The order type you click is a decision, not a formality — it’s you choosing whether speed or price matters more on this fill. Pick wrong and you get slippage you didn’t budget for, or a fill that never comes while price runs off without you.
Four order types cover almost everything you’ll do. Here’s what each actually does and when to reach for it.
Market orders: speed over price
A market order says “fill me now, at whatever the best available price is.” It prioritizes certainty of execution over certainty of price. You will almost always get filled — but not necessarily at the number you saw a half-second ago.
That gap is slippage. In a calm, liquid market it’s usually a tick or two and harmless. Around a news release or on a thin instrument it can be brutal: the price you see and the price you get can diverge sharply because the market moved between your click and the fill. On a prop evaluation, uncontrolled slippage on entries quietly eats into a drawdown budget you were counting on.
Use a market order when being in (or out) right now matters more than a perfect price — an entry you can’t afford to miss, or an exit where you just need to be flat.
Limit orders: price over speed
A limit order flips the priority: it says “fill me at my price or better, and if you can’t, don’t fill me at all.” A buy limit sits below the current price and only executes at or under your number; a sell limit sits above and only executes at or over it.
The upside is control — no negative slippage, ever. You get your price or nothing. The downside is the “or nothing”: if price never trades to your limit, you don’t get in, and you can watch the whole move happen without you. Limit orders are the natural fit for planned entries where you’ve decided in advance the price you’re willing to pay, and for take-profit exits where you’re happy to wait for your target.
Stop orders: triggers that become market orders
A stop order is dormant until price touches a trigger level, then it fires as a market order. This is what most people mean by a stop-loss: “if price hits this level against me, get me out now.”
The critical thing to understand is that a plain stop becomes a market order once triggered — so it inherits market-order behavior, including slippage. In fast conditions your stop can fill worse than the trigger price. That’s usually an acceptable trade: a stop’s whole job is guaranteeing you exit a losing position, and in that moment execution certainty beats price. Stops also work in the other direction as breakout entries — a buy stop above price to enter as momentum kicks in.
Stop-limit: a trigger with a price cap
A stop-limit order combines the two: a trigger level (the stop) plus a limit price that governs the actual fill. When price hits the trigger, instead of firing a market order it fires a limit order at your specified cap.
This buys you protection against slippage — you won’t get filled beyond your limit. But it reintroduces the “or nothing” risk at the worst possible moment: if price gaps straight through both your trigger and your limit, the order sits unfilled and you’re still in a position that’s now running against you. For that reason, stop-limits are better suited to entries and profit-taking than to protective stops, where an unfilled exit is exactly the failure you were trying to prevent.
Choosing the right order for entries and exits
Match the order to what you actually care about on that fill:
| Order type | Fills when | You control | You risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market | Immediately | Nothing (best available) | Slippage |
| Limit | Price reaches your level or better | Price | Missing the fill |
| Stop | Price hits trigger, then fills at market | Trigger level | Slippage past trigger |
| Stop-limit | Price hits trigger, then fills within limit | Trigger + max price | An unfilled order in a fast move |
A few rules of thumb that keep traders out of trouble:
- Protective stops should almost always be plain stops. Getting out is the priority; a stop-limit that fails to fill defeats the entire purpose.
- Planned entries and profit targets are where limits shine. You’ve pre-decided the price, so demand it.
- Reserve market orders for moments that genuinely can’t wait — and be extra wary of them around scheduled news, where slippage spikes.
Order behavior also varies by platform and instrument, so check how yours handles triggers and partial fills — whether you’re on cTrader, Tradovate, or another feed. Futures platforms and FX bridges don’t always route stops identically.
Whatever type you use, the size behind the order is what turns a fill into risk. Decide your stop distance first, then let a position size calculator set the contracts so your worst case is a fixed number — not a surprise. On a firm with a strict floor like TradeDay, that discipline is the difference between a controlled loss and a breach; confirm the exact drawdown terms with the firm before you lean on it.
The deeper point is that order type is one of the few things you fully control at the moment of execution. A hard risk limit enforced at the broker — the kind Shibiki holds for you — makes sure that even a badly-timed market order can’t push you past the line you set.
Related: position size calculator · cTrader integration · Tradovate integration