guide
Order Types: Market, Limit and Stop Orders
Understand market, limit and stop orders, execution limits, maker/taker roles and conditional exits without assuming fills or capped losses.
What an Order Actually Instructs
An order tells a venue what you want to buy or sell and under which conditions. Acceptance, triggering, partial fills, completion and cancellation are different states. An order acknowledgement does not prove that a position opened or closed. Check the actual fills and remaining exposure.
Price and available liquidity
Executable prices depend on the order book, size, matching rules and market conditions when the order reaches the venue. A displayed quote is not a promise for the whole quantity. Larger orders can consume several price levels, and both partial fills and non-execution are possible.
Maker and taker describe fills
A fill that removes resting liquidity is typically taker; a fill against your previously resting order is typically maker. A marketable limit order can take liquidity, and one order can have fills with different roles. Charges depend on the actual product, account tier and fee schedule; limit orders do not universally cost less.
A trigger is a condition
A stop can use last-traded, mark or index price according to the product. Mark price is a calculated valuation and need not equal its index or the last trade. These references can cross thresholds at different times. None is a general guarantee against price spikes, non-execution or liquidation.
Market Orders
A market order requests execution against available liquidity without your own fixed limit price. A buy takes available asks; a sell takes available bids. The average fill can differ from the price you saw and from the first fill. It does not guarantee immediate or complete execution.
Venues may apply price bands, slippage controls, quantity limits and time-in-force rules. For example, a market instruction can be implemented as an immediate-or-cancel limit order: it fills only against acceptable available prices and cancels an unfilled remainder. Rejections, outages and insufficient available funds can also prevent execution.
After submission, inspect the order status, executed quantity, individual fills and any remaining position. Do not assume that a submitted exit has closed the exposure. A retry without checking the earlier order can create an unintended duplicate.
Limit Orders
A buy limit sets the maximum acceptable execution price; a sell limit sets the minimum. This constrains the price of fills, not the time or probability of receiving them. Fees are separate. Touching the limit on a chart does not prove that sufficient matching liquidity reached your place in the queue.
A buy limit at or above an available ask, or a sell limit at or below an available bid, can execute immediately as a taker. Otherwise an accepted order may rest, expire or be cancelled under its time-in-force rules. An order can fill partially, and its remainder may rest or cancel.
Post-only asks the venue to avoid taking liquidity; on products that cancel a crossing post-only order, you receive no fill from that cancelled order. IOC permits immediate partial execution and cancels the remainder. FOK requires the full quantity immediately or cancels without filling. GTC generally remains until filled or cancelled, subject to the venue's limits and rules. Verify which instructions the product actually supports.
Stop Orders: Trigger Is Not Execution
A stop combines a trigger condition with an order to submit when that condition is met. Stop-market requests market execution after triggering; stop-limit submits a limit order. A trigger price is neither a guaranteed fill price nor proof that the child order was accepted.
For a long exit, a sell stop commonly reacts to a falling reference price; a short exit uses a buy stop reacting to a rise. Verify the selected reference and direction. If supported, reduce-only or close-on-trigger settings can constrain the resulting order to reducing exposure, but their handling and limits are product-specific.
A stop-market can slip, fill partially, be cancelled or fail to execute under venue controls. A stop-limit can remain unfilled if available prices do not satisfy its limit. Account requirements at triggering and liquidation based on another reference can defeat the planned exit. No stop type establishes a guaranteed maximum loss.
Check that the trigger, side, quantity and resulting order match the intended exit. Reassess the remaining exposure after any partial fill, cancellation or position change. A stop order does not replace checking collateral requirements and the liquidation condition.
Linked and Advanced Instructions
OCO and linked exits
OCO links instructions so the venue cancels another leg when its specified event occurs. Whether cancellation follows triggering, execution or another event depends on the implementation. Check how partial fills, quantity changes and cancellation acknowledgements are handled. Linking orders does not guarantee that the intended exit fills.
Trailing stop
A trailing rule adjusts a trigger with favorable movement: commonly upward for a long's sell exit and downward for a short's buy exit. Activation price, reference and trailing distance depend on the product. On reversal, the configured child order still faces execution limits. A trailing trigger does not lock in a guaranteed profit.
Take-profit instruction
A take-profit may be a resting limit or a conditional market or limit exit. Inspect which one the product creates, its trigger reference, side and quantity. Reaching a target does not guarantee that the position closes or that a particular net profit is realized.
Iceberg order
An iceberg displays only part of an order and replenishes visible quantity according to the venue's rules. It can reduce displayed size, but repeated fills may reveal activity and still move the market. Queue priority, minimum sizes and execution of the remainder depend on the implementation.
Four Instructions Compared
| Property | Market | Limit | Stop-market | Stop-limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When it is eligible | After acceptance under venue controls | After acceptance, when matching prices satisfy the limit | After the trigger and acceptance of the resulting market instruction | After the trigger and acceptance of the resulting limit order |
| Price constraint | No user-set fixed limit; venue controls may restrict fills | Buy at the limit or lower; sell at the limit or higher | Trigger is not a fill-price limit | Resulting order follows its limit; trigger and limit are separate |
| Complete execution guaranteed? | No | No | No | No |
| Possible unfilled quantity | May cancel or fail under liquidity and venue constraints | May rest, expire or cancel under time-in-force rules | May cancel or fail after triggering | May remain unfilled, expire or cancel |
| Liquidity role and fees | Usually taker when filled; actual schedule applies | May be maker or taker, including different roles across fills | Based on the executed child order and applicable schedule | May be maker or taker when the child order fills |
Checks Before Submitting an Order
Choose an instruction by its actual conditions and failure modes. Product availability and order behavior vary. A longer holding period does not remove market, collateral or execution risk.
Primary documentation checked 2026-09-12: Bybit API for order acceptance, time-in-force and trigger references; Bybit for supported order features. These sources describe particular products, not universal behavior at every venue.
Confirm the instrument, account, buy/sell side and whether the order opens or reduces exposure.
Check quantity units, minimum size, available funds and any leverage or collateral requirements.
For a limit order, inspect the limit price, time-in-force and whether immediate taker fills are possible.
For a stop or take-profit, inspect the trigger reference, direction and market or limit child order.
For linked exits, check cancellation events, partial-fill behavior and quantities after position changes.
For trailing or iceberg instructions, read activation, replenishment and priority rules; do not assume guaranteed profit or zero market impact.
After submission, verify acceptance, fills, remaining quantity and exposure before treating the instruction as completed or sending another order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is one order type always safest for a beginner?
What is the difference between stop-market and stop-limit?
Are limit orders always cheaper than market orders?
What is slippage?
When does an OCO order cancel the other leg?
Does a stop-loss define my maximum possible loss?
Derivatives & Leveraged Products — Important Risk Warning
Derivatives and leveraged products are complex and carry a high risk of rapid, substantial losses. Depending on the product and account rules, losses can exceed the initial margin or money committed. A stand-alone purchased option can lose its entire premium plus transaction costs; writing options, exercising into another position, or combining positions can create additional obligations. An uncovered call writer can face unlimited loss. Applicable legal protections can affect the loss boundary.
You should carefully consider whether you understand how derivatives work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to trade derivatives.
Legal availability and regulatory protections depend on the product, service, provider and jurisdiction. In the EU, check the applicable investment-services rules, including MiFID II where relevant, and any product restrictions. Before trading, verify with the relevant regulator whether the provider has the permissions required for the service and whether the product may be offered to you. A website being accessible, or a product appearing on this website, does not establish authorization or eligibility.
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