# Please Vote: Alpaca should replace side (Buy, Sell) with (BTO, STC, STO, BTC)

**URL:** <https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427>\
**Category:** Feature Requests\
**Created:** [November 7, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427 "2019-11-07T04:09:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daniel\_Beaulieu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.alpaca.markets/daniel_beaulieu/32/257_2.png) [@Daniel\_Beaulieu](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/Daniel_Beaulieu)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427/1 "2019-11-07T04:09:21Z")

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My algorithm _sometimes_ tries to sell a position twice, which results in in liquidation of my current position and then the filling of a short order. In a perfect world, our code is so tried and tested that this could never happen by mistake. But, as we know, we do not live in a perfect world and bugs occur, regressions occur, hiccups occur.The accidental shorting of an equity due to two sell orders clearing is dangerous, unacceptable and yet, completely avoidable by a responsible API.

**Recommendation:**  **Please replace current “Buy, Sell” options with the following:**

**BTO** = Buy To Open  
**STC** = Sell To Close  
**STO** = Sell To Open  
**BTC** = Buy To Close

This will ensure orders accepted by the API are accepted **as intended** by the developer and it will help protect your clients equity.

Please vote on this issue if you agree:

[[https://github.com/alpacahq/Alpaca-API/issues/85](https://github.com/alpacahq/Alpaca-API/issues/85)](http://#85 Replace side “Buy, Sell” with “BTO, STC, STO, BTC”)

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**Author:** ![hitoshi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.alpaca.markets/hitoshi/32/69_2.png) [@hitoshi](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/hitoshi)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 9:01am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427/2 "2019-11-11T09:01:15Z")

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Is this something we could support _in addition_ to current `side` parameter values? If it is compatible with existing behavior, maybe it’s a good addition.

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**Author:** ![GoodNews970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac8455/32.png) [@GoodNews970](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/GoodNews970)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427/3 "2020-03-17T17:21:30Z")

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I also would recommend this idea, having just encountered the situation myself. Moreover, as Hitoshi said, this could be implemented with current side parameter values without breaking changes: just let buy and sell default to current context depending on account position, with added parameters values for specificity only.

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**Author:** ![Casey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.alpaca.markets/casey/32/546_2.png) [@Casey](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/Casey)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/please-vote-alpaca-should-replace-side-buy-sell-with-bto-stc-sto-btc/427/4 "2020-04-06T13:47:06Z")

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Agreed, this would be a nice feature to add to the current implementation.