market order

Market Order

An order to buy or sell a stock immediately at the best available current price.

Notes:

A market order guarantees execution, and it often has low commissions due to the minimal work brokers need to do. Be wary of using market orders on stocks with a low average daily volume: in such market conditions the ask price can be a lot higher than the current market price (resulting in a large spread). In other words, you may end up paying a whole lot more than you originally anticipated! It is much safer to use a market order on high-volume stocks, such as Microsoft or Wal-Mart.

A market order is sometimes referred to as an unrestricted order.

See also: Discretionary Order, Limit Order, Market If Touched (MIT), Order, Spread, Stock

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Market order

Used in the context of general equities. Order to buy or sell a stated amount of a security at the most advantageous price obtainable after the order is represented in the trading crowd. You cannot specify special restrictions such as all or none (AON) or good 'til canceled order (GTC) on market orders. See: Limit order.

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market order

A customer order for immediate execution at the best price available when the order reaches the marketplace. This, the most common type of order, has the advantage of nearly always being filled because no price is specified. Compare limit order. See also elect, stop order.