Overview of Stock & ETF Trades

The Stock & ETF Trade screens are accessed through the Trading drop-down menu. Here, you can place your Stock & ETF Trades. In addition to the standard Stock & ETF Trades.  The Price section allows you to specify the type of order you want to place:

Market Order
A buy or sell order in which the broker is to execute the order at the best price currently available.
Risks: We are required to execute a market order fully and promptly without regard to price. While a customer may receive a prompt execution of a market order, the execution may be at a price significantly different from the current quoted price of that security.

Limit Order
An order to a broker to buy a specified quantity of a security at or below a specified price, or to sell it at or above a specified price (called the limit price). This ensures that a person will never pay more for the stock than whatever price is set as his/her limit.
Risks: Limit orders will be executed only at a specified price or better. While the customer receives price protection, there is the possibility that the order will not be executed.
   
Stop Order
A market order to buy or sell a certain quantity of a certain security if a specified price (the stop price) is reached or passed.
Risks: As soon as the stop price is reached the order will be sent to the market to be executed "at market". The execution might be at a price significantly lower than the stop price, or than the current quoted price of that security.

Stop Limit Order
An order to buy or sell a certain quantity of a certain security at a specified price or better, but only after a specified price has been reached. A stop-limit order is essentially a combination of a stop order and a limit order.
Risks: Stop limit orders become limit orders when the stop price is reached or passed in the marketplace. Once the stop price has been reached or passed, the stop limit order may not be executed because limit orders will be executed only at a specified price or better.

The Duration section allows you to set the amount of time an order will remain open:

Day Order
A buy or sell order which automatically expires if it is not executed during that trading session.

GTC (Good Til Canceled)
An order to buy or sell which remains in effect until it is either executed or canceled.

Qualifiers:

Qualifiers are optional instructions you can add to an order:

AON (All Or None)
A stipulation of a buy or sell order which instructs the broker to either fill the whole order or don't fill it at all; but in the latter case, don't cancel it, as the broker would if the order were fill or kill.

DNR (Do Not Reduce)
Feature of a buy or sell order instructing a broker not to decrease the limit price on buy-limit and sell-stop orders by the amount of the cash dividend on the ex-dividend date.

Please Note: The above content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. TradeKing provides self-directed investors with discount brokerage services, and does not make recommendations or offer investment advice. You alone are responsible for evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of our systems, services or products. Definitions are ©Thomson Financial. ©2006 TradeKing.