What is a Market Order
A market order is an instruction to buy or sell cryptocurrency at the best price offered by an exchange at that moment. It is the simplest type of trading order. When the buy or sell button is pressed, the market order is executed almost instantly.
Each market buy order is executed at the best asking price. This is the lowest price at which someone else is willing to sell the cryptocurrency at that moment. For a market sell order, the order is executed at the best bid price. This is the highest price at which someone else is willing to buy the cryptocurrency.
A market order is often used when you need to immediately buy or sell cryptocurrency. For example, to take advantage of a potential profitable price increase or to avoid losses.
The Advantages and Risks of a Market Order
Even though a market order guarantees a quick purchase or sale, there is no price guarantee.
Therefore, market orders are best used for highly liquid cryptocurrencies with high trading volumes and for small amounts.
In these cases, there is a better chance that a trader will get their desired price for a cryptocurrency, precisely because it is regularly traded. For cryptocurrencies that are not traded regularly, it takes longer for the order to be filled. There is a chance that the price will change from the desired price to the final price at the time of sale.
For larger orders, the risk of price difference increases because it gets harder to find a counterparty that can fulfill the order at the best price in one go.
With a market order, you cannot cancel the order because it is executed immediately. It is also possible for a market order to be filled at different prices.
Note: When buying or selling digital currencies with a large spread, using market orders is not recommended.
Executing a Market Order via Our App, Dashboard, or Advanced Panel
Click on the platform where you want to execute a market order.
App 📱
- Open the Bitvavo app and log in to your account. Select the digital currency you want to buy.
- In this example, we are buying Ethereum. You will see an overview of the current price, a chart, and how much of this currency you already own.
Click 'Buy' at the bottom to purchase the digital currency. - Next, you can enter the amount you want to buy. When you fill in the amount of euros you want to spend, it will automatically calculate how much digital currency you will get. You can instead fill in the amount of digital currency you want to buy by clicking the arrows on the right, and the price will be calculated automatically. Once you have decided how much to buy, click the 'Preview order' button.
- You will now see an overview of your purchase. If everything looks good, click on 'Buy [Crypto]'.
- Congratulations! You have now purchased digital currency.
Dashboard 💻
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Open Bitvavo on your computer and log in to your account. Select the digital currency you want to buy. In this example, we are buying Ethereum.
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You will see an overview of the current price, a chart, and how much of this currency you already own.
In the module on the right, click 'Buy' at the top and enter how much of the digital currency you want to buy. -
If you fill in the amount of euros you want to spend, it will automatically calculate how much digital currency you will get. You can instead fill in the amount of digital currency you want to buy and the price will be calculated automatically. Once you have decided how much you want to buy, click the 'Buy' button at the bottom.
- You will now see an overview of your purchase. If everything looks good, click on 'Confirm and pay'.
- Congratulations! You have now purchased digital currency.
Advanced 💻
- Go to the advanced dashboard.
- Navigate to the top left of the screen to change the market by clicking the arrow next to the market pair, and then selecting the market where you want to trade.
- Choose a buy or sell order.
- Opt for a market order ('Market').
- Specify the quantity you want to buy or sell.
- Click on "Preview order" and then "Confirm" if everything looks correct.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my order split into multiple transactions?
The order is split into multiple transactions because multiple buyers or sellers were needed to fully fill your order (fills).
You pay per order, not per transaction, a maximum of 0.25% trading fees.
See below an example where 1 buy order is filled by 3 sell orders (3 fills).