Can I use an Auto-Order option for online trading?

Q: In trading, when looking at charts, you can leave a auto-order to buy for you when price reaches a certain level. If you are not there at this time, is the purchase permissible? Is your presence necessary for the contract? Sometimes, you might be asleep but want to purchase at a given price, so you set up the system to automatically buy for you at a certain price, if the price gets to that level.

 

الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما ومنه الصدق والصواب

A: The purchase is valid.  Physical presence is not necessary for the contract.

When a trade is in person and the buyer and seller are both physically present in the sitting, it is necessary for the offer to be met with a corresponding acceptance in the same sitting in order for the trade to be valid. The offer is deemed to expire with the end of the sitting if it is not accepted within the sitting.

When the buyer and seller are apart from each other and the offer is made remotely, the offer stands until it is either rejected, it is time specific and the time has expired, it is withdrawn before having been accepted, or a non response indicates a rejection by convention.  Acceptance may done verbally, in writing. electronically or any other way that is considered to be acceptance.  [Fiqh al-Buyu’, 1:49]

Thus, on an online trade, the offer remains live until it is either rejected, it expires, it is accepted or there is any other indication of rejection.  Whilst the offer remains live, it can be accepted through automation and one does not have to be present physically when the acceptance is effected.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *