🎯 Limit Order Limit Order
An instruction to buy or sell crypto only at a price you choose — or a better one — instead of whatever the market price happens to be right now. You name the price; the order waits until the market reaches it.
🎯 The simple version — a price you wait for
When you trade on an exchange, you usually pick between two buttons: Market and Limit. A market order buys or sells right now at whatever price is on offer. A limit order is different: you name the exact price you're willing to act at — and that price sits at its own level, waiting. A buy limit waits below today's price; a sell limit waits above it. The trade only happens if the market price travels up or down to your level. Picture it like a bid at an auction, or a 'buy it for me when it drops to this price' alert. You decide your price and walk away. If the market never reaches your number, you simply don't trade.
🔼 Buy limit vs sell limit
The word "limit" means a boundary you won't cross. Which way the boundary points depends on whether you're buying or selling.
| Order | What your price means | It fills at… |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Buy limit | The most you'll pay | Your price or lower |
| 🔴 Sell limit | The least you'll accept | Your price or higher |
📌 That's what "at your price or better" means: better is always in your favor — cheaper when buying, richer when selling.
⚖️ Limit order vs market order
Each order type trades away one thing to gain another. A market order gives up control over price to get a near-certain fill. A limit order gives up the certainty of filling to get control over price.
| 🎯 Limit order | ⚡ Market order | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | You set it (guaranteed) | Whatever's available now |
| Fill | Only if market reaches your price | Almost always, right away |
| Best for | Patient target entries/exits | Getting in or out fast |
🙋 Why beginners use it
- 🎯 Hit a target price — Set the price you want to buy or sell at, then step away. No need to watch the screen all day.
- 🌊 Less slippage — In a fast-moving market, a market order can fill at a worse price than you expected. A limit order locks the price in. See slippage.
- 🔘 It's a basic button — On exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken, "Limit" sits right next to "Market" when you place a trade.
🚨 Things to keep in mind
- ❌ It might never fill — If the price doesn't reach your level, the order just sits open on the order book or expires unused.
- 🧩 Partial fills happen — If only part of the market trades at your price, you may get some of your order filled and the rest left waiting.
- ⏰ Set too far away? — A price the market never visits means no trade at all, just like if you'd done nothing.
❓ よくある質問
- Is a limit order guaranteed to fill?
- No. If the market never reaches your price — or only touches it for a moment without enough trading to fill the whole order — you get a partial fill or no fill at all. A price the market never reaches is the same as placing no trade.
- What's the difference between a limit order and a market order?
- A market order fills right away at whatever price is available, so it almost always executes but you don't control the price. A limit order lets you set the price, but it only fills if the market comes to that price, so it may sit open or never fill.
- What does 'or better' mean on a limit order?
- A buy limit fills at your price or lower (you never pay more than you set), and a sell limit fills at your price or higher (you never accept less than you set). 'Better' always means in your favor.