The Order Review: Before the Open

Most risk plans are written for the trade the trader intends to take. The order review is about the trades the broker might take on the trader’s behalf — the working orders, brackets and stops that are already in the market before the open.

A working ladder can fill into a position the trader did not intend, at a size that breaches the cap, with no stop attached. The order review is the five-minute check that prevents that.

This guide covers the questions to ask, the arithmetic to check and the output to produce. It is the companion to The 1% Rule and the Daily Loss Limit and The AI-Assisted Trading Plan.

The plan is what you intend. The order review is what the platform will actually do.

Why Working Orders Deserve Their Own Review

A plan is written in the evening or the morning. Orders may have been placed days ago and left working. By the time the session opens, the market has moved, the levels have changed and the plan may have a different bias.

Three common failures:

The orphaned order. A limit order from a previous plan fills in a direction the trader no longer wants.
The unprotected ladder. Several orders can fill into a position, but only one has a stop — or none does.
The hidden aggregate. Each ticket looks small, but the total possible fill exceeds the position cap or the risk budget.

The order review exists to catch these before the market does.

The Six Questions

1. Does The Order Match The Plan?

For each order, name the scenario it belongs to. If it does not belong to a scenario in today’s plan, it is either a leftover to cancel or a new plan to write. “I think it might work” is not a scenario.

2. Is There A Stop Attached?

Every order that can open a position needs a stop. A limit order below the market that fills on continuation is a long; if it has no stop, the trader has an unbounded risk by design. The platform may support an attached stop, an OCO bracket or a separate stop order. Use one of them.

3. Is The Stop Beyond The Structure?

A stop inside the last swing is stop-run bait. A stop at a round number chosen for comfort is not a structural stop. Check that the stop is beyond the level the trade is defending, and that it matches the invalidation in the plan.

4. Is The Target At Least 2R?

If the first target is nearer than the stop, the trade has inverted reward-to-risk. The direction may be right, but the trade is not worth the risk. Either find a farther target with a clear path, or skip the trade.

5. Is The Size Within The Cap And The Risk Budget?

Add up the maximum possible fill, not the size of each ticket. A ladder of 4 + 2 + 2 can fill eight in one account. Check the position cap per account and the aggregate across accounts. Then check the risk: if every order filled and every stop hit, what is the total loss? If it exceeds the daily limit, the ladder is too large.

6. What If Every Order Filled?

This is the stress test. If all working orders fill, what is the position, the average price, the stop and the total risk? If the answer is a position the trader would never have chosen consciously, the ladder is wrong.

The Output

The order review should produce a short list of required changes, not a commentary.

Order	Current	Required change
Buy limit 1	Price, size	Keep / cancel / reduce to N
Buy limit 2	Price, size	Keep / cancel / reduce to N
Sell stop	Price, size	Keep / move to X / cancel
Protective stop	Missing	Attach before the open
Aggregate	N contracts	Reduce to the cap

The list should be blunt. “Reduce the 4-lot to 2 lots, move the stop to 29,591, cancel both buy limits if flat.” Not “consider reviewing the ladder.”

A Worked Example

The following is a synthetic example using MNQ to show the arithmetic. It is not a trade recommendation.

A trader has three working orders in one account:

Buy stop 4 at 29,587.50 (above the market).
Buy limit 2 at 29,471.25 (below the market).
Buy limit 2 at 29,444.50 (below the market).

The plan is bearish; the trader intended a short bracket. The ladder reads as a short bracket: buy-to-cover limits below, buy stop above. But without an accounts dashboard, the position is unknown.

The review:

If the book is short 4: the buy stop at 29,587.50 is the protective stop. It is 47.5 points above the last print. At $2 per point and 4 contracts, that is 47.5 × $2 × 4 = $380. On a $10,000 account, that is 3.8% — a breach of the 1% rule. The stop should be moved to a structural level and the size reduced. The buy limits below are targets; keep them.
If the book is flat or long: the buy stop is a breakout entry into a counter-trend move, and the buy limits below are averaging-down orders. Cancel the limits; reduce the stop size or cancel the breakout.
The aggregate: if everything fills, the position is 8 contracts. That exceeds a five-contract cap. At least three contracts must be canceled or never fill.

The output:

“Cut the account’s ladder to five contracts: reduce the 4-lot to 2 lots unless the account is ≥$38k, move the stop to 29,591 (beyond the swing high), keep the 29,471.25 limit as T1, and cancel both buy limits if not already short.”

The example shows why the review matters: the same ladder is reasonable in one book and dangerous in another. The order review is not about the orders in isolation; it is about the position they imply.

Where AI Fits

AI can check the arithmetic and flag inconsistencies if you give it the order list and the plan. It cannot see the live order book, the position or the account state unless you provide them, and it cannot place or cancel orders.

A safe prompt:

“Here is my plan and my working order list. For each order, tell me whether it matches a scenario, whether it has a stop, whether the stop is beyond the structure, whether the target is at least 2R, whether the size is within the cap, and what the total position and risk would be if every order filled. Return a list of required changes.”

Then verify every order in the broker platform. The model is a checklist, not an execution system.

Common Mistakes

Reviewing the orders without the plan.
Checking each ticket but not the aggregate.
Assuming a stop exists because the platform shows a risk tag.
Leaving a stop inside the last swing.
Keeping a limit order that would average down into a loser.
Using a position cap per ticket instead of per account.
Forgetting the correlated accounts.
Placing the review after the open instead of before it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is An Order Review?

A pre-open check of every working order against the plan, the risk budget and the position cap. It produces a list of required changes before the market can fill the orders.

How Often Should I Do It?

Every session, before the open. If you trade overnight or across sessions, review whenever the plan or the market context changes.

What If I Have No Working Orders?

Then the review is a check that nothing is left over from a previous plan. It takes one minute and prevents the orphaned order.

Should I Review Orders In Every Account?

Yes. The position cap applies per account, but the risk is aggregate. Check the tightest account and the total exposure.

Can AI Place Or Cancel Orders?

It should not. AI can check the list, but execution belongs in the broker platform and the decision belongs to the trader.

What If The Stop Is Missing?

Attach one before the open. A position without a stop is not a plan; it is an exposure.

What Is The Difference Between A Stop And An Invalidation?

The stop is the order that exits the trade at a price. The invalidation is the condition that says the scenario is dead, which may be a close below a level rather than a stop price. The two should be consistent.

Sources

CME Group, Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) contract specifications: $2 per point, 0.25-point tick = $0.50. Used for the synthetic example only; verify current specifications with the exchange.
Barber, B. M., and Odean, T. (2000), “Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth,” Journal of Finance, 55(2), 773–806. Overconfidence and excessive trading are associated with worse net returns.
NIST, Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), for the human-review principle.

No statistic in this article is invented. Verify figures against the primary source before republication.

Trading involves substantial risk of loss. This article is educational information, not financial, investment, legal or tax advice, and it is not a personal recommendation or solicitation. The example is synthetic and illustrative. AI output can be inaccurate or incomplete; every order, stop and size must be verified by the trader in the broker platform. Past performance and backtests do not guarantee future results.