Order types
Market and limit orders, resting versus marketable limits, partial fills and cancellation.
Two order types cover everything: a market order asks for size now at whatever price the book offers, and a limit order asks for a price and waits. Everything else is a variation on how long a limit order is allowed to live.
Market
A market order executes against the liquidity already resting on the book, taking the best price first and walking to the next level when a level is exhausted. You control the size, not the price.
- The average fill price can be worse than the top of the book. The ticket estimates that difference as slippage before you submit.
- If the book cannot fill the whole size, the remainder is not kept — a market order never rests.
- Market orders are always takers, so they always pay the taker fee.
Limit
A limit order defines the worst acceptable price: a buy will not pay more than its limit, a sell will not accept less. If the market never reaches that price, the order does not trade.
Resting limits
A buy priced below the best ask, or a sell priced above the best bid, cannot execute immediately, so it joins the book at its price level and waits. It becomes visible depth — liquidity other traders can take. Resting orders are makers.
Marketable limits
A buy priced at or above the best ask executes immediately, like a market order, but with a ceiling. This is the usual way to take liquidity without accepting unlimited slippage: it fills what it can up to the limit price and rests the remainder, if the time in force allows it.
Partial fills
Orders are not all-or-nothing by default. A 10-share buy can fill 4 shares now and keep 6 resting; the order shows as partial with a filled quantity and an average price, and the reserved collateral shrinks as it fills.
Time in force
| Value | Behaviour | Rests? |
|---|---|---|
| GTC | Good till cancelled. Fills what it can and rests the remainder. | Yes |
| IOC | Immediate or cancel. Fills what it can right now, discards the rest. | No |
| FOK | Fill or kill. Executes only if the entire size can be filled at once. | No |
Collateral
A resting order reserves exactly what it needs to settle: a bid locks USDG (price × size), an ask locks the base asset. Locked collateral shows as In orders in Portfolio and is not available for other orders.
Cancellation
Any open or partially filled order can be cancelled from Open orders in the terminal or on the Orders page. Cancelling releases the unfilled collateral and leaves the filled portion untouched — a partially filled order that is cancelled keeps its fills.