Entry types
Market, limit or stop: how each order fills, and what each one costs. · 7 min
Decide first
An entry is not only a price: it is an order type, and each type has its own rule for when and where it fills. Choose the type before you choose the price.
| Order | Rests | Fills | Pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market | Nowhere: executes now | At the next available price | Spread and slippage, always |
| Limit | Buy below, sell above the market | At its price or better, if price comes back | Missed trades, and fills that come when price runs straight through you |
| Stop entry | Buy above, sell below the market | Once price breaks through, at its price or worse | Slippage, and the full gap when the market opens beyond it |
A limit buys a pullback; a stop entry buys a breakout. Neither is better: they answer different plans. What matters is that the plan names one before the next candle, because the same price can mean a limit or a stop depending on where the market is.
On the chart below, a simulated range, try all three. Lock the plan and the next five sessions are generated only then: you see whether your order filled, where, and what it cost. In this simulator, 1R is the distance from the order price to the stop, so a better fill shows up as extra R and a gap as lost R.
Plan this chart
Simulated data · not real prices- Entry
- Market order at 104.09
- Risk per unit
- 2.30 (3.19 ATR)
- Reward to risk
- 2.00R
- Break-even win rate
- 33.3%
- Size at 1% of $25,000
- 108 units, $248 at risk
Fills at the next open, plus one tick of slippage.
Coach
- Note: The target lies beyond the resistance at 105.64, which price has to break first. A target just before it is reached more often.
Worked example: a stop entry through a gap
- Plan: buy stop at 50.20, stop-loss 49.70. Planned risk 1R = 0.50.
- News overnight. The next candle opens at 50.90, above the stop entry.
- The order fills at the open plus one cent: 50.91, which is 0.71 above the order price.
- In R: 0.71 ÷ 0.50 = 1.42R behind before the trade has done anything.
- If the stop-loss is hit now, the loss is 50.91 − 49.70 = 1.21, or −2.42R of the plan.
Common mistake: a buy stop below the market
A buy stop placed under the current price is already triggered: it fills at once, at market. Traders who mean "buy the dip" with a stop order end up buying the top. Check the direction every time: buy limit below, buy stop above.
Check yourself
- Price is 77.36. You want to sell short at 78.91, above the market, and not before. Which order?
- A buy limit rests at 119.01. Overnight news gaps the market down: the next candle opens at 118.61. Where does the limit fill?
- A buy stop at 106.6 with a stop-loss at 106.02 (1R = 0.58). The next candle gaps up and opens at 107.36. With one cent of slippage, how much of the trade is gone before it starts?
Closing round
Trade the range with resting orders only: a buy limit near the bottom, a sell limit near the top, or a stop entry outside it. Note how many never fill.
Play the round in the simulator →The simulator's markets are generated, not real prices; the round practises the arithmetic, it does not predict anything.
Further reading: Brooks, Trading Price Action Trends. The lesson teaches the idea in its own words and exercises.