Stock Market Order Types Explained | ThinkorSwim Tutorial

In today’s video we’ll be going through all the order types available on the ThinkorSwim platform. This includes market, limit, stop, stop limit, trailing stop, and trailing stop limit orders. Market Order A market order indicates you want the immediate execution of an order for a stated number of shares at the next available price without any other restrictions. This means your order will seek execution once it is received by the market (as long as the security is trading). Limit Order A limit order indicates the highest price you are willing to pay for a security, or the lowest price you are willing to accept to sell a security. Your order will be executed at your designated price or better. This helps protect your order from sudden volatility, but it also means you will only buy or sell the security if it reaches the price you're seeking. Stop Order Stop orders can help you to limit your potential loss in an investment or to lock in profits. By setting an activation price below the market, if you are selling, you may be able to limit a potential loss should the stock price fall. Similarly, if you take a short position, you may be able to limit a potential loss if the stock price rises by placing a buy-stop order. Trailing Stop A trailing stop order is an order that is entered with a stop parameter that creates a moving or "trailing" activation price. As a stock's price moves, the activation price for your order will move too – allowing potentially profitable trades to run, and may help protect against a sharp pullback.