Open DXtrade and find the contract you want to trade. The fastest way is the search bar at the top. Type the symbol (ES for E-mini S&P 500, NQ for E-mini Nasdaq-100, MES for the Micro version) and press Enter.

You can also find symbols in the Watchlist panel, which shows the contracts you follow at a glance.

Click the symbol. The chart and the order ticket update to that contract.

Before you set quantity, know your ceiling.

Max Trade Loss: 1.5% of the account size (2% on Thunderbolt Legacy) on any single open trade. That is the most a position can be down at once.

This is a hard rule. If a single trade is ever down more than the limit, the account is breached and terminated automatically, even if it is profitable overall. Size so your stop loss keeps you inside it. Adding to the same contract in the same direction counts as one trade, so your combined size on that contract is what has to stay inside the limit.

Example on a $50,000 account: 1.5% is $750 (on Legacy, 2% is $1,000). That is your stop budget for the whole position, and the contract you pick decides how much room it buys you.

A stop wider than 60 ticks on 1 ES puts you over the limit. The Micro gives the same dollars far more room. Pick the contract and quantity that fit your stop, not the other way around.

Quantity on DXtrade is set in contracts (not lots). 1 means one ES, 5 means five MES, and so on.

A market order fills immediately at the current best price. It is the fastest way to enter a position.

The ticket shows the margin impact before you send. The order fills within a fraction of a second on a normal connection, and your position appears in the Positions panel below the chart.

Note: if one-click trading is toggled on, clicking Buy or Sell fires a market order instantly with no ticket. Turn it off while you are learning.

A limit order waits for the market to reach your price before filling. Use this when you want to enter at a better price than the current market.

The order sits in the order book until either the market hits your price or you cancel it. Pending orders appear in the Orders panel.

DXtrade also offers Stop and Stop Limit orders for breakout entries and protective exits. A Stop guarantees a fill but not a price, a Stop Limit guarantees a price but not a fill. See the order types article for the full breakdown.

Most traders set their stop loss and take profit at the same time as the entry. On DXtrade these are the Protection Orders on the order ticket.

You can define each protection level by price, by ticks, or by projected loss or profit in dollars. Both protective orders attach automatically to the position. If either one triggers, the position closes and the other cancels.

You can also add or change a stop loss and take profit on an open position. Set them inline in the Positions panel, or double-click the order line on the chart and drag the levels.

Once the order fills, the trade shows in the Positions panel with the symbol, side, quantity, fill price, current price, stop loss, take profit, used margin, and live P&L. This is where you monitor and manage every open trade.

Three ways to close.

Click the close button. The fastest. In the Positions panel, click the close button next to the position. The trade exits at market. To flatten everything at once, use the close-all button at the top-right of the panel.

Use a closing order. Place a manual sell order if you are long, or a buy order if you are short, with the same quantity. The orders net out and the position closes.

Hit your stop loss or take profit. If you set them when you opened the trade, they handle the exit automatically.

For active traders, the Depth of Market (DOM) panel is the fastest way to trade. It shows live exchange order depth (Level II): a price ladder with resting bids on one side and asks on the other, the number of contracts waiting at each level, and your own orders and open position marked against price.

Your resting orders appear alongside the ladder and can be modified or cancelled straight from it.

For a deeper walkthrough, read Reading the DOM (Depth of Market).

Wrong direction. You meant to short and you bought instead. Always double-check the side (Buy or Sell) before clicking.

Wrong quantity. You meant 1 contract and you typed 10. The quantity field defaults to your last value. Always verify it before placing the order, and remember the max trade loss scales with quantity.

Wrong contract month. You are trading the back month instead of the front month. Always check the symbol in the order ticket. The front month has the highest volume. See Contract expirations and rollovers for more.

No stop loss. Trading without a stop is gambling, not trading. Always set one. A single trade that runs past the max trade loss is an automatic hard breach that terminates the account, so a stop protects both the trade and your challenge.

Market or limit, which should I use?

Use a market order when getting in now matters more than the exact price. Use a limit order when you want a specific price or better and are willing to wait, accepting that it may not fill.

Can I add a stop loss after I am already in the trade?

Yes. Set it inline in the Positions panel, or double-click the order line on the chart and drag the level. There is no reason to sit in a trade without a stop.

Price hit my limit but I did not get filled. Why?

A limit fills only when there is enough resting volume at your price (or better) to fill your full quantity. If the market only trades a few contracts at your level and moves on, your order can be skipped. Price touching your level does not guarantee a fill.

What is the most I can lose on one trade?

1.5% of your account size (2% on Thunderbolt Legacy), the Max Trade Loss, on any single open trade. On a $50,000 account that is $750 ($1,000 on Legacy). This is a hard rule: crossing it is an automatic breach that terminates the account, even when you are profitable overall. Size your contracts and stop so a single trade never crosses it.

DXtrade is built for speed. Find your contract, size it inside the max trade loss, set your stop, click. Once you know the ticket, an order takes only a few seconds to place.

Start small while you learn the platform. Get comfortable with the order ticket, the Positions panel, and the DOM, then scale your size up as your edge demands.

Questions? Start a chat with us from the help center and our team will help.