Risks
Hargreaves Lansdown cannot guarantee that your stop loss or limit order will be executed, even if the share price reaches the limit price or stop price you have set. If you are not comfortable with this, you should not use this service.
After the share price reaches the limit price or stop price you set we will attempt to place your deal in the market. However, share prices can change in seconds and if a share price has moved by the time we attempt to place your deal it may not be executed at the price you have set, or at all.
Limit orders - If the bid price is lower than your sell limit price or the offer price is higher than your buy limit price when we attempt to place your deal, it will not be dealt and your limit order will remain pending until it is successfully executed or expires.
Stop loss orders - If the bid price is higher than your stop loss price when we attempt to place your deal, it will not be dealt and your stop loss order will remain pending until it is successfully executed or expires. However where, on occasion, we are able to obtain an improvement on that bid price though our Price Improver service we may execute your order at a price above your stop loss price.
If the bid price is lower than your stop loss price when we attempt to place your deal, we will continue to place your deal at the lower price. In some cases a share price that is falling could gap, for example moving straight from £1.20 to £0.90; if a stop price was set at £1.19 the shares would still be sold at £0.90.
There are a number of other factors that could prevent your order being executed even if the limit or stop price is reached.