Forex Market Orders

Online forex trading platforms offer the flexibility to enter a variety of order types that include:

Market Orders
A market order is an order to buy or sell a specific currency, which is to be filled immediately at the current exchange rate quoted on the screen.
Each of the online forex trading platforms offer real-time streaming forex prices with fast, easy and efficient one-touch order execution. The market order allows the client to follow the real-time bids and offers on the screen that can be executed with a click of the mouse. The most advantageous aspect of the market order is the ability for the trader to capture better fills.

Limit Orders
An order to buy or sell a currency pair, which is executed when the price is breached. For example, one places an order to buy 100,000 euro at 1.0950. The platform will automatically fill the order when the offer reaches 1.0950. Limit orders can be placed to both buy and sell.

Stop Orders
A stop order is a type of limit order that is placed to "lock in" a specified gain or loss, closing the position. Typically a risk management order used by clients to help manage their market exposure, this type of order can also be used to enter into a new position. Stop orders can be used to both buy and sell foreign currency contracts.

The traditional "stop-loss" order is used by forex traders to prevent losses in excess of pre-determined acceptable risk levels. Virtually all professional forex traders determine both their accepted targets and risk levels prior to entering each and every trade. For example, if one buys GBP/USD at 1.7480 you could enter a stop-loss order to sell at, say, 1.7460. This would effectively limit potential loss on the position to 20 pips if the price fell.

The "trailing stop" is used to lock in desired targets. For example, if one bought GBP/USD at 1.7480 and the price has risen to 1.7520, giving you 40 pips, one may want to lock in a certain amount in case the price falls back down. One would simply place a stop order to sell at, say, 1.7510. This assures that if the price does drop, the position will be closed automatically at 1.7510. If the price keeps increasing, the trader can may move his or her trailing stop.

The stop order can also be used to enter into a new position. For example, if the EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.3200 and one believes if the market breaches an expected support-level of 1.3185 that the EUR/USD will continue to fall in price until it reaches a lower support level around, say 1.3150, then you could place a "sell-stop" order at 1.3180. The sell-stop order will trigger an automatic order to sell at the market once the EUR/USD is 1.3180 bid, allowing the anticipated downward price movement. Conversely, if the EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.3200 and one believes if the market breaches an expected resistance-level of 1.3225 that the EUR/USD will continue to rise in price until it reaches a higher resistance level around, say 1.3260, then one could place a "buy-stop" order at 1.3230. The buy-stop order will trigger an automatic order to buy at the market once the EUR/USD is 1.3230 offered, allowing anticipated upward price movement.

It is important to note that, by convention, "buy limit" and "sell stop" orders are entered in below the current market price. "Sell limit" and "buy stop" orders are entered in above the current market price.