Order Types Explained
"Buy" isn't one button — there are two ways to do it, and picking wrong costs you money on every trade. Here's market vs limit, made simple.
Two ways to say "buy" — with very different results
When you place a trade, the exchange asks how you want it filled. Get this wrong and you'll overpay, or watch a trade never happen. The two you must know are the market order and the limit order.
A market order says: "fill me now, at whatever the going price is." A limit order says: "fill me only at my price or better — and wait until then." Speed versus control.
Market order = certainty of filling. Limit order = certainty of price. You pick which matters more.
When to use which
- Use a limit order by default. You decide the price, you avoid nasty surprises, and exchanges often charge lower fees for it (the "maker" fee — more in Lesson 13).
- Use a market order only when speed truly matters — you need in or out right now and accept whatever price you get.
- Beware "slippage". On a thinly-traded coin, a market order can fill far worse than the price you saw — because it grabs whatever's available, however bad.
Beginners default to market orders because they're one tap — and quietly bleed money to slippage and higher fees on every trade. On small or volatile coins the gap can be brutal. Slowing down to set a limit price is one of the easiest upgrades you can make, and it costs nothing but a few seconds.
A market order trades instantly at whatever price is available; a limit order waits to fill only at your chosen price — default to limit orders for better prices and lower fees.
