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Market order

An instruction to trade immediately at whatever price is available. It guarantees execution and guarantees nothing about the price you get.

Updated 2026-09-05

A market order says: trade now, at whatever the market offers. It is the simplest instruction and the one most likely to surprise you.

It guarantees that you trade and guarantees nothing about the price. In a liquid name during normal hours the difference is trivial. In a thin name, at the open, or on news, a market order can fill materially away from the last price you saw, because it takes whatever is available until it is filled.

The worst case is a market order into a gap. If a stock opens 15 percent lower on news, your order executes there, not at yesterday's close. A limit order would simply not have filled, which is usually the better outcome.

See also

  • 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.
  • Bid-ask spread — The gap between the highest price a buyer will pay and the lowest a seller will accept. It is the cost of trading, and you pay half of it on the way in and half on the way out.
  • 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.

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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.

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