Robinhood Stop Limit Order: How to Set One, Where to Price It, and Why It Doesn't Fill (2026 Guide)

A Robinhood stop limit order is two prices on one ticket. When the stock trades at your stop price, Robinhood sends a limit order, and that limit order can only fill at your limit price or better. To place one in the app, open the stock's detail page, tap Trade, choose Buy or Sell, and pick Stop limit order from the order type menu.

The ticket takes about thirty seconds to fill in. The expensive mistakes come later: a limit price set too close to the stop, a stock that opens 8% lower after earnings, an order placed at 9 p.m. that waits for the next morning without telling you. This guide covers the app steps, then how to price the two numbers, what happens on a gap, and the rules for options, crypto, and the newer take profit / stop loss order.

How a Robinhood stop limit order works

Robinhood's stop limit order article describes it as a stop order and a limit order stacked together. The stop price is the trigger. Until the stock reaches it, nothing is sent to the market and the order sits as pending. The limit price is the worst price you will accept once the trigger fires.

For a sell, both prices sit below the current market. Robinhood's own example: YOWL trades at $10, you set a stop at $8 and a limit at $7.95. If YOWL falls to $8 or lower, Robinhood sends a sell limit order that fills only at $7.95 or higher. If YOWL never touches $8, you keep your shares.

For a buy, both prices sit above the market. With YOWL at $5, a stop at $8 and a limit at $8.05 buys only if YOWL reaches $8, and only at $8.05 or lower. This is the breakout version, covered in depth in our guide to the buy stop limit order.

Two things follow from the design, and Robinhood states both. A fill is never guaranteed: the order needs someone on the other side at your limit price, so it can fill partially or not at all. And a short price swing can trigger the stop and then leave the limit order behind if price moves past it before anyone trades with you.

That second point is the whole tradeoff. A plain stop order (what most people call a stop loss) becomes a market order when triggered and gets you out at whatever price is available. FINRA's investor note on stop orders uses a $50 stop to make the point: in a fast market, that sale can execute well below $50. A stop limit order removes that risk and replaces it with a different one, the chance that you are not out at all.

How to place a stop limit order on Robinhood, step by step

In the Robinhood app, the path is the same for any stock or ETF you can trade there. Robinhood's order types article gives the first four steps; the rest is the ticket itself.

1. Go to the stock's detail page (search the ticker or tap it in your positions).
2. Tap Trade.
3. Choose Sell to protect a position you own, or Buy to enter on a breakout.
4. Open the order type menu and choose Stop limit order.
5. Enter the stop price. For a sell it must be below the current price; for a buy, above it.
6. Enter the limit price. For a sell, set it at or below the stop; for a buy, at or above it.
7. Enter the number of shares.
8. Choose how long the order lasts: good for day, which expires at the close, or good till canceled.
9. Review the order and swipe up to submit.

Once submitted, the order lives under Account, then History, then Pending until it triggers, fills, expires, or you cancel it.

On Robinhood Legend, the desktop platform, you can work from the chart. The Legend trading article says to select the + icon on the right side of the chart and choose Buy stop above the current price or Sell stop below it, or right-click a point on the chart for the same menu. The order form opens at the price you clicked, and you can edit the type and prices before sending. On the ladder widget, the STP button starts a stop order, and dragging a pending order's STP or LMT marker cancels it and replaces it at the new price.

One Legend setting needs care: auto-send, the lightning bolt icon. With it on, orders go out after standard checks with no confirmation screen. Robinhood warns that this raises the chance of an accidental trade, and a mis-clicked stop on a chart is exactly that kind of trade.

If you only need a basic exit and do not care about a price floor, the same menu has Stop order and Trailing stop order. The section on choosing between them comes after the pricing.

Where to put the stop price and the limit price

The app takes any numbers you type. Neither number comes from the app; both come from the chart and from your position size.

The stop price belongs where your reason for owning the stock stops being true. For most swing trades that is just beyond a level the chart already shows: under the last higher low in an uptrend, under a support zone that has held two or three times, or under the low of the breakout candle. Our guide on where to place a stop loss walks through each of those placements. A round-number stop like "10% below my entry" ignores the chart, and a stop placed exactly on an obvious level tends to get hit by the ordinary noise around that level.

The limit price is the number people get wrong. Robinhood's options stop limit article says it outright: setting the limit equal to the stop can leave the order unfilled in a fast or trending market, and a more aggressive limit, further from the stop, makes a fill more likely at a possibly worse price. The same logic applies to stocks. A sell stop at $48.40 with a limit at $48.40 only fills if a buyer is still there at $48.40 after the trigger, and in a selloff, buyers step back.

A workable way to set the gap: look at how far the stock typically moves in a few minutes on a bad day, and put the limit at least that far below the stop. A liquid large-cap that rarely jumps more than a few cents between prints can use a narrow gap. A small-cap that skips 20 or 30 cents at a time needs a wider one. Treat that as a starting point you check against the stock's own chart; no single percentage fits every name.

Then size the position from the worst case. If you hold 40 shares bought at $52.00, a stop at $48.40 risks $144 if it fills right at the stop, and a limit at $47.90 means the worst filled exit costs $164. That $164 is the number to compare with your account. Our risk management guide explains why most traders cap it at around 1% of the account per trade. Neither number covers the case where the order does not fill at all, which is the next section.

What happens when the stock gaps past your limit

Here is the same position worked through a bad earnings night. The numbers are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics.

You hold 40 shares bought at $52.00. You have a good till canceled sell stop limit with the stop at $48.40 and the limit at $47.90. The stock drifts down over a few sessions and closes at $48.90 the day before earnings. After the report, it opens at $45.10.

At the open, the stop triggers, because $45.10 is below $48.40. Robinhood sends a sell limit order at $47.90. Nobody will pay $47.90 for a stock trading at $45.10, so the order sits there unfilled. You still own 40 shares, now down $276, and the order that was supposed to protect you is a limit order far above the market. If the stock keeps sliding to $42.00, the open loss is $400.

Line chart of an illustrative stock price over eight points: $52.00 at entry, sliding to $51.40, $50.20, $49.10 and a $48.90 close before earnings, then gapping to $45.10 at the next open and trading at $44.60, $45.80 and $46.40. Dashed lines mark the $52.00 entry, the $48.40 stop price and the $47.90 limit price. Price jumps from above the stop to below the limit with no trades in between, so the sell stop limit triggers but cannot fill.

With a plain stop order at $48.40 instead, the trigger at the open sends a market order, and you sell somewhere near $45.10. You take the $276 loss, but you are flat, and whatever the stock does next is no longer your problem. On an orderly slide through $48.40 with no gap, the two orders behave almost the same: the stop limit fills near $48.40 and the stop market fills a few cents lower.

Bar chart of the loss on 40 shares bought at $52.00 under five illustrative outcomes. Orderly slide, stop market order: $146 loss. Orderly slide, stop limit order: $144 loss. Gap to $45.10, stop market order: $276 loss, position closed. Gap to $45.10, stop limit order unfilled: $276 open loss, position still held. Same unfilled stop limit after the stock slides to $42.00: $400 open loss.

So the practical rule: a stop limit order suits a position you are watching, in a stock that trades smoothly, on days without a scheduled event. Into earnings, an FDA date, or a stock that halts often, a stop limit can leave you holding the exact risk you meant to cap. If you hold a stop limit through an event anyway, know that you may have to sell by hand at the open.

Stop limit vs stop order vs trailing stop on Robinhood

For stocks and ETFs, Robinhood offers market, limit, stop, stop limit, take profit / stop loss, and trailing stop orders. The three that work as a stop loss differ in one way each.

The trailing stop article uses a 5% trail: with YOWL at $100 the stop starts at $95, rises to $104.50 when YOWL reaches $110, and stays there if YOWL falls. A drop to $104.50 sends a market sell. Because it ends in a market order, a trailing stop shares the gap risk of a plain stop. Our trailing stop loss guide covers how wide to set the trail.

FINRA takes a position on the choice between the first two. Its Regulatory Notice 16-19, which covers stop orders in volatile markets, told firms to consider making stop limit orders the default type of stop and to warn customers that a stop price is not a guaranteed execution price. Its investor note suggests a stop limit when hitting a target price matters more to you than getting out immediately. That is the honest framing: there is no safe choice, only a choice about which failure you would rather live with.

Why your Robinhood stop limit order did not fill or did not trigger

"Does the stop/limit order on Robinhood sometimes not trigger?" is a real question on r/Daytrading, from a trader who watched a stock drop through their stop and limit twice and snap back, then cancelled and sold by hand. The answer depends on which of these happened.

The market was closed. Robinhood's extended-hours article is explicit: stop orders do not execute during extended or overnight hours, and stop limit and stop loss orders placed in those windows are queued for the next trading day's regular open. Trailing stops follow the same rule. Robinhood's sessions are 7 to 9:30 a.m. ET premarket, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. regular, 4 to 8 p.m. after hours, and 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. overnight. A stock can fall through your stop at 6 p.m. on an earnings release and your order will do nothing until 9:30 the next morning, when the gap has already happened.

Price jumped past the limit. The gap case above. The stop triggered, the limit order went out, and no trade happened at your price or better. Check the order status in History: a triggered but unfilled stop limit shows as an open limit order.

It filled partially. Robinhood notes that a stop limit can fill in pieces. If 200 shares were available at your limit and you were selling 500, you may hold 300 shares with the rest of the order still working.

It was rejected or cancelled. Robinhood's order rejection article lists the stop-specific causes. A stop set at the current price is rejected. A stop that would execute immediately, such as a sell stop above the current price, is rejected. An order can be cancelled if price moves far from your stop or limit and the order is then seen as too aggressive. If the stock does a reverse split, Robinhood cancels all open orders, so a GTC stop you set months ago can be gone without you touching it. GTC buy orders can also be cancelled when the account lacks the buying power to support them.

It expired. A good for day order dies at the close. Robinhood documents a 90 calendar day limit for good till canceled limit orders, and FINRA's notice says firms may cap GTC stop and stop limit orders at 90 days as well. Check the expiration shown on your pending order before you assume a stop from last quarter is still live.

The stop price was never reached. A stock that came within a cent of your stop did not trigger it. Robinhood's stock article does not spell out whether the trigger is the last trade or the quote (for options it is the quote, covered below), and different chart sources can show slightly different intraday lows, so a low you saw on another app may not match what Robinhood used.

Stop limit orders on Robinhood options

Options on Robinhood take limit, stop limit, and stop market orders, with no trailing stop. The trigger works differently from stocks, and Robinhood's options article spells it out: a sell stop limit triggers when the ask falls to your stop price, and a buy stop limit triggers when the bid rises to your stop price.

That detail matters on contracts with wide spreads. Say you bought a call at $3.20 and set a sell stop limit with the stop at $2.00 and the limit at $1.80. If the quote drops to $1.70 bid and $2.00 ask, the ask has touched your stop and the order triggers. Your limit sell at $1.80 now sits above the $1.70 bid, so nothing fills unless a buyer raises their bid. On a thinly traded strike, the spread alone can trigger your order and leave it unfilled. The example is illustrative; the mechanics come from Robinhood's description of the trigger.

Two more options rules from the same article. If the market is closed, the order waits for the open, and options stop orders do not execute in extended hours. And a limit price further from the stop raises the chance of a fill, the same tradeoff as with stocks, magnified by the wider spreads on most contracts. For short-dated options that can lose half their value in an hour, a stop limit with a narrow gap is often a stop that will not save you.

Stop limit orders on Robinhood crypto

Robinhood's crypto trading article lists market, limit, stop, and stop limit orders for crypto. Crypto trades around the clock on Robinhood, with exceptions for scheduled maintenance, so a crypto stop limit can trigger at 3 a.m. on a Sunday without waiting for any open. That cuts both ways: no overnight gap from a closed market, but no pause either.

Crypto stop orders are not pure market orders. Robinhood converts market orders on crypto into limit orders buffered up to 1% for buys and 5% for sells, and a stop order uses the same buffer when it triggers. Market orders that do not execute within 2 minutes may be cancelled. A crypto stop limit gives you a hard limit that you choose, which on a fast-moving coin can mean no fill, the same tradeoff as stocks.

On the crypto ladder view, where available, you tap a price level and pick LMT or STP. With auto-send on, the order goes out immediately, so check the price level before you tap.

The take profit / stop loss order

Robinhood added an order that pairs an exit target with a stop. Per its take profit / stop loss article, it places two linked orders to close an existing stock or ETF position: a limit order for the take profit and a stop order for the stop loss. When one leg fully fills, the other is cancelled.

Some limits worth knowing before you rely on it:

• The stop leg is a stop order, so it becomes a market order when triggered and can fill below your stop. There is no stop limit version of this pairing.
• It works with whole shares only, and only for stocks and ETFs. Options, crypto, and futures are excluded.
• Each price must be at least 0.25% from the last trade, and the two prices at least $0.10 apart.
• You cannot edit it. To change the prices or quantity, cancel and place a new one.
• Robinhood warns that both legs can execute in a fast market, because cancellation is not instant, which could sell more shares than you hold or open a position in the other direction.
• Orders placed outside market hours wait for the open.

If you want a hard price floor on the exit, place a separate stop limit order and manage the profit target yourself. If you want a guaranteed exit attempt plus a target, the paired order does that in one ticket.

Changing or canceling a stop limit order

To cancel, go to Account, then History, then Pending, select the order, and choose Cancel order. Robinhood's cancel and replace article says you can replace only a pending stop order or limit order, with a new order of the same type, and only in the app. It does not say stop limit orders can be replaced, so the reliable way to move one is to cancel it, confirm the cancel went through, and enter a new order.

Timing matters around the open. For Nasdaq stocks, regular-hours GTC and good for day orders cannot be cancelled or replaced between 9:25 and 9:30 a.m. ET; they stay pending into the opening cross. If you want to pull a stop before a known gap, do it before 9:25. During a trading halt, cancel requests are not processed until the halt lifts.

On buy stops, Robinhood reserves extra buying power: an additional 5% for good for day orders entered during market hours and 10% for other orders, more during extreme volatility. A buy stop limit that looks affordable can still be rejected for buying power.

Common mistakes

• Setting the limit equal to the stop. It feels precise and fails in exactly the fast move you wanted protection from. Leave a gap sized to how the stock actually moves.
• Holding a stop limit through earnings. The gap case is the most common way a stop limit fails. Decide before the report whether you will hold, cut size, or use a stop market order.
• Assuming the stop works after hours. On Robinhood it does not. An evening drop reaches your order at 9:30 the next morning.
• Forgetting about expirations and corporate actions. GTC orders expire, and a reverse split cancels every open order. Check your pending list after either.
• Pricing from a percentage. A stop 10% below entry ignores the chart. Put it where the setup is wrong, then size the position so that loss is acceptable.
• Using a narrow gap on illiquid options. The ask can trigger the order while the bid sits below your limit, and the order rests unfilled while the contract decays.

Frequently asked questions

Does a Robinhood stop limit order work after hours? No. Robinhood says stop orders do not execute during extended or overnight sessions. A stop limit placed or triggered in those windows waits for the next regular open at 9:30 a.m. ET. Crypto is the exception, because it trades around the clock.

Does the stop limit order on Robinhood sometimes not trigger? It triggers only when the stock reaches your stop price during regular hours. If it triggered and still did not sell, price moved past your limit before a buyer appeared. Check History: a triggered, unfilled order shows as a working limit order.

What is the difference between a stop loss and a stop limit on Robinhood? A stop order (stop loss) becomes a market order at the trigger and sells at the best available price, which can be far below the stop. A stop limit becomes a limit order and sells only at your limit or better, which can mean not selling at all. Our stop loss meaning guide covers the general mechanics.

How far below the stop should the limit be? Far enough that a normal fast move does not skip it. For a liquid large-cap that may be a few cents; for a volatile small-cap or an option with a wide spread, it may be much more. Check the stock's recent intraday moves and set the gap wider than its typical quick swing.

Can I set a stop limit on fractional shares? Robinhood's stop limit article does not address fractional shares, and fractional orders have their own cancel restrictions. Check the order ticket in the app for the specific stock before relying on a stop for a fractional position.

Is a stop limit order safer than a stop order? Each is safer against a different failure. A stop limit protects you from a terrible fill; a stop order protects you from not getting out. FINRA suggests a stop limit when the price matters more to you than immediate execution.

How long does a good till canceled stop limit last on Robinhood? Robinhood documents 90 calendar days for GTC limit orders, and FINRA allows firms to cap GTC stops at 90 days. The expiration is shown on the pending order, so check it there.

From the chart to the order ticket

Robinhood will run a stop limit order exactly as you write it, and it has no opinion about whether $48.40 is a sensible stop for your stock. That number comes from the chart: the last higher low, the support zone, the level where your trade idea stops being true. Other brokers work the same way, as our comparison of the best apps for stop losses and the Schwab stop loss guide show.

Quant AI reads a chart screenshot and marks the support and resistance levels it finds, which gives you a starting point for where the stop belongs and how far the stock has room to move. It cannot tell you whether the stock will gap, and it does not place orders. You still pick the limit, size the position, and decide whether to hold through the event.