What is a market order?
A market order buys or sells right away at the best price available at that moment. You choose the amount, not the price, so the fill can differ a little from the price on your screen, especially in a fast market or a thinly traded coin. It is the simplest order type.
From the Staxo crypto glossary. The examples use Kraken daily candles (UTC), Oct 10, 2025 to Oct 10, 2026, for the eight coins on Staxo's free plan that are not stablecoins.
How a market order fills
A market order says: buy (or sell) this amount now, at whatever the market is asking. The exchange matches it against the cheapest sell orders waiting in the order book, starting at the best price and moving up level by level until the whole amount is filled. A small order in a busy market usually fills entirely at the best price. A large order, or one in a thin market, eats through several levels and fills at a worse average price, which is called slippage.
Because it takes liquidity that is already waiting, a market order is a "taker" order, and most exchanges charge takers a slightly higher fee than "makers", who add new orders to the book. In return you get the one thing a limit order cannot promise: the trade happens.
Market order vs limit order
- Market order: fills at once, price not guaranteed. Use it when getting in or out matters more than the last fraction of a percent.
- Limit order: price guaranteed (yours or better), fill not guaranteed. It waits in the order book until the market reaches your price, or until you cancel it.
- Stop-loss: a resting order that turns into a market order when the price hits your stop, so it inherits the market order's uncertain fill. More in stop-loss.
How much the price moves within a typical day
A market order fills at the price of the moment you press the button. How much that moment matters depends on how far the coin travels during a day. The daily range, from the high to the low divided by the open, measures it.
| Coin | Median daily range | Widest day | Worst close-to-close day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardano | 5.47% | 25.8%, Feb 6, 2026 | -14.3% |
| Dogecoin | 4.68% | 25.0%, Feb 6, 2026 | -14.7% |
| Solana | 4.55% | 28.5%, Feb 6, 2026 | -15.0% |
| XRP | 4.19% | 35.7%, Feb 6, 2026 | -19.7% |
| Ethereum | 4.06% | 22.4%, Aug 19, 2026 | -14.9% |
| BNB | 3.10% | 36.0%, Jan 19, 2026 | -12.8% |
| Bitcoin | 3.06% | 17.8%, Feb 6, 2026 | -13.9% |
| TRON | 1.56% | 17.1%, Jul 24, 2026 | -5.8% |
On a typical day Cardano travelled 5.47% between its high and its low, TRON 1.56%. So two market buys of the same coin on the same day could easily fill a few percent apart. Bitcoin, Solana, XRP, Cardano and Dogecoin all had their widest day on Feb 6, 2026, when the whole market swung at once.
How to practice it in Staxo
Every trade in Staxo is a market order: you choose the coin and the amount, and the trade fills at the current market price. If the price has moved more than 3% between the moment your screen loaded it and the moment you confirm, Staxo does not fill at the new price silently but asks you to refresh and confirm again. Demo trades carry no fees or spread.
To practice what a market order really costs, note the price on screen before you buy, then compare it with the price in your trade history. On the free plan you have 10 trades a day across 10 coins, enough to try buying the same coin at different times of day and see how much the timing changes your entry.
Free on iPhone and Android, $500 in demo money. Also on Google Play.Also on the App Store.
Market order questions
Is a market order a good idea in crypto?
For small orders in liquid coins such as Bitcoin, a market order usually fills very close to the quoted price. For large orders, thin coins or fast markets, the fill can be noticeably worse, and a limit order gives you control over the price at the cost of maybe not filling.
Does Staxo use market orders?
Yes. Every buy, sell and swap in Staxo fills at the current market price. Staxo does not offer limit or stop orders, so the price you get is the price at the moment you confirm.
Try it with $500 in demo money.
Free download, no card. Also on Google Play.Also on the App Store.
Educational content, not investment advice. The examples describe prices from Oct 10, 2025 to Oct 10, 2026 and say nothing about where they go next. Staxo is a simulator: you practice with demo money, never real money.