What is Forex “Market Order” and the difference from “Limit Order”?

A market order is an instruction to buy or sell a CFD in a specified size at the best available market price for that size.

You need to remember that a market order can be executed at a price worse than quoted at the time you place it.

A market order immediately becomes an open position that can be kept an eye on in the Trade tab in your MT4.

Market orders can be placed only during the trading hours of the underlying asset.

A market order can have Take Profit/ Stop Loss Orders (pending orders) attached.

XM Official Website

What is Pending Order?

A pending order is an instruction to open or close a position if the price reaches, or crosses the level that you have specified earlier.

So, to become an open position, a pending order should be triggered first.

That comes in especially handy when you don’t have time to watch the market every second.

Just decide on a price you can go for, and the system will do the rest.

XM offers one type of pending orders – Limit Order.

You can determine both a profit you want to reach and a loss you can afford. You position will be closed out if either one of these parameters is reached.

Limit Order

A Limit Order is an instruction to buy a CFD at no more than a specific price, or to sell it at no less than a specific price.

This gives you a control over the price at which the Limit Order is executed, however this Limit Order may never be executed (or filled).

Pending limit orders can be found in the Trade tab in your MT4 and MT5.

1. Take Profit Order

A take profit order automatically closes an open position when the price level reaches the specified threshold.

Take profit orders are used to lock in profits when you are unavailable to monitor your open positions.

For example, if you are long Company XYZ at 109.58 and you want to take your profit when the price reaches 110.00, you can set this price level as your take profit threshold.

If the bid price touches 110.00, the open position is closed by the system and your profit is secured.

Your profit is converted into the account currency.

2. Stop Loss Order

A stop loss order is a defensive mechanism you can use to help protect against further losses, including avoiding margin closeouts.

A stop loss automatically closes an open position when the price moves against you and reaches the level you specify.

For example, if you are long Company XYZ at 109.58, you could set a stop loss at 107.00 – then, if the ask price falls to this level, the trade is automatically closed, thereby capping your losses.

If your pending order didn’t get executed, it means the market did not reach the level at which you set your pending order.

Thus, the order was not executed – within the time limits you set.