Now that you have created and funded your account, let's learn some basic trading terms and order types.
Exchange definitions
Volume: The amount of digital currency being bought or sold.
Price: The price of the volume will be bought or sold.
Spend All: The 'Spend All' button calculates all available AUD and inputs the figure as a volume into the volume field.
Sell All: The 'Sell All' button calculates all available digital currency and inputs it into the volume field.
Best Buy: The Best Buy button gives the best available buy price.
Best Sell: The Best Sell button gives the best available sell price.
How to get to the Buy/Sell page
- Sign in to your BTC Markets account.
- Select 'Buy/Sell' on the main menu.
- Select 'Change Market'.
- Select the market you wish to trade.
What is a Market Order
A 'Market Order' is the simplest order type. A 'Market Order' allows a participant to buy or sell an asset immediately at the current market price. A Market Order will execute against matching orders in the order book at the best available price, until the entire volume of the order has been matched. This means that market orders will not necessarily fully execute at the initial top order price if the order volume exceeds the top order in the order book.
Please Note: Large value market orders may be susceptible to price slippage in smaller markets.
How to place a Market Order
- In the Volume field, enter the amount being bought or sold.
- Select ‘Buy ’ or 'Sell' and review the order.
- Once the order has been evaluated and the conditions of the order are understood, select ‘Confirm’ to place the market order.
Please note: Market orders will execute immediately after the order has been placed, and therefore cannot be cancelled.
Example
Eliza wants to purchase 0.003 Bitcoin (BTC) at the current market price. She selects the BTC/AUD market and then selects the "Market" tab to place a market order. Eliza then enters the amount of BTC that she wants to purchase into the Volume field. She then selects “Buy BTC”.
Upon selecting “Buy BTC”, a confirmation box will appear. Once the Buy order has been confirmed, it will immediately be processed. The trade will be matched at the best available price to buy BTC at the time.
What is a Limit Order
A 'Limit Order' is a semi-advanced order type. A 'Limit Order' allows a participant to place a limit order in the order book. A limit order will execute at the limit price until it is fully matched or cancelled. A limit order will not match to another order if the market price moves beyond the limit price before all the specified volume has been bought or sold.
How to place a Limit Order
To place a limit order:
- In the Volume field, enter the amount being bought or sold.
- In the Price field, enter the limit that you wish the order to execute at.
- Select ‘Sell’ or ‘Buy’ and review the order.
- Once the order has been evaluated and the conditions of the order are understood, select ‘Confirm’ to place the limit order.
Please note: Limit orders will execute once the limit price has been met. You can only cancel unmatched parts of an order.
Example
Alex wants to buy 0.001 Bitcoin (BTC) at a price of $11,000. He selects the BTC/AUD market from the drop-down box.
He places 0.001 BTC into the volume field and then specifies the price of $11,000. He then selects “Buy BTC”.
Once Alex has confirmed the order it will appear in the open orders as a limit order. The order then goes onto the book on the buy-side of the market. The limit order will be displayed in the open orders tab just beneath where Alex placed the buy order.
Alex’s limit order will sit on the books until the order is matched or cancelled. For the order to be matched, the market price will need to come to $11,000 AUD. If the market price moves before all of Alex’s order has been matched, then the remaining volume of the order that wasn’t bought will remain on the order books until it is matched or cancelled.
Got any questions?
If you encounter any issues while placing or cancelling an order, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at https://support.btcmarkets.net/hc/en-us.