Markets Desk
Markets desk
Two Questions Every Order Answers
Every forex order is a way of answering two questions: do I want price certainty, or do I want fill certainty? You can rarely have both at once. A market order gives you the fill and lets the price fall where it may; a limit order pins the price and accepts that it might never trade. Almost every order type is a variation on that single trade-off, layered with a trigger, a time limit, or a guarantee.
Getting the order type right is not a detail — it is the difference between a stop that protects you and one that fills far worse than you expected, or between catching a breakout and chasing it. This guide walks through each order type in plain terms, shows where it helps and where it bites, and flags the EU-specific execution rules that decide what actually happens when your order reaches the broker.
Every Order Type at a Glance
The table trades depth for a fast overview; each order type is explained in full below. “Price control” is how much say you have over your fill price; “fill certainty” is how likely the order is to execute.
| Order type | What it is for | Price control | Fill certainty | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market order | Enter or exit now, at the best available price | None — you accept the current price | Very high — fills almost always | Slippage: the fill price can differ from the last quote |
| Limit order | Buy lower or sell higher than the current price | Full — fills at your price or better, never worse | Conditional — only if price reaches your level | May never fill if the market moves away |
| Stop (stop-entry) order | Enter once price breaks through a level | Trigger only — becomes a market order when hit | High once triggered | Slippage on the trigger, especially on gaps and news |
| Stop-loss order | Cap the loss on an open position | Trigger only — becomes a market order when hit | High, but not guaranteed on gaps | Can fill worse than the stop level in fast markets |
| Take-profit order | Close a winning position at a target | Limit-style — fills at the target or better | Conditional on price reaching the target | Market can reverse before the target is hit |
| Stop-limit order | Trigger at one price, then only fill within a limit | Full — no fills beyond your limit price | Lower — may not fill if price jumps past the limit | Protection against bad fills, at the cost of no fill at all |
| Trailing stop | Lock in profit as price moves your way | Follows price by a set distance, one direction only | Behaves like a stop once triggered | A normal pullback can stop you out early |
| Guaranteed stop-loss (GSLO) | Cap the loss with no gap risk, for a fee | Exact — fills at your level even through gaps | Guaranteed by the broker | Costs a premium; offered by a minority of EU brokers |
Market Orders
A market order is the simplest instruction: buy or sell right now, at whatever the best available price is. It is the order you use when getting into or out of a position matters more than shaving a fraction of a pip. In a liquid pair during normal hours, the fill is instant and sits right on the quoted price.
The catch is slippage. Because you accept the market price, a fast-moving or thin market can fill you a little — occasionally a lot — away from the last quote you saw. On EU market-execution accounts that slippage can go either way, sometimes in your favour. On instant-execution accounts you may instead get a requote, a fresh price to accept or reject, rather than an unexpected fill.
Limit Orders
A limit order names the price you are willing to trade at and will not accept anything worse. A buy limit sits below the current price (you want to buy the dip); a sell limit sits above it (you want to sell into strength). It fills only if the market reaches your level, and always at your price or better.
The strength of a limit order — price control — is also its weakness: if the market never trades at your level, the order never fills and the move happens without you. Limit orders are the standard tool for patient entries, for taking profit at a target (a take-profit is a limit order), and for scaling into a position at pre-planned prices.
Stop Orders: Entry and Stop-Loss
A stop order is a limit order's mirror image. A buy stop sits above the current price and a sell stop below it, so a stop triggers in the direction the market is already moving — which is why stops are used both to enter breakouts and to protect open positions. When the trigger price is touched, a plain stop becomes a market order and fills at the next available price.
As a stop-loss, that behaviour is essential to understand: a standard stop caps your intended exit, not your worst case. If the market gaps over a weekend or through a news release, your stop fills at the first price on the other side of the gap, which can be well beyond your level. This is not a broker trick — it is how a market order behaves when there is no liquidity at your price. It is also the reason guaranteed stops exist.
Stop-Limit and Trailing Stops
A stop-limit adds a price ceiling to a stop. You set a trigger and a limit; once triggered, the order becomes a limit order rather than a market order, so it can never fill beyond your limit price. That protects you from a dreadful fill during a spike — at the cost that if price gaps clean past your limit, nothing fills at all. Use a stop-limit when a bad price is worse than no fill.
A trailing stop is a stop-loss that moves with the market in your favour and never against you. Set a distance — say 30 pips — and the stop follows the best price reached, always trailing by that gap, until a reversal of the trailing distance closes you out with profit protected. It automates good discipline, but set the distance too tight and ordinary noise will stop you out before the real move; too wide and you give back more than you need to.
Guaranteed Stop-Loss Orders (GSLO)
A guaranteed stop-loss order removes the one weakness of a standard stop: gap risk. The broker guarantees to close your position at your exact stop level even if the market jumps straight through it, absorbing the difference itself. In return you pay a premium — typically a wider spread on the position or a small fee that is only charged if the GSLO is actually triggered.
GSLOs are offered by a minority of EU-regulated brokers rather than across the board. They earn their cost when you carry positions over weekends or through scheduled events, where a gap is a genuine possibility, and matter far less for short intraday trades. See our comparison of EU brokers offering guaranteed stops for who provides them and how the fee works.
Time-in-Force: How Long an Order Lives
Any pending order also carries a time-in-force setting — the rule for how long it stays live before cancelling itself. Getting this right stops a forgotten order from firing long after the setup that justified it has gone.
GTC (Good-Til-Cancelled)
Stays live until it fills or you cancel it. The default for most pending orders. Brokers may still expire very old GTC orders under their terms.
Day
Expires automatically at the end of the trading day if it has not filled. Useful for intraday levels you do not want carried overnight.
GTD (Good-Til-Date)
Stays live until a date and time you choose, then cancels itself. A middle ground between day and GTC.
IOC (Immediate-Or-Cancel)
Fills as much as possible immediately and cancels the rest. Used mainly by active traders on ECN-style platforms.
FOK (Fill-Or-Kill)
Fills the entire order at once or cancels it completely — no partial fills. Rarer in retail forex than IOC.
Why EU Execution Rules Matter Here
The order type is only half the story — your broker's execution model decides what the order does when it arrives. Under instant execution you trade at the quoted price and are requoted if it has moved; under market execution you are filled at the best available price with the chance of slippage either way. The same stop-loss can therefore behave differently on two accounts.
Every EU-regulated broker operates under MiFID II best-execution rules and must publish an order-execution policy describing how it handles your orders and where it routes them. That does not remove slippage or gap risk, but it does mean the rules of the game are disclosed. For how routing itself works, see our guide to dealing desk vs no dealing desk execution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a market order and a limit order?
A market order executes immediately at the best price available, so you are certain to get in but you do not control the exact price — in a fast market you may be filled a little worse than the last quote (slippage). A limit order lets you name the price: a buy limit only fills at your price or lower, a sell limit only at your price or higher. You control the price but give up certainty, because if the market never reaches your level the order simply never fills. As a rule of thumb, use a market order when getting in or out matters more than a fraction of a pip, and a limit order when the price matters more than the timing.
What is the difference between a stop order and a limit order?
They sit on opposite sides of the current price and do opposite things. A buy limit is placed below the market and a sell limit above it, so a limit order buys cheaper or sells dearer than now. A stop order is the mirror image: a buy stop sits above the market and a sell stop below it, so it triggers on a breakout in the direction price is already moving. A limit order guarantees your price but not a fill; a stop order guarantees a fill once triggered (it becomes a market order) but not the price. Traders use limits to buy dips and sell rallies, and stops to enter breakouts or to protect a position.
Will my stop-loss always fill at exactly the price I set?
No — and this is the single most important thing to understand about a standard stop-loss. An ordinary stop-loss becomes a market order the instant your level is touched, so it fills at the next available price. In a calm market that is usually at or very near your stop. But when the market gaps — over a weekend, around a major news release, or during a sudden shock — the next available price can be well beyond your stop, and you are filled there. That is called slippage, and it means a standard stop caps your intended exit but not your worst-case loss. A guaranteed stop-loss order removes that gap risk for a fee.
What is a guaranteed stop-loss order and is it worth it?
A guaranteed stop-loss order (GSLO) is a stop that the broker honours at your exact level no matter how far the market gaps — if price jumps straight through it, the broker absorbs the difference and still closes you at your chosen price. You pay for that certainty: brokers charge a premium, usually a slightly wider spread or a small fee that is only kept if the GSLO is triggered. It is offered by a minority of EU-regulated brokers rather than universally. Whether it is worth it depends on your strategy — GSLOs are most valuable for holding positions over weekends or through scheduled news, where gap risk is real, and least useful for very short intraday trades. See our guaranteed stop-loss broker comparison for who offers them.
How does a trailing stop work?
A trailing stop is a stop-loss that follows the price in your favour but never moves against you. If you are long and set a 30-pip trailing stop, the stop starts 30 pips below your entry and ratchets up as the price rises, always staying 30 pips below the highest price reached; if the market then falls 30 pips from its peak, you are stopped out with the gain locked in. It automates the discipline of moving your stop to protect profit. The trade-off is that a normal pullback of more than your trailing distance will close the trade even if the longer trend is intact, so the distance has to suit the pair's volatility. Note that most platforms run the trail from your terminal or server, so behaviour on a disconnect varies by broker.
What is a stop-limit order and when would I use one?
A stop-limit combines a trigger with a price ceiling or floor. You set two prices: a stop that arms the order, and a limit that caps where it may fill. Once the stop is touched the order becomes a limit order rather than a market order, so it will only execute within your limit — never at a runaway price. The benefit is protection against a terrible fill during a spike; the cost is that if price gaps straight past your limit, the order does not fill at all and you are left in (or out of) the position. Use a stop-limit when avoiding a bad price matters more than being certain of execution — the opposite priority to a plain stop.
What does time-in-force (GTC, day, GTD) mean?
Time-in-force is how long a pending order stays alive before it cancels itself. Good-til-cancelled (GTC) remains active until it fills or you remove it — the common default. A day order expires at the close of the trading day if it has not filled, which stops a stale intraday level from firing days later. Good-til-date (GTD) keeps the order live until a date and time you specify. Active traders on ECN platforms also see immediate-or-cancel (IOC) and fill-or-kill (FOK), which deal with partial fills. Choosing the right time-in-force stops forgotten orders from executing long after the setup that justified them has gone.
Does instant execution or market execution change my orders?
Yes, in how fills and requotes behave. Under instant execution (common on some MT4 market-maker accounts) you deal at the quoted price, and if that price has moved by the time your order reaches the server you get a requote to accept or reject — you never get an unexpected fill, but you can be delayed. Under market execution (standard on ECN/STP and MT5 accounts) your order is filled at the best available market price with no requote, which means faster fills but the possibility of slippage in either direction. Neither is inherently better: instant execution gives price certainty with a chance of rejection, market execution gives fill certainty with a chance of slippage. Your broker's execution model, not the order type alone, determines which you get.
Related Reading
- Broker Execution Models: Dealing Desk vs No Dealing Desk — where your order actually goes and who is on the other side
- Best EU Brokers with Guaranteed Stop Loss — brokers that remove gap risk from your stop, and the fee for it
- Forex Trading Costs Explained — how spreads, commission and slippage add up to your real cost
- Risk Management for Forex Traders — position sizing and stop placement in context
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