Market and limit orders on Kraken Classic

If you are looking for information on market and limit orders on Kraken Pro, you can find out how here!

Market and limit orders are two critical trading terms to be aware of before you begin trading. How you decide whether to use a limit order or a market order will depend entirely on what you are trying to achieve.

Image: Simple order form showing the Market/Limit toggle button.

What is a limit order?

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.

What is 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.

Image: An example showing the order book.

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.

Example: Using limit order to wait for better price

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.

Image: Creating a limit buy order with a price of 94.00 USD on the BTC/USD market.

Example: Using limit order to enter a short position

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.

"Post limit order" checkbox

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" checkbox, found on the advanced order form: