Types of order execution

Market execution, Instant execution

Written by Anna Niedobova

Updated: 2022-04-29 05:33:21

XTB offers two types of executions

  1. Market execution (Standard and PRO accounts)

Market orders are executed at the current market price. It means that the displayed price is not guaranteed and the buy/sell order will be based on the best price that XTB can offer at a given moment, without a need for any additional confirmations from the Client, even if the market price has changed since the time of placing order (to the advantage or disadvantage of the Client). Unlike instant orders, the advantage of this type of orders is that there are no problems associated with their execution. The disadvantage is that the client is not sure at what price the order will be executed (especially in the presence of high volatility in the markets).

In other words: market orders guarantee execution*, not price.

Bid-Ask Spread

The spread on financial instruments on PRO and Standard accounts is variable and depends on many factors, such as: volatility of the instrument, available liquidity, time of the day, economic situation or XTB margin. The Company exercises the greatest care to ensure that the spread offered is consistent with the target values presented in the Financial Instruments Specification Tables.

2. Instant execution (Basic and Old Standard accounts**)

Instant orders are executed at the price visible on the trading platform at the time the order is placed. When a client sends a buy or sell order, the client does so at a specific price. If the market price, from the moment of sending the request to open/close a position, does not change more than it is specified by the "deviation" parameter (see more in section explaining deviation), the client's order is executed (regardless of whether the market price change was favorable or unfavorable to the client).

The advantage of this type of order is that the client always knows at what price his position will be opened. The disadvantage is that if the market price changes significantly between the moment the order is sent and its execution, the order will be rejected. In case of high volatility in the markets, e.g. during macroeconomic data releases, you may experience difficulties connected with opening and closing positions.

In other words: instant orders guarantee price, not execution.

*In extreme cases, e.g. due to a lack of available liquidity or an inability of XTB to determine the current market price, the market order may be rejected.

**Basic and Old Standard accounts are no longer offered by XTB. They can be accessed only by the clients who have not decided to migrate to new accounts.

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