Articles on: Trading Essentials

Scaled Ladder orders

The Trading Widget allows Ladder Buy and Sell orders to be placed directly from the Altrady platform. Scaled ladders allow the trader to enter the minimum amount of information to create from 2 to 10 orders at the same time.

While all ladder orders are placed as limit orders, if the order price matches an order already in the Order Book, the order will be filled immediately as a Taker order. This most often occurs when the order price is higher than the current price for a buy order.


Ladder orders enable Buy and Sell orders to be placed in incremental steps, supporting a laddering strategy that gradually enters and exits positions in smaller amounts rather than executing a single, one-time trade.

Contents

How to Set a Scaled Ladder Order

How to Set a Ladder Order using Targets

Things to consider

Ladder orders can be set up in two ways:

  1. Scales: Place the ladder with a predefined distance between orders and size.

Choose the number of orders to be placed, the high and low price, and the type of price and size scaling.

  1. Targets: Set up each order in the ladder manually, adjusting both price and the size.

How to Set a Scaled Ladder Order


  1. First, navigate to the Trading widget and click on the Buy section.

  1. To set a Ladder Buy order, first enter the amount of coins (quote currency, e.g., USDT) to spend, into the position size field.


The example below uses Buy orders, although a Sell ladder order is done in the same way, on the Sell section of the Trading widget.


Position Size can also be set by choosing a percentage of available balance, using the % buttons below the Position Size box, or inputting a percentage manually.Furthermore, the Buy field can be used for buying a specific amount of coins (base currency like BTC). For a Sell order, a Receive box will be there instead, indicating how much quote currency will be received after selling the coins.

  1. Enter the start price into the Start price field. For a buy ladder, this will be the highest price in the ladder. If one or more prices are above the current price and would match orders already in the order book, they will be executed as taker orders.


Bid, Ask, or Last can also be selected under the Start price field. When one of these options is selected, the system automatically fills the start price field with the current bid, ask, or last traded price.Eyedropper tool allows the Start price to be easily configured by choosing the desired price directly on the chart. Simply click on the Eyedropper button next to Start price and then click on the chart.


  1. Enter the end price into the End price field. For a buy ladder, this will be the lowest price in the ladder.


End Price can also be set by selecting Bid, Ask, or Last under the End price field or using the Eyedropper tool, as for the Start Price above.

  1. Select the number of orders for the ladder in the "Orders #" field, from 2 to 10.


  1. Select the price scale, to set the distances between orders within a ladder:


  • Linear
  • Exponential
  • Fibonacci


This is how they would look like on the chart:

  1. Linear (The same distance between each order)
  2. Exponential (Distances becomes increasingly larger)
  3. Fibonacci (Respects the Fibonacci sequence)





  1. Select the size scale, to specify how and whether the sizes of each order should vary. The following patterns are available for size:


  • Equal
  • Linear
  • Linear reverse
  • Exponential
  • Exponential reverse


For all size scales other than Equal, the scaled ladder order sizes might be adjusted so that all orders are greater than the minimum allowable order size for the exchange and pair. This can mean that the pattern is not exact.


  1. Equal Size Scale would have the orders set up like this, all of them would have the same size in quote currency (USDT in this example):


  1. Linear Size Scale increases the order size by the same amount on every step. In the example below, each order is progressively worth 47.81 than the previous order.


  1. As the name suggests - Linear Reverse Size Scale has the same order sizes as Linear, just in reverse. It starts with the largest order, and ends with the smallest.


  1. With Exponential Size Scale, order sizes increase progressively with each step.


  1. Exponential Reverse Size Scale has the same size progression as Exponential, just in reverse.


Reset Form button at the bottom of the Trading Widget is used to clear the fields and start with the order again, if needed.

  1. Click on the Place order button to proceed, and then click Confirm when prompted.


Checking the Auto-confirm orders option (box below the Place Order button) in the Trading Widget will have the orders created as soon as the Place order button is clicked. Corresponding error messages are shown when creating an order fails: Insufficient funds, order size too small, etc. Leaving it unchecked will bring up a Confirmation window before the orders are placed.

How to Set a Ladder Order using Targets

Target ladder orders are used to specify the price and size of each order individually, instead of using a pattern.


  1. To set a Ladder Order with targets, first enter the desired Position Size or the amount of coins to be bought in the Buy field (or Receive field for the Sell orders).

  1. By default, the Trading Widget will automatically draft two targets (entry orders). More can be added manually by clicking on the "+Add target" button in the bottom right. Set the price for orders and the percentage of the position it will contain (size). If it's 50% for a $1000 position size, the order will have a size of $500. To place a single order instead of a ladder, choose either Limit or Market instead of Ladder.

Order price can also be set by using the Eyedropper tool, as shown in Step 2 of Setting the Scaled Ladder above. Additionally, the slider next to Position % can be used to set the order size.To adjust the draft orders price on the chart directly, click on the left side of the order label and drag it.


  1. Ultimately, click on Place Order button once the Ladder has been adjusted, and confirm it in the prompt (if Auto-confirm is enabled, the order will be immediately placed).

Things to consider

  • Using Ladder Size scales that are not Equal, can sometimes create the smallest order to be less than Minimum order size set by exchanges (usually around $5). Check if the smallest order meets the minimum size before placing it, otherwise it can fail to execute.
  • Setting a Buy order above current price for the ladder will cause it to execute immediately, turning it into a Market order, rather than Limit. Market orders incur higher fees. Post only box can be checked in order to cancel the order instead of executing it if it's above current price.
  • A ladder entry order can be combined with exit orders including ladder exits and Stop Loss orders. See the Related Articles below.


How to Place a Limit Order

How to Place a Market Order

Smart Orders: Quick Start Guide

Smart Orders: Take Profit and Exit Ladder

Smart Orders: Stop Loss




Updated on: 04/01/2026

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