Error message: "The new trade cannot be open, because some close orders will have a opposite position"

Updated: October 22, 20252 min read

1. Description

This message appears when a new Trade cannot be opened because its Close Orders would conflict with the Close Orders of other already active Trades. OptionsApp automatically detects this conflict and prevents the opening, since Interactive Brokers (IBKR) technically does not allow simultaneous buy and sell orders on the same options contract.

2. Background

OptionsApp can hold overlapping trades, that is situations where several trades contain the same contract (strike, expiration, option type). From version 2.0 on, this requires an approval in the user portal, see Overlapping Trades in OptionsApp. Even with that approval, the limit described here remains: a conflict exists when a new trade targets a contract that already exists in another trade whose close order runs in the opposite direction. OptionsApp does not open such a trade, because the TWS would reject the order.

3. Example

Trade A: Short Put 6500 / Long Put 6400 contains a buy order to close the short.
Trade B: Long Put 6500 / Short Put 6400 contains a sell order to close the long. Both affect the same contract (Put at 6500). In total, a buy and a sell order on the same Strike would be active, and IBKR would reject this order. OptionsApp therefore prevents the opening beforehand and displays this error message:

4. Approach

Generally, this situation can simply be accepted, as the error rarely occurs and usually only on strong trend days. It's not a technical problem, but rather a necessary safeguard to prevent conflicting orders.

However, the behavior depends heavily on the respective strategy. If actively trading and the Trade should still be opened anyway, you can proceed as follows:

Check which Trades already have Close Orders whose contracts could be selected for the new Trade.
Adjust the new Trade so that no opposite Close Order is created (e.g. choose slightly different Strikes or adjust the Stop Management accordingly).
Then open the Trade manually via Direct Trade afterwards.

If the approval "Overlapping positions across trades" is not in place, an opposing trade is not opened even earlier, regardless of the close orders. See Approvals in the User Portal.