Academy · Beginner

Orders and execution

The gap between the trade you intended and the trade you got is execution. It is invisible until it costs you, and then it is the only thing that mattered.

  • ✓ 16 lessons
  • ✓ 68 minutes end to end
  • ✓ Free in MarketPro
  • ✓ No sign-up to start reading

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A stop loss is not a guarantee of a price. It is an instruction that turns into a market order once a price trades, and across a weekend gap or a news spike those are very different things. A limit order guarantees the price and not the fill; a market order guarantees the fill and not the price. Almost every other difference between order types follows from that single trade off.

This category covers market, limit, stop and stop limit orders, OCO and trailing stops, slippage and partial fills, requotes, spread widening, swaps and commissions, and how to judge the fill quality a broker is actually giving you rather than the one advertised.

It is worth reading early, next to forex basics, because execution is the step where a correctly sized position from risk management becomes a real one, and where the difference shows up in the account.

The 16 lessons in order

  1. Market Orders vs Limit Orders One order type buys certainty of execution, the other buys price. You cannot have both, and the choice belongs to the setup… Beginner4 min
  2. Stop-Loss Orders Explained A stop-loss is not mainly protection. It is the number that makes position sizing possible at all, which is why the trade cannot… Beginner4 min
  3. Take-Profit Orders Explained A take-profit decides the exit while you are calm, then removes you from the decision. Most of its value comes from that timing. Beginner4 min
  4. Understanding Stop-Limit Orders Two prices in one order: one wakes it up, the other sets the worst fill you will accept. The second is where the risk hides. Intermediate4 min
  5. Understanding Slippage The price on your screen is an indication, not a contract. Slippage is the gap between the two, and frequency is what makes it… Intermediate4 min
  6. Understanding Leverage and Margin Leverage sets a ceiling on position size. It does not set your risk, and confusing the two is how a deposit disappears in a… Intermediate4 min
  7. Reading Candlestick Charts A candle encodes four numbers. Everything else people do with candlesticks is interpretation layered on top, and it is worth… Beginner4 min
  8. Chart Timeframes Explained The timeframe changes nothing about the market and everything about what you see, including how wide your stop has to be. Beginner4 min
  9. Order Book Basics An order book lists every resting order at every price, with the size behind each one. It is a precise picture of current supply… Intermediate4 min
  10. Trading Costs: Spreads, Commissions and Fees The quoted price is not the price you transact at. Four separate charges sit between the two, and only one of them shows up as a… Beginner4 min
  11. Demo Accounts and Paper Trading Demo accounts model the mechanics accurately and the consequences not at all. Knowing which half you are testing is the whole… Beginner5 min
  12. Position Sizing Basics Position size is an output, not a choice. Your account, your risk limit and your stop distance decide it, and the arithmetic… Intermediate4 min
  13. Risk-Reward Ratio Explained The risk-reward ratio does not tell you whether a trade is good. It tells you how often you have to be right before the… Intermediate5 min
  14. Trailing Stop Orders A trailing stop follows price up and never back down. The distance you pick decides everything, and every choice is wrong on… Intermediate5 min
  15. Understanding Trading Sessions and Market Hours The same instrument at two different hours is two different trades. What changes is the spread, the depth and whether a break… Beginner5 min
  16. Using Price Alerts and Watchlists Alerts and watchlists buy you the ability to stop watching. They only work if the levels behind them were chosen before the… Beginner4 min
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All 16 lessons in this category, plus the other 304 in the academy, with a quiz on each one and your place kept. Free on any MarketPro account, in the app or your browser.

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