Force open is an order instruction that tells your broker or platform to open a brand new position in a market, even if you already hold an opposite or same-direction position that would normally be netted off. It is common on CFD, spread betting and options platforms.
Without this instruction, many systems automatically combine or offset positions in the same instrument. Force open prevents that, so the new trade stands on its own with its own size, entry price, stop and limit.
Where you see force open and what it changes
On most platforms that use netting, placing an opposite trade would usually reduce or close your existing position by the corresponding size. A force open tick box, toggle or flag overrides that default. You end up holding multiple separate lines in the same market, often one long and one short, sometimes several at different sizes and prices.
You will mainly come across it in markets traded as a derivative, for example equity index CFDs, FX pairs, commodities and listed options. It also appears on some platforms that normally allow only a single net position per instrument. Behaviour varies by provider, so the precise rules for grouping or separating trades can differ.
What happens without force open
Consider a simple case. You are long 2 contracts of a gold CFD. You decide to sell 1 contract to trade a short-term pullback. If you leave force open unticked on a netting account, that sell order will reduce your long from 2 to 1. You have not opened a short, you have only cut your existing long. Any realised profit or loss on the closed portion is booked immediately, and you are left with one remaining long.
With force open selected, the same sell order opens a separate short of 1 contract rather than reducing your long. You now have two live trades in the same market, one long 2 and one short 1. Your net exposure is long 1, but you can manage each leg independently, attach different stops and targets, and close them in any sequence.
Why traders use force open
- Hedging short term while keeping a core view. You might hold a long-term long but want to sell against it during a suspected dip. Force open lets you run the hedge without disturbing the core line.
- Separating strategies. A swing trade and a scalp can coexist in the same market with different risk limits and time horizons.
- Clearer P&L tracking. Each position retains its own entry level and history instead of being blended into a single average price.
- Options spreads and multi-leg trades. When building spreads, straddles or strangles, force open prevents one leg from being misclassified as a closing trade.
A worked example with numbers
Imagine you are long 1 BTCUSD CFD at 30,000 and want to hedge a possible fall. The price is now 30,200. You sell 1 contract.
- Without force open: your long is closed. You realise a 200 gain per contract, less costs. You have no position left.
- With force open: you keep your original long at 30,000 and open a new short at 30,200. Your net exposure is flat, but you have two open positions. If price drops to 29,500, your short gains 700 and your long loses 500, so the hedge makes a net 200, excluding costs. You can then decide which leg to close.
This separation is useful if you had attached a trailing stop to the long that you did not want to remove, or if the long has financing terms you prefer to preserve.
Execution, fills and position accounting
Force open is about how the platform applies your order at the position level, not about price discovery or matching. It does not change how your trade is filled in the market. The price, size and speed of the trade still depend on normal execution factors such as liquidity and order type.
Once filled, the platform records a new line item rather than adjusting the quantity and average price of a single net position. Each line item can have separate working orders, for example different stop levels. Some providers offset margin between opposing legs, others do not, and some offer reduced margin for recognised hedges. These rules vary and can change.
Force open with listed options
In listed options, brokers classify orders as opening or closing to help exchanges and clearing houses manage position records and limits. Many platforms auto-detect whether you are adding to or reducing an existing series. A force open flag tells the system you are opening a new position even if you already hold an offsetting option in the same series. This matters when you are constructing multi-leg strategies where both buy and sell orders may hit the same series within a short time window.
For example, you might already own 5 call options in a series and now wish to sell 5 calls at the same strike and expiry as part of a temporary hedge. If you intend to keep the original calls intact and have the short position recorded separately, you would use force open so the sell order is not treated as a close. Platform behaviour differs here more than with CFDs, so check how your broker maps open and close flags across strategies.
Costs, margin and practical risks
- Financing and fees. Two separate positions usually mean two sets of financing charges on overnight holdings and potentially more commissions.
- Margin mechanics. Some providers offset margin on perfectly opposed legs, others do so partially or not at all. Your effective margin could rise even if net exposure is small.
- Operational complexity. You must monitor multiple stops and limits. A stop on one leg might trigger at a different time than you expect, leaving you unintentionally directional.
- Realised versus unrealised P&L. By forcing open you avoid crystallising P&L on the original position. That can be helpful, but it also means carrying risk and costs for longer.
- Rolls and expiries. If the product rolls daily or has an expiry, each leg will follow the product’s roll or settlement rules independently. Check how the platform handles partial hedges at expiry.
How to use force open on a ticket
Workflow varies, but the general pattern is straightforward:
- Open the order ticket for the market you want to trade.
- Choose the side and size for the new trade.
- Look for a force open checkbox or similar setting and enable it.
- Attach stops or limits for the new position as needed.
- Place the order and confirm that a new line item appears rather than a change to your existing position.
If your platform uses hedging mode by default, you may not see a force open control because every order already creates a new position. On netting accounts, the control is usually present when you already hold exposure in that instrument.
Similar terms and common mix-ups
Force open is not the same as reduce only. Reduce only is an instruction that prevents your order from increasing exposure, it can only cut or close. Force open is the opposite intention, it prevents the order from closing or reducing an existing trade. It is also unrelated to forced liquidation, which is when a broker closes positions because margin is insufficient.
Think of force open as a bookkeeping and risk management choice. It keeps strategies distinct and makes hedges explicit, while leaving price formation and trade fills unchanged.