market is currently trading at $0.70. You want to enter a short position
if the market trades below or at $0.60, but you don't want to sell at lower
than $0.59.
→ Stop Limit SELL @ $0.60, Limit $0.59
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.60
→ Sends limit sell order @ $0.59 → waits for fill at $0.59 or better

May not fill if price moves too fast through your limit.

Directional logic:

BUY stop: Triggers at or above stop price (breakout entry or short exit)
SELL stop: Triggers at or below stop price (stop loss or long exit)

Reverse Stop Orders

Reverse stop orders trigger when price moves in your desired direction. Used exclusively for take profit scenarios. A “reverse stop” is called “reverse” because it triggers in the opposite direction of a normal stop order.

Reverse Stop Market (TP Market)
Reverse Stop Limit (TP Limit)

Triggers when market trades at or through your target price (opposite direction from normal stop), then executes as a market order.

You're LONG at $0.60, want to take profit if price rises to $0.80
→ TP Market (Reverse Stop Market) SELL @ $0.80
→ Normal stop would trigger BELOW, but reverse stop triggers ABOVE
→ Triggers when price ≥ $0.80
→ Sends market sell order → fills immediately

Triggers when market trades at or through your target price, then executes as a limit order at your specified limit price.

You're LONG at $0.60, want to take profit around $0.80 but not worse than $0.79
→ TP Limit (Reverse Stop Limit) SELL @ $0.80, Limit $0.79
→ Triggers when price ≥ $0.80
→ Sends limit sell order @ $0.79 → waits for fill at $0.79 or better

Directional logic (reversed from normal stop):

BUY reverse stop: Triggers at or below target (opposite of normal buy stop)
SELL reverse stop: Triggers at or above target (opposite of normal sell stop)

Why “reverse”?

Normal SELL stop @ $0.60 triggers when price ≤$ 0.60 (price falling)
SELL reverse stop @ $0.80 triggers when price ≥$ 0.80 (price rising)
The trigger direction is reversed!

Take Profit Orders (TP)

Parent-child orders: Automatically triggers a child order when a parent order fills.

TP Market
TP Limit

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a reverse stop market order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH TP Market @ $0.80
→ When buy fills → immediately activates reverse STOP Market SELL @ $0.80
→ That reverse stop triggers when price ≥ $0.80, and send a sell market order

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a limit order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH TP Limit @ $0.80
→ When buy fills → activates TP Limit SELL
→ Sends limit sell @ $0.80

Stop Loss Orders (SL)

Parent-child orders: Automatically triggers a child order when a parent order fills.

SL Market
SL Limit

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a stop market order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH SL Market @ $0.55
→ When buy fills → immediately activates SL Market SELL @ $0.55
→ That SL Market is a stop order that triggers when price ≤ $0.55
→ That stop triggers when price ≤ $0.55, and send a sell market order

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a stop limit order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH SL Limit @ $0.55 (limit $0.54)
→ When buy fills → activates SL Limit SELL
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.55 → sends limit sell @ $0.54

Algorithmic Order Types

Algorithmic orders execute over time as a sequence of automatically-managed child orders. They live on River’s side, not the exchange’s — a background worker manages the lifecycle and you cancel the parent to cancel everything. Placed via the Complex Orders API.

Iceberg

Splits a large order into smaller tranches so the full size is never visible on the book. Only displayed_qty is posted at any moment; when a tranche fully fills, the next is placed at the same limit_price until total_qty is exhausted. Parameters:

Field	Description
`total_qty`	Total quantity across all tranches
`displayed_qty`	Tranche size — quantity shown to the market at a time
`limit_price`	Static price used for every tranche (between 0 and 1)
`post_only`	If true, every tranche is posted maker-only
`reload_delay_s`	Optional seconds to wait between tranches (0 = immediate)
`expiry_ts_utc`	Optional GTD expiry for every tranche; venue expiry cancels the iceberg

You want to buy 1,000 contracts but don't want to telegraph the size.
→ Iceberg BUY total_qty=1000, displayed_qty=50, limit_price=0.45
→ Tranche 1: post 50 @ $0.45. When filled →
→ Tranche 2: post 50 @ $0.45. When filled → … 20 tranches total.

Child tranches arrive on the orders WebSocket as ordinary order frames — clients can group them by parent_iceberg_order_id if needed.

Peg

Rests a single child order at the top of book and automatically repegs it as the book moves, capped by a worst-price limit. Useful for capturing the spread without manually chasing the market.

Buy peg: rests at the current best bid, repegs up as bids rise, never pays more than max_price (the ceiling).
Sell peg: rests at the current best ask, repegs down as asks fall, never sells below min_price (the floor).

Parameters:

Field	Description
`total_qty`	Total quantity for the peg
`min_price`	Price floor — the child never rests below this (binds sell pegs). Optional; unset floors at 0
`max_price`	Price ceiling — the child never rests above this (binds buy pegs). Optional; unset ceils at 1
`post_only`	If true, a repeg that would cross the book cancels the peg instead of taking
`peg_min_stay_time_s`	Optional minimum seconds the child must rest before a price-driven repeg fires
`max_qty_level`	Penny-jump threshold (contracts). If the level the peg would join holds more than this many contracts, rest one tick tighter instead (if not crossing the book and not already quoting the level).
`expiry_ts_utc`	Optional GTD expiry for the resting child

The best bid is $0.48, best ask is $0.50, you want to buy up to $0.49.
→ Peg BUY total_qty=200, max_price=0.49
→ Post 200 @ $0.48 (top of book)
→ Best bid moves to $0.485 → repeg to $0.485
→ Best bid moves to $0.495 → would exceed max_price → child stays at $0.49
→ Best bid moves to $0.51 → exceeds max, peg cancels (or stays at $0.49 until cancel/expiry)

With max_qty_level=5000:
→ Best bid moves to $0.49 showing 8,000 contracts → rather than joining that
  queue, post 200 @ $0.491 (one tick inside the spread), ahead of the 8,000.

post_only=true is recommended for makers — without it, a fast-moving book could cause a repeg to cross and consume liquidity at your limit price.

Smart Taker

Rests nothing on the book. Instead it watches the opposite side and fires an IOC clip the moment at least min_qty of acceptable liquidity (priced within limit_price) appears, repeating until total_qty is filled. Use it to take size opportunistically — without showing your intent or chasing the market — and only when the fill is worth the taker fee and spread.

Buy smart taker: waits for asks at or below limit_price, then takes up to the available size in a single IOC clip.
Sell smart taker: waits for bids at or above limit_price, then takes.

Parameters:

Field	Description
`total_qty`	Total quantity to take across all clips
`limit_price`	Worst price the taker will cross at (max for buy, min for sell), between 0 and 1
`min_qty`	Book-depth gate: minimum acceptable liquidity resting within `limit_price` before a clip fires. A depth floor on the book, not a per-clip fill floor — it may exceed `total_qty` (e.g. take 100 only when ≥500 is resting)
`expiry_ts_utc`	Optional GTD expiry; on expiry the order is torn down

You want 500 contracts, but only if you can take real size at $0.30 or better.
→ Smart Taker BUY total_qty=500, limit_price=0.30, min_qty=100
→ Book shows 20 @ $0.30 → below min_qty → no clip (don't cross for dust)
→ Liquidity builds to 150 @ $0.30 → fire IOC clip, take 150
→ … repeat until 500 filled or expiry_ts_utc passes.

A smart taker places no order until acceptable liquidity appears — an active smart taker with no fills yet is simply waiting, not stuck. Child IOC clips arrive on the orders WebSocket as ordinary order frames — clients can group them by parent_smart_taker_order_id.

Comparison

Type	Trigger	Execution	Primary Use
Market	Immediate	Best price	Need immediate fill
Limit	Rests on book	At limit or better	Price control
Stop Market	Price moves against	Market order	Stop loss, breakout
Stop Limit	Price moves against	Limit order	Stop loss with price protection
TP Market	Parent fills + price moves for	Market via reverse stop	Take profit
TP Limit	Parent fills + price moves for	Limit via reverse stop	Take profit with control
SL Market	Parent fills + price moves against	Market via stop	Stop loss from entry
SL Limit	Parent fills + price moves against	Limit via stop	Stop loss with price floor
Iceberg	Immediate (per tranche)	Sequential limit tranches	Hide size on a large order
Peg	Tracks top of book	Resting limit, auto-repegged	Capture the spread up to a limit
Smart Taker	Liquidity ≥ `min_qty` within limit	IOC clips, nothing resting	Take size opportunistically without showing

Key Concepts

Stop vs Reverse Stop

Stop: Triggers when price moves AGAINST you (exit losses, enter breakouts)
Reverse Stop: Triggers when price moves FOR you (take profits)

Parent-Child Orders

TP/SL orders are “meta-orders” that activate child orders when a parent fills
The child order itself is usually a stop or reverse stop order
This creates a two-step process: Parent fill → Child activation → Price trigger → Execution

Trigger Direction Summary

Side	Stop (Loss/Breakout)	Reverse Stop (Profit)
BUY	Triggers ≥ stop price	Triggers ≤ target price
SELL	Triggers ≤ stop price	Triggers ≥ target price

​Basic Order Types

​Market Order

​Limit Order

​Time in Force

​Conditional Order Types

​Stop Orders

​Reverse Stop Orders

​Take Profit Orders (TP)

​Stop Loss Orders (SL)

​Algorithmic Order Types

​Iceberg

​Peg

​Smart Taker

​Comparison

​Key Concepts

​Stop vs Reverse Stop

​Parent-Child Orders

​Trigger Direction Summary

Basic Order Types

Market Order

Limit Order

Time in Force

Conditional Order Types

Stop Orders

Reverse Stop Orders

Take Profit Orders (TP)

Stop Loss Orders (SL)

Algorithmic Order Types

Iceberg

Peg

Smart Taker

Comparison

Key Concepts

Stop vs Reverse Stop

Parent-Child Orders

Trigger Direction Summary