Difference between Limit and Market button

[PaperWallet]

Hello,
Thank you very much for anybody who could answer this clearly, because online it's not that clear! If I click on limit, I only sell at the exact current price right?

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[adaseb]

Limit price you need to set a price, you can't just click Limit and expect the order to fill. Market all you do is type in the volume you want to sell or buy and click Market and it will fill at the best bid/ask there is.

If price is $50,000 and there is a bid at $49999 and an ask at $50001. If you do a market buy, it will buy it at $50001 and not $50000 which was the last traded price. If you do a bid at $49999, it will only buy it at $49999 if someone market sells to you at that price.

Let me know if this makes sense. I can explain better if you are confused.

[mk4]

tldr;

Limit: you set a buy/sell price, and that offer will execute when someone buys/sells at the exact price you set.

Market: you buy/sell the coin automatically based on existing buy/sell offers.

[PaperWallet]

Thank you very much I got it!!

[TheUltraElite]

Hello,
Thank you very much for anybody who could answer this clearly, because online it's not that clear! If I click on limit, I only sell at the exact current price right?

adaseb explained it nicely,

let me just anecdote it by saying that a limit order becomes a market order when a set price is reached. So you have a market price which is what you would want if you wish to fill the order immediately. Limit order will be stuck as long as the set price is not reached, when it do reaches that price, it will be executed just like a market order - because the market price is now the trigger price.

In very layman terms, when you set a limit, you are setting your "own" price, whether or not if it is reached. When you are buying at market price, you are buying at the immediate price at which the asset is being sold.

So you would set a limit when you are confident a price would be reached and you dont want to buy at prices higher than that. But say the price dropped even below your target price and you open your website to see that, you would rather want to buy immediately at that market price.

[thesmallgod]

Market order means your sell or buy order will be executed at current market price while the limit order allow you to set your own price you want to sell or buy. As soon as the set limit condition is met, the order will be filled partially or totally

[slaman29]

Good explanations and you should always sell or buy with limit. I personally like to even set really extreme limit buys for Bitcoin if I have spare cash to try and get good prices but of course you risk that the price never goes down and just goes up, in which case then I have to hold on to my alts but it all works out in the end;)

Limit for DEXs would be great...

[JooBra]

Good explanations and you should always sell or buy with limit. I personally like to even set really extreme limit buys for Bitcoin if I have spare cash to try and get good prices but of course you risk that the price never goes down and just goes up, in which case then I have to hold on to my alts but it all works out in the end;)

Limit for DEXs would be great...

Usually limit is better I agree. But other option is when you do margin trading I use market since I want to catch the price. Trading BTC is okey with market cause the volume is so big.

[lixer]

Thank you very much for anybody who could answer this clearly, because online it's not that clear! If I click on limit, I only sell at the exact current price right?

I will answer this in simple words for you.

Market: You want to sell or buy the coin at the market price without having to wait.

Limit: You set your order to sell or buy a coin at a desired price and wait for the market to reach that number.

I give you an example to explain better, imagine BTC is being traded at $60k and you want to buy BTC right now without caring what price it is, then you would simply use the market option and get at 60k or around that price immediately. Now if you want to buy BTC but you feel you need it at $59k then you can just put a limit order for buy and wait for the market to drop a little.

[MrcMrc]

I guess the limit market features require you to set the amount you either sell or buy, but the button features are the lowest amount in an order which is the last button price.

[slaman29]

Usually limit is better I agree. But other option is when you do margin trading I use market since I want to catch the price. Trading BTC is okey with market cause the volume is so big.

Margin trading doesn't help you to catch prices at all, it just allows you to trade bigger lots with a smaller capital, increasing your profit margin and your risk margins. Limit is setting exactly the price you want to buy or sell, and the rate/output you want to do. Margin isn't a type of order, it's a type of trading (also called leverage).

[tvplus006]

Setting a limit order is also better, because it charges a lower commission than when opening a market order. But you should remember that if you use a stop loss, you should always place a market order, otherwise it may not be executed due to low liquidity.

[Alucard1]

It is good that you have asked that question here, it will also be a good help for upcoming beginners who are not clear with these terms.
Limit = if you want to set the certain value you want to sell or buy, this is commonly happening if you want to sell higher your currency or you want to buy lower.
Market = if you want to buy or sell, then it will automatically do based on the buy or sell lists, this commonly happens when you need the currency right away.

[AicecreaME]

Good explanations and you should always sell or buy with limit. I personally like to even set really extreme limit buys for Bitcoin if I have spare cash to try and get good prices but of course you risk that the price never goes down and just goes up, in which case then I have to hold on to my alts but it all works out in the end;)

Limit for DEXs would be great...

Usually limit is better I agree. But other option is when you do margin trading I use market since I want to catch the price. Trading BTC is okey with market cause the volume is so big.

Well, limit is for safety purposes, for you to think wisely on what price you're gonna enter the market based on your prediction (usually limit market is on spot trading) while market is for an instant enter in the trading market because you're in the futures or it just hit up your price prediction so you wanted to catch up to make profits, that's the simplest way to explain what Limit and Market are for.

[apityeh71]

Beside type of order Limit and Market, I think you should be also understand about type of order Stop Limit and OCO/One Cancel The Order. These 2 type of order also important to use it for stop loss and trailling stop. When you use OCO order, you can make 2 order at the same time, that is sell limit/take profit and stop loss.

[jerry0]

Could there ever be an error when doing a limit or market order?  Example you want to buy or sell btc at around a certain price... let say current price is around 50k and you want to market sell it right now or limit order sell at say 55k.  I assume limit order is impossible... but market order possible?  Like imagine someone put an offer to buy btc at 50k but current price is 55k.  Then you accidentally put limit order to sell at 20k.  What happens here?  That buyer offering to buy at 50k can't buy your btc at 20k right?


Thing is i know with sportsbetting in an exchange, if you offer the wrong odds by accident and someone takes your odds... then i believe you are screwed because you are offering the odds.  But in exchanges for crypto, is this possible?  I heard its not in the big exchanges but if its not the big ones... then you screwing up is your fault?  Like imagine you put i want to sell one btc at 20k and someone see that offer or bot sees it, it immediately buys it?

[lixer]

Good explanations and you should always sell or buy with limit. I personally like to even set really extreme limit buys for Bitcoin if I have spare cash to try and get good prices but of course you risk that the price never goes down and just goes up, in which case then I have to hold on to my alts but it all works out in the end;)

Yeah, actually the market option is great for people who just came to the exchange to buy a coin quickly for some reason. Imagine if I need to pay a service or someone for their service then I won't make the limit order and market works best in those cases because I don't care about a few extra dollars.

Some really deep description of both the options and was a good read overall. I learn some new things almost daily.

Thank you very much I got it!!

Not everyone goes through all the replies so please lock the topic as you have already understood the difference between limit and market options.