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Order types
What are the different order types on Stake AUS?
We offer three types of orders on Stake:
- Limit
- Market
- Stop
Limit orders
A limit order is an order to buy or sell a whole number of shares at a specific price or better.
A BUY limit order can only be executed at the limit price or lower. A SELL limit order can only be executed at the limit price or higher. A limit order is not always guaranteed to execute. It will remain pending in the market until it’s either filled, expired, or cancelled.
There are two expiry options: End of Day (EOD) or Good-Til-Cancelled (GTC). EOD limit orders will expire at the end of that trading day if not executed. GTC orders (that are not cancelled or filled) are valid for your choice of 30 or 90 days.
Market orders
A market order is an order to buy or sell shares at the best available market price at the time of placement. This is the most common type of order available on the ASX.
Market orders work a little differently on the ASX compared to the U.S. markets: they’re submitted as ‘market to limit’ orders.
What is a ‘Market to limit’ order?
After an ASX market order is sent, it actually gets converted to a limit order: a limit price is placed a certain % deviation away from the current market price. This limit price is set as better than the market, so as to have the best possibility of being immediately filled.
For example:
- The bid for stock ABC is $100.00 while the ask is $100.01
- You place a market order to buy ABC. The ‘market to limit’ order is actually placed at a limit price of $101 (1% deviation higher)
- You’re filled at $100.01 since this is the best price. Your market-to-limit order specified that you would pay no more than $101 for the stock, i.e. $101 would be the limit (maximum) you would pay for the stock, but you can still be filled for a lower price. The exceptions to this would be during market open or during market close as the order can be filled at a higher price than the limit price amount.
- Vice versa for a market sell order
Stop orders
A BUY stop order is entered at a stop price above the current market price, while a SELL stop order – also known as stop loss – is entered at a stop price below the current market price. Stop orders can be used to limit losses or lock in profits when the price of a stock fluctuates.
If the stop price is triggered, Stake will place a limit order with a limit price placed a certain % deviation away from the triggered price, which will remain active until it is filled, cancelled, or expires at the end of that day. Even if your stop price is triggered, there is no guarantee that it will be filled at the requested trigger price, or that it will be filled at all.
What are some considerations with stop orders?
Execution variability: While stop loss orders aim to sell at or near the specified price, execution is not guaranteed at the exact stop loss level. Market conditions, liquidity and price gaps can result in executions at different prices than intended, especially during periods of high volatility.
False triggers: In some cases, limit and stop loss orders can be triggered by short-term market fluctuations or intraday price volatility, resulting in premature selling. This can lead to missed opportunities if the market subsequently reverses and continues in the expected direction.
To learn more about stop orders, you can head to our Stake Academy blog post here.
What are the different order types on Stake Wall St?
We offer three types of orders on Stake:
- Limit
- Market
- Stop
U.S. Market orders
A market order is an order to buy or sell shares at the next best price. Generally, this type of order will be executed immediately. Unlike limit orders, the market order will be filled rather quickly at wherever the current price of that security is at. A market order on Stake can be placed at any time, but it will only be executed when the market is open, unless extended hours is enabled.
If you submit a market order for a whole share i.e. 1 unit at market, you may receive a fractional quantity that is just above or just below the whole unit share (e.g. receive 0.99 share rather than 1 share).
Are there order limits?
During market hours, Market and Limit orders have a US$1,500,000 order limit (or up to 20,000 share units) per trade.
Please note, Market orders have a US$150,000 order limit per trade with Extended Hours enabled.
Limit orders can have a US$1,500,000 order limit with Extended Hours enabled.
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