The price you receive depends on market conditions at the specific time of execution. A limit order is an order in which you set a maximum price you are willing to pay to buy a security, or the minimum price you are willing to receive to sell a security. By placing a limit order, you can take precautions that your order will not be executed above the limit for a buy order or below the limit for a sell order. However, by doing so, you take the risk that the order will not be executed at all if the order cannot be executed within the limit. Under some market conditions or for certain securities, we may decline to accept a limit order.
Market orders provide an execution at the current market price.
However, as previously discussed, during volatile trading conditions market orders carry the risk that the execution price you actually obtain may be substantially different from the quoted price at the time your order is placed. What You Should Know About Canceling Orders and Partial Execution Market orders must be executed immediately or as promptly as possible. Consequently, you generally cannot cancel or modify a market order since all or part of the order may have been executed by the time you placed your cancellation order. This can occur even though you have not received confirmation that your original order has been executed. At times of significant volatility, there may be delays in determining whether orders have been executed.