Market and limit orders

A limit order lets you buy or sell at a fixed price that you determine, sometimes providing a better price depending on how the market moves.

The advantage of limit orders is that you know what you will get in terms of price: limit orders guarantee you won't be matched with a worse price than what you specified.

You can also use limit orders to wait for the market to reach a certain price target, rather than just taking whatever is available in the present. The disadvantage of limit orders is that there's no guarantee the order will completely fill (or fill at all).

Learn more about how to set Limit prices. 

Note: Limit buy orders will only be placed on the orderbook if the limit price is below the current market price and limit sell orders will only be placed if the limit price is above the current market price. If the limit price you submit is not consistent with these conventions, the order will be executed immediately as a market order.

A market order is designed to be executed immediately. It is meant to buy or sell at the best available price in the order book (which you can view before placing an order).

Note that this is different from the last traded price. A common mistake is to think the last traded price is what you will get when placing a market order. The order book can change significantly since the last traded price, especially in less popular trading pairs. An order book is comprised of all traders' limit orders (see image below) for that trading pair.

The drawback of a market order is that you’re not guaranteed the exact price you’re trying to buy or sell at. It all depends on what is available in the order book when your order is being executed.

If your market orders are getting cancelled, check the order details. The order may be cancelled due to our Market Price Protection feature.

If the lowest current ask for BTC/USD is $96, but you think you can get your buy order filled at a lower price, you might put in a limit buy order at $94.

If the highest current bid for BTC/USD is $95 and you want to open a short position at $110, this can be done by placing a leveraged limit sell order at $110. This order will start to fill at $110 (or better) once bids at $110 (or higher) appear in the order book.

However, if you want to create a short position if prices fall below the current market rate, then you'll need to use a stop loss order type instead.

If you'd like to ensure that your limit order does not execute immediately at market due to swings in the price of an asset, you can utilize the "Post limit order" slider:

Note: The Post limit order option is not currently available for Take profit limit and Stop loss limit order types.