Market Order
An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available price. Guarantees execution but not the fill price.
A market order instructs your broker to execute a trade right now at whatever the current best price is. It is the fastest, most certain way to enter or exit a position.
The tradeoff is price uncertainty. In a liquid market the fill will be very close to the last traded price; in a thin or fast-moving market you can be filled significantly away from what you saw on screen — this gap is slippage.
Use market orders when certainty of execution matters more than the exact price — for example, cutting a loss quickly or entering a position just before a hard catalyst.
Example
Stock XYZ last traded at $50.00. You send a market buy order for 100 shares. The ask is $50.02 and you fill there. Your effective entry is $50.02, not $50.00.
Related Terms
Bid-Ask Spread
The gap between the highest price a buyer will pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (ask). Crossing it is the minimum cost of an immediate trade.
BeginnerExecution
The process of completing a trade — from order submission through matching and confirmation. Execution quality affects real-world returns.
BeginnerFill
A confirmed execution of an order — the trade happened, shares changed hands at a specific price and time.
BeginnerLimit Order
An order to buy or sell only at a specified price or better. Guarantees price but not execution.
BeginnerMarket-on-Open / Market-on-Close (MOO/MOC)
Auction orders that execute at the official opening (MOO) or closing (MOC) price — guaranteeing the auction print but not a specific price.
IntermediateMarketable Limit Order
A limit order priced at or through the current best opposite quote — it acts like a market order but protects against extreme fills.
IntermediateOdd Lot
Any order for fewer than 100 shares (a round lot). Odd lots are executed differently by some exchanges and historically excluded from certain quotes.
BeginnerOrder Types
The instructions that tell a broker how to execute a trade — chiefly market, limit, and stop orders, plus their conditions and time-in-force.
BeginnerSlippage
The difference between the expected fill price and the actual fill price. Positive slippage benefits you; negative slippage costs you.
BeginnerSmart Order Routing
Automated logic that scans multiple trading venues to find the best price, fee, and fill quality for each order.
AdvancedTaker
A trader whose order immediately executes against a resting limit, removing liquidity from the book and typically paying a fee.
Intermediate