Types Of Orders

There are various types of orders, which can be placed on the exchanges:

Limit Order : The order refers to a buy or sell order with a limit price. Suppose, you check the quote of Reliance Industries Ltd.(RIL) as Rs. 251 (Ask). You place a buy order for RIL with a limit price of Rs 250. This puts a cap on your purchase price. In this case as the current price is greater than your limit price, order will remain pending and will be executed as soon as the price falls to Rs. 250 or below. In case the actual price of RIL on the exchange was Rs 248, your order will be executed at the best price offered on the exchange, say Rs 249. Thus you may get an execution below your limit price but in no case will exceed the limit buy price. Similarly for a limit sell order in no case the execution price will be below the limit sell price. Market Order : Generally a market order is used by investors, who expect the price of share to move sharply and are yet keen on buying and selling the share regardless of price. Suppose, the last quote of RIL is Rs 251 and you place a market buy order. The execution will be at the best offer price on the exchange, which could be above Rs 251 or below Rs 251. The risk is that the execution price could be substantially different from the last quote you saw. Please refer to Important Fact for Online Investors. Stop Loss Order : A stop loss order allows the trading member to place an order which gets activated only when the last traded price (LTP) of the Share is reached or crosses a threshold price called as the trigger price. The trigger price will be as on the price mark that you want it to be. For example, you have a sold position in Reliance Ltd booked at Rs. 345. Later in case the market goes against you i.e. go up, you would not like to buy the scrip for more than Rs.353. Then you would put a SL Buy order with a Limit Price of Rs.353. You may choose to give a trigger price of Rs.351.50 in which case the order will get triggered into the market when the last traded price hits Rs.351.50 or above. The execution will then be immediate and will be at the best price between 351.50 and 353. However stock movements can be so violent at times. The prices can fluctuate from the current level to over and above the SL limit price, you had quoted, at one shot i.e. the LTP can move from 350…351…and directly to 353.50. At this moment your order will immediately be routed to the Exchange because the LTP has crossed the trigger price specified by you. However, the trade will not be executed because of the LTP being over and above the SL limit price that you had specified. In such a case you will not be able to square your position. Again as the market falls, say if the script falls to 353 or below, your order will be booked on the SL limit price that you have specified i.e. Rs. 353. Even if the script falls from 353.50 to 352 your buy order will be booked at Rs. 353 only. Some seller, somewhere will book a profit in this case form your buy order execution. Hence, an investor will have to understand that one of the foremost parameters in specifying on a stop loss and a trigger price will have to be its chances of executionability as and when the situation arises. A two rupee band width between the trigger and stop loss might be sufficient for execution for say a script like Reliance, however the same band hold near to impossible chances for a script like Infosys or Wipro. This vital parameter of volatility bands of scrips will always have to be kept in mind while using the Stop loss concept.