This one pulls together the order-type threads and the order-entry error threads, because they turned out to be the same conversation. How you send an order and what you accidentally send are both execution costs, and both are mostly fixable with setup rather than willpower.
Market or limit for entries
The limit vs market thread frames it as a cost question. Market orders guarantee the fill and charge you spread plus slippage. Limits get a better price and no negative slip, but no guarantee of a fill, and the missed trades are often the best ones because price never came back. The point it makes, and which almost nobody does, is that a fair comparison needs both sides: average cost per market fill, and the result of the limit orders that didn't fill.
The EA limit-entry thread is the practical version. Switching to limits at the signal level with an expiry of a few candles cut the average cost and removed entry slippage, at the price of skipped trades. Two replies are worth reading. One tried a middle option, a limit placed slightly beyond the signal so it fills on a small pullback. Another argued for accepting the missed winners as the price of the method rather than bolting on a market fallback, because the fallback brings the costs back. There isn't a consensus there, which is honest.
Stop-limit in fast markets
The stop-limit thread covers the in-between order: a trigger plus a worst acceptable price. Useful for breakout entries where a bad fill wrecks the R:R. Dangerous as a stop loss, because if price gaps through your limit you're simply not out. That caveat is the most important line in the thread.
Basics that still catch people
- Which side of the quote triggers what. A reply in the order types thread points out buy orders trigger on the ask and sells on the bid, which matters a lot at rollover and around news when the spread blows out.
- Old pending orders filling days later in different conditions.
- Buy stops left above price into CPI, triggered by the spike and reversed straight through.
- Fix from the pending mistakes thread: every pending order gets an expiry, end of session by default.
The two error threads are short and very practical. The common expensive mistakes are buy instead of sell, an extra zero on the lot size, a limit and stop confused so it fills instantly, and a stop on the wrong side. The fixes that came up:
- Set a maximum lot per order in the platform or client area, near your normal maximum. The worst typo becomes survivable.
- Watch the default lot trap. MetaTrader remembers your last size, so a quick click after a bigger trade becomes a bigger trade.
- Say the pair and direction out loud before sending. Sounds silly, catches the wrong-direction click.
- Keep an error log with the circumstances. If most mistakes happen late at night, the fix is not trading late at night, not "being more careful".
Anyone measured their limit fill rate against the trades they missed? I'd like to see real numbers on how often the missed ones were the big winners.
Threads this pulls from
- Limit vs Market Entries for Scalping: Cost, Fill Rate and Missed Trades
- Limit order entries in an EA instead of market orders, what it did to fills and missed trades
- Stop-Limit Orders in Fast Markets: Avoiding Slippage at the Cost of Fills
- Order Types Explained, Market, Limit, Stop and Why They Matter
- Pending Order Mistakes That Cost Traders Money
- Order-Entry Errors: A Checklist for the Most Expensive Typos
- Preventing Fat-Finger Errors: Designing Your Setup to Fail Safely
