CoinMarketLabBefore you trade, understand how an order reaches the market and what it can cost.
Order types
- Market order: executes now at the best available price. Fast, but you pay the spread and may suffer slippage.
- Limit order: executes only at your price or better. Can fail to fill.
- Stop order: becomes a market or limit order when a trigger price is reached. Used to cap losses.
Slippage
Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you got. It is larger on thin order books, in volatile markets and with large orders. On decentralized exchanges set a slippage tolerance so a trade fails instead of filling at a bad price.
Costs to count
- Trading fees and spreads.
- Network fees on-chain.
- Funding rates if you use perpetual futures.
Basic habits
- Use limit orders when you are not in a hurry.
- Size positions so one loss does not hurt.
- Avoid leverage until you understand liquidation.
Not financial advice.