Unmanaged Trades - Manually Managed Positions
1. What does "UNMANAGED" mean?
A trade is treated as "UNMANAGED" when OptionsApp cannot clearly match its own saved trade state with the actual position in your TWS account.
Possible causes include:
- A managed contract was manually modified in TWS or through another program.
- An execution was not registered by OptionsApp.
- A protective order cannot be clearly confirmed. In this case, the trade has the status "RUNNING", but automatic hedging is missing (see 3.3).
- The account associated with the trade is not accessible through the current TWS login.
Important: Marking a trade as UNMANAGED does not change the position in your broker account. OptionsApp does not buy or sell contracts as a result.
For automatically stopped Unmanaged Trades, the Close Orders managed by OptionsApp are cancelled. The actual position in TWS remains and must be checked there. Management of this position is entirely your responsibility.
An automatically stopped unmanaged trade is not taken back into automatic management by OptionsApp. Even if the original position is restored in the TWS, OptionsApp does not resume managing it.
The display itself is a separate matter. "UNMANAGED" is a derived display state: it is worked out from the current situation and does not change the stored status of the trade. For as long as the trade is not managed, OptionsApp shows it as UNMANAGED. As soon as every leg is genuinely closed or expired, the regular final status of the trade appears again. The label therefore ends with the trade and is not a final state.
2. How do you identify an Unmanaged Trade?
Depending on the cause, the Dashboard displays features such as:
- Status "UNMANAGED"
- light red highlighting of the row
- Strikes with a display like
?xP7640 (UNMANAGED) - Stop Loss or Profit Target with the suffix "(Removed)"
- Profit or close values with
- - locked functions such as "Adjust Stop/PT", and in some cases also "Close Trade"
?x means that OptionsApp cannot clearly assign the actual quantity to a single trade. Therefore, no quantity is assumed.
Clicking on the UNMANAGED status opens this help article.
3. Typical causes
3.1 Contract modified outside OptionsApp
If a managed contract is manually modified in TWS or through another program, clear assignment to a trade may not be possible.
The affected trades are displayed as UNMANAGED, the Close Orders from OptionsApp are cancelled, and the trade has the status "UNMANAGED".
Possible message: ERROR 037: Trade unmanaged - contract moved outside the app
3.2 Account position does not match OptionsApp
A discrepancy can occur if an execution exists in the broker account that was not registered by OptionsApp.
A typical example is a GTC Order that executes while OptionsApp is closed or when there is no clean connection to TWS.
Since the causing execution is not clearly known, no automatic assignment to a trade or Leg takes place.
Possible message: WARNING 043: Trade unmanaged - account position mismatch
3.3 Protective order cannot be confirmed
If placement of a Stop Loss or Profit Target Order cannot be clearly confirmed, the actual order status is unclear. For example, the order may be active in TWS despite missing confirmation.
In this case, the trade has the status "RUNNING". However, automatic hedging is not guaranteed.
Possible messages:
- WARNING 013: Order submission failed
- ERROR 013: Order submission error - TWS issue
Automatic closes via Exit Conditions or Webhooks are disabled for such a trade. OptionsApp does not place automatic orders for this trade. The "Close Trade" button is available as a manual action option.
Before any further actions, you must check whether a corresponding Close Order is active in TWS.
3.4 Account is not accessible
If a trade belongs to an account that is not accessible through the current TWS login, OptionsApp cannot monitor or protect the position through this connection.
This can occur, for example, with multiple broker accounts, a different TWS login, or a transferred Session.
In this case, no permanent Unmanaged state is saved. The state is purely connection-dependent. When connected to the account associated with the trade, automatic management is available.
4. What happens without further action?
An open position remains in your broker account until it is closed or expires.
For an Unmanaged Trade, the following risks in particular may exist:
- no automatic Stop Loss by OptionsApp
- no automatic Profit Target by OptionsApp
- no automatic Exit actions by OptionsApp
- open position until expiration
- Assignment or settlement risk for short options
An UNMANAGED warning therefore requires you to check the actual position and orders in TWS.
5. Procedure for an Unmanaged Trade
For a trade with the status "UNMANAGED", management is entirely your responsibility.
5.1 Check position and orders in TWS
First, you must check the actual positions and orders in your broker account.
The following are particularly relevant:
- existing contracts and quantities
- open Stop Loss, Profit Target, or other Close Orders
- already closed Legs
- deviations from the originally opened trade
The actual state in TWS is always decisive.
5.2 Manage or close position
For an Unmanaged Trade, position management occurs directly in TWS.
If the position is to remain open, any desired protective orders must also be managed there.
If the position is to be closed, closing also occurs through TWS.
5.3 Special case WARNING 013 / ERROR 013
When a protective order is not confirmed, you must first check whether the order in question is active in TWS.
You then have two options:
- Close Trade to place a Market Order to close the position. The execution price is not limited.
- Deactivate Trade Monitoring and manage the position entirely in TWS.
5.4 Enter close values in Evaluations
If a position is closed outside of OptionsApp, the actual values can be entered in the "Evaluations" section.
To do this, select the corresponding trade, open the edit dialog, and enter the closing data for each Leg.
Possible values are:
- Close price
- Commission
- Date and time of closing
More information: Manually edit executions/trades after the fact
6. Evaluation (Tab Evaluations)
An Unmanaged Trade is retained in the evaluation. Only values that actually exist or were manually entered are displayed. Missing prices and unregistered executions are not estimated or supplemented.
As long as closing values are missing, the trade result is unknown. The trade is therefore excluded from metrics, including Daily P&L, strategy totals, premium values, and evaluation statistics.
Once closing values are entered, the trade counts with its actual values. The display then carries the marker "Manually Closed". If an expiry is booked instead, that is a closing price and commission of zero, the marker "Unmanaged" stays: the trade expired, it was not closed by hand. In the evaluation, both markers are cleanly separated from a genuine stop-loss stop.
The special case from 3.3 is exempt from this. There, the accounting is complete. The actual P&L is displayed and the trade counts normally in the metrics.
Actual closing values should be recorded promptly while they are still traceable in TWS.
7. Reminder for unprotected positions
For open positions from an automatically detected Unmanaged case, the following message may appear:
WARNING 047: Unprotected positions in your account - no longer managed
This message points to positions that are outside OptionsApp's automatic management and do not have an automatic Stop Loss or automatic Profit Target through OptionsApp.
8. How can Unmanaged Trades be avoided?
The following points should be observed:
- Do not place manual orders on contracts that are managed by OptionsApp.
- Do not use another trading program on the same account if it can modify or close the same contracts.
- Check for existing GTC orders from previous sessions or trading days.
Before making manual changes in TWS, you should always verify whether the relevant contract is part of a trade managed by OptionsApp.
9. Frequently asked questions
Why does a strike show "?x"?
The actual quantity cannot be clearly assigned to a single trade. Therefore, OptionsApp does not display an assumed quantity.
Why is "-" displayed for profit?
The available position or closing data is insufficient for a clear calculation. Therefore, OptionsApp does not display an estimated P&L.
Why is "Close Trade" locked?
In certain Unmanaged cases, the actual state of the trade cannot be clearly determined. An automatic close order could thereby create an incorrect position. Position management is performed directly in TWS.
If a protective order is not confirmed, "Close Trade" is available.
Is automatic management possible for an Unmanaged Trade?
For an automatically stopped Unmanaged Trade, automatic management is not possible. Even restoring the original position does not change this state, as the assignment of contracts to the trade cannot be determined with certainty.
The exception is the case from 3.4. If only the account is unreachable, automatic management is available upon connection to the associated account.
What does restarting OptionsApp do?
A saved Unmanaged state persists. A restart does not activate automatic management for this trade.
When does the UNMANAGED indicator disappear?
The marking persists as long as open or not conclusively assigned legs exist. It is a display, not a stored status.
As soon as every leg is genuinely closed or expired, the UNMANAGED marking and the red row disappear. The trade then shows its regular final status again, together with the marker for how it ended: "Manually Closed" after the closing values were entered, "Unmanaged" if an expiry was booked instead.