Market Orders

How it fills

The order goes to the broker's server and is filled against the current price. Under market execution you get whatever price is there when it arrives, which in a calm major pair is the price you clicked. Around news, at the open, or in an exotic pair the price may have moved, and the difference is slippage, which can be in your favour or against you.

When to use it

• When you want to be in now and the price difference of a pip does not matter to the plan.
• When closing a position, especially a losing one; getting out matters more than the last pip.
• In liquid pairs during liquid hours, where slippage is rare.

When not to

• Seconds before or after a major release, when the fill can be many pips away.
• In thin markets or exotics, where the spread itself makes a market entry expensive.
• When your plan requires a specific price; that is what limit orders are for.

Maximum deviation

MetaTrader and some other platforms let you set a maximum deviation in pips on a market order: if the fill would be worse than that, the order is rejected instead. It protects against extreme slippage at the cost of occasionally missing an entry. Setting it to a few pips in normal conditions is reasonable; leaving it wide open during news is how ugly fills happen.

Key takeaways

• Market orders fill now at the best available price.
• Certain execution, uncertain price; slippage is the trade-off.
• Right for liquid conditions and for exits; wrong around news and in thin markets.
• Use maximum deviation to cap slippage where available.