Exchange Order Types Explained
Think of trading as the exchange of assets between a buyer and a seller. Then we can call a trade order an instruction to exchange an asset like Bitcoin for another asset at a specific price or price range. Furthermore, all trade orders are either buy or sell orders since all traders are buyers and sellers. Now, we will analyse the three most popular order types and how they work in order to a foundation when trading cryptocurrency.
What Is a Limit Order?
A limit order is an order that you place on the order book with a specific limit price. The limit price is determined by you. So when you place a limit order, the trade will only be executed if the market price reaches your limit price (or better). Therefore, you may use limit orders to buy at a lower price or to sell at a higher price than the current market price.
How to use it?
Let’s say you want to sell BNB at a higher price than what is currently being bid. After logging in to your Binance account, choose the BNB market you want (e.g., BNB/BTC) and go to the trading page. Then, find the Limit order tab, set the price and amount, and click the Sell BNB button. You may also set the amount by clicking the percentage buttons, so you can easily place a limit sell order for 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of your balance.
When should you use it?
What Is a Market Order?
But let’s say you want to buy 500 BNB at the current market price. The cheapest limit sell order available will not be sufficient to fill your entire market buy order, so your order will automatically match the following limit sell orders, working its way up the order book until it is completed. This is called slippage and is the reason why you pay higher prices and higher fees (because you are acting as a market taker).
When should you use it?
What is a Stop-Limit Order?
The best way to understand a stop-limit order is to break it down into stop price and limit price. The stop price is simply the price that triggers a limit order, and the limit price is the specific price of the limit order that was triggered. This means that once your stop price has been reached, your limit order will be immediately placed on the order book.
Although the stop and limit prices can be the same, this is not a requirement. In fact, it would be safer for you to set the stop price (trigger price) a bit higher than the limit price (for sell orders) or a bit lower than the limit price (for buy orders). This increases the chances of your limit order getting filled after the stop-limit is triggered.
How to use it?
So if you believe that 0.0012700 BTC is a reliable support level, you may set a stop-limit order just below this price (in case it doesn’t hold). In this example, we will set a stop-limit order for 5 BNB with the stop price at 0.0012490 BTC and the limit price at 0.0012440 BTC.
You can scroll down to see and manage your open orders.
Note that the stop-limit order will only be placed if and when the stop price is reached, and the limit order will only be filled if the market price reaches your limit price. If your limit-order is triggered (by the stop price), but the market price doesn’t reach the price you set, the limit order will remain open. This means that the stop-limit order will become a limit order to buy or sell at the limit price (or better).
When should you use it?
