A method and system are disclosed for automatically updating individual conditions associated with a pending conditional financial transaction. As the price of a financial instrument varies, a pending conditional financial transaction may be issued to cause the financial instrument to be bought or sold whenever its price satisfies certain specified conditions. In the field of common stock transactions, the disclosed method automatically updates a pending conditional sell order, called a stop loss order, upon the occurrence of several conditions, such as when the current stop loss order has expired, when the current price of one share of the stock has risen a predetermined percentage above the current stop loss value, or when the total value of all of the shares of the stock has increased beyond a predetermined percentage limit. When a stop loss order is updated, a new stop loss value is calculated based upon the current price and a percentage leeway in the price. The new stop loss order is then transmitted to an appropriate financial institution.