What Is a Crypto Market Order and How Does It Fill?
A crypto market order buys or sells a coin right away at the best available price. It fills against the order book, and slippage can worsen your fill.
Vahe HakobyanEditor-in-chief
Updated Oct 6, 20263 min readFact-checked
On this page
- A market order matches resting limit orders, not a set price.
- Slippage can worsen your fill in thin or volatile markets.
- A limit order names a price; a market order does not.
- Some exchanges partially fill and cancel the remainder.
An order is a message telling an exchange to buy or sell something. With a market order, you send that message and let the exchange take the best offers on the other side of its book.
What Is a Crypto Market Order?
A crypto market order tells the exchange to buy or sell a coin right away at whatever prices are current. You do not name a price.
How Does It Fill?
The exchange matches it against its order book, which holds limit orders other traders posted. A market order sets no price of its own.
- The engine works from the best price outward.
- One order can match several counterparties at different prices.
- Some exchanges partially fill it and cancel the unfilled remainder.
When Speed Matters
A market order puts fast execution ahead of the exact fill price. Traders use it when getting in or out now matters more than the price.
What Are Its Main Limits?
The main limit is slippage. Slippage is the gap between the price you expected and the price you get. It grows when the book is thin or prices move fast.
How Is It Different From Limit?
A limit order lets you set the highest price you will pay to buy or the lowest you will accept to sell. A market order sets no price limit.
Frequently asked questions
Once it matches against the book, it cannot be canceled. Some exchanges let you cancel a partly unfilled remainder.
Thin books, fast moves and large orders cause it. On a deep, quiet pair slippage is usually small.
Crypto exchanges usually run all day, so a market order does not wait for an opening bell. Thinner weekend liquidity can widen slippage.
