Automating Exits & Management
Opening a trade is only half the job — the other half is getting out at the right time. VolNinja can manage and close a position for you, so you don't have to watch the screen. There are two distinct mechanisms for this, and understanding the difference is the whole point of this article.
- Management rules run inside the app: when a condition you set becomes true, VolNinja acts.
- Standing orders live at your broker: real stop/limit orders that Interactive Brokers enforces on its own.
They're complementary: you can pair a broker-side standing order as a hard safety net with app-side management rules for everything nuanced.
Management rules (app-side)
A management rule is a condition paired with an action. While VolNinja is running, it watches your open positions, and when a rule's condition is met — a profit target, a time of day, a price level — it performs the action:
- Close Position — exit the whole position, or just a percentage of it (scale out).
- Close Leg — take off a single leg (e.g. buy back the tested side of a strangle).
- Roll Leg — close a leg and reopen it at a new strike; see Rolling a leg.
- Open Position — add to or leg into the trade.
Each closing action can execute as a Peg to Mid (worked order) or a Market Order. Because rules are condition-driven, they're how you express things like "take profit at 50%" or "close half if it doubles." The conditions themselves — profit %, time, price, and more — use the shared editor explained in Rules and conditions.
Important
Management rules act only while VolNinja is running. If the app or your machine is offline, no management rule can fire. For protection that holds regardless, use a standing order.
Standing orders (broker-side)
A standing order is a real order submitted to Interactive Brokers when the position opens, and enforced by the broker itself — so it works even if VolNinja, or your whole machine, is offline. It's your always-on safety net.
You pick the order type — Stop (STP), Limit (LMT), or Stop-Limit (STP_LMT) — whether it covers the whole position (combo) or a single leg, and the trigger price (as a percent of your entry, an absolute price, or a premium multiple). From then on it sits at the broker, waiting.
The trade-off: a standing order is simple and always-on, but it's a fixed price trigger — it can't react to conditions the way an app-side rule can.
Which should you use?
| Management rules | Standing orders | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | In the app, while it's on | At your broker, always |
| Survives the app being offline | No | Yes |
| Triggered by | Any condition (P&L, time, price…) | A price trigger |
| Best for | Profit-taking, scaling, rolling, nuanced exits | A hard stop / safety net |
They're complementary, not either/or. You can combine them — a broker-side stop as a floor that always holds, plus app-side rules that take profit and adjust while the app runs.
Where you set them
Both live in the same two places:
- On a template, so every position it opens inherits them from the start — see Management rules and Standing orders.
- On a single open position, added after the fact from its details — see Automating a position.
To have automation open and close across templates on its own — not just manage one position — use a strategy, covered in Running a strategy.
Warning
Automated exits place real orders. In LIVE mode they use real money, and a standing order goes to your broker the moment the position opens. Prove your rules in Paper first, and never submit test orders while you are in live mode — see Paper vs live.