Angie · learn
Limit order
An instruction to trade only at a set price or better. It guarantees the price and guarantees nothing about whether you get filled at all.
Updated 2026-09-05
A limit order sets the worst price you will accept. Buy at $50 or better means you will pay $50 or less and nothing more, ever.
The trade-off is exact and it is the mirror of a market order: you control the price and give up certainty of execution. A limit order that never fills is not a failure, it is the order doing its job. The failure mode is a different one, and it is psychological: chasing a price upward by repeatedly raising the limit, which converts a disciplined instruction into an expensive market order in slow motion.
See also
- Market order — An instruction to trade immediately at whatever price is available. It guarantees execution and guarantees nothing about the price you get.
- Good-til-canceled — An order that stays live across sessions until it fills or you cancel it, as opposed to a day order that expires at the close.
- Liquidity — How easily something can be sold near its quoted price. A liquid stock absorbs your order; an illiquid one moves against you as you fill it.
Educational content, not investment advice. Angie explains how a valuation is built so you can judge it yourself. What you do with that is your call.
