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Market Order
An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available price in the order book.
What it is
A market order takes the best available price RIGHT NOW. Pro: guaranteed execution. Con: you might pay slippage — especially on illiquid altcoins where your order eats through the order book. A $5K market buy on BTC fills cleanly at the spread; the same order on a low-volume token might cost 2-5% more than the displayed price. Pro traders use market orders for: (1) entries when an urgent breakout fires, (2) stop-loss exits where 'get me out' beats 'get me a good price', (3) liquidating losing positions where slippage is the lesser evil vs holding.
Example
An on-chain whale alert fires for a token at $0.0025. You market-buy $500 worth. Due to thin liquidity, your average fill is $0.00263 (5% slippage). The token still runs to $0.004 — your slippage was worth it for the rest of the move.
How Indikora uses Market Order
Indikora's AutoTrader uses market orders for entries to guarantee execution on fast-moving setups. Exits also use markets to ensure stops fire reliably.
Related terms
- Limit Order — An order to buy below current price or sell above it — only executes at your specified price or better.