Bracket Order
A bracket order is an entry order paired with two protective exit orders — a take-profit above the entry and a stop-loss below it (or the reverse for shorts). The two exits are linked as an OCO group: when one fills, the other automatically cancels.
Why traders use them
A bracket forces risk discipline into the order itself. You can't enter a trade without committing to a stop and a target. There's no "I'll set my stop after the fill" — the stop is placed atomically with the entry.
This matters most for prop firm trading because every account has rules like trailing drawdowns and daily loss limits. A bracket guarantees that even if you walk away from the screen, the worst-case loss is bounded.
How the OCO link works
OCO stands for "one cancels other." When the take-profit fills, the broker automatically cancels the stop-loss. When the stop fills, it cancels the take-profit. Without this link, you'd end up with an orphan order — your TP fills, but your stop sits live as a flat-to-short order.
Most platforms — Tradovate, NinjaTrader 8, MT4/5 — implement OCO natively at the broker level. The bracket isn't two independent orders; it's a managed group.
Where copy trading software gets brackets wrong
The most common failure: the copier mirrors the entry as a market order and then sends TP and SL as two separate orders on the follower — not as an OCO group. When the TP fills, the SL stays live. The follower now has an open short order with no protection.
The second most common failure: the copier doesn't propagate adjustments. You move your stop to break-even on the master. The followers' brackets stay at the original stop. A 2-tick win turns into a 10-tick loss on the followers because they're still wearing the original SL.
Both failures are silent. The follower account looks fine in the moment — the orders are there, the position is filled. The problem reveals itself only when the wrong side of the bracket triggers.
What to look for in a copier
Real OCO bracket support on each follower (not just two independent orders). Mid-trade adjustment propagation (move a stop on master, follower stops move). Per-follower TP/SL offsets if you want each account tuned slightly differently. And partial-fill handling — if your master fills 2 of 3 contracts, the follower's bracket should size to 2 contracts, not 3.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a bracket order and an OCO order?
An OCO (one-cancels-other) is the link between two orders — when one fills, the other cancels. A bracket order is the whole package: an entry plus an OCO pair of exits (take-profit and stop-loss) wrapped around it. Every bracket contains an OCO group, but an OCO group on its own is just two linked orders with no entry attached.
Can I put a bracket on a limit entry, or only a market order?
Both. You can attach the take-profit and stop-loss to a market entry (the bracket arms the moment you're filled) or to a resting limit/stop entry (the exits arm only once the entry triggers). Prop traders often bracket a limit entry so the whole trade — entry, target, and stop — is staged before price arrives.
What happens to my bracket if the entry only partially fills?
On most platforms the protective exits size to whatever quantity actually filled, then adjust as the rest fills. The failure to watch for is a bracket that stays sized to the full order while only part of it is live — you'd be over-protected on one side and exposed on the other. This is exactly the partial-fill handling a good copier has to replicate on each follower.
Do I still need a bracket if I'm watching the screen the whole time?
Yes. A bracket is atomic protection — the stop exists from the instant you're filled, before you can react to a fast move, a platform freeze, or a dropped connection. Manual exits assume you're present, alert, and faster than the market, which is the assumption prop firm rules are designed to punish.
When I copy a bracketed trade, does the follower's bracket appear instantly?
With a copier that handles brackets properly, yes — the entry and its OCO exits are placed together on each follower, and later adjustments (moving a stop to break-even, tightening a target) propagate in real time. PropCopy mirrors brackets as real OCO groups per follower rather than two loose orders, which is what prevents the orphan-stop failure that blows funded accounts.
Related terms
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