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Investing & the Stock Market vocabulary · Orders & Trading

Market order

Meaning in investing & the stock market, with examples

/ˈmɑːrkɪt ˌɔːrdər/nounCore term

In investing & the stock market, market order means: An instruction to buy or sell a security immediately at the best price currently available, without setting a price limit.

In Turkish: piyasa emri, piyasa fiyatından emir

How it is used

The simplest order type on any trading platform. You place or send a market order when speed matters more than the exact price. In fast or thin markets the final price can differ from the last price you saw; this difference is called slippage.

Example sentences

  1. I placed a market order at the open and got filled at 41.20.

  2. Avoid market orders on illiquid stocks; the spread can be very wide.

Common collocations

  • place a market order
  • send a market order
  • market order to buy
  • fill a market order
  • limit orderAn instruction to buy at or below a chosen price, or to sell at or above a chosen price. The order is only executed if the market reaches that price.
  • stop-loss orderAn order that automatically sells a security if its price falls to a chosen level, used to limit how much an investor can lose on a position.
  • bid-ask spreadThe difference between the highest price a buyer is offering (the bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (the ask) for a security at a given moment.
  • liquidityHow easily an asset can be bought or sold quickly without a big change in its price. A liquid market has many buyers and sellers.

More terms: Orders & Trading

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.