Greater Fool glossary / Trading & Market Structure

limit order

An instruction to buy or sell a stock only if it reaches a specific price you set. The order will not execute if the stock does not reach your target price. Limit orders give you price control but may never fill if the price never reaches your limit.

In practice

You set a limit order to buy 100 shares at $48 when the stock is currently trading at $50. If the price drops to $48, your order will execute at that price. If the stock never reaches $48, your order will never execute.

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