Market and limit orders
Fill now at the prices on the book, or name your price and wait for it.
5 minLesson 1 of 52 questions at the end
Key ideas
- 1A market order fills straight away against the order book, at the prices on offer, nearest first, within your bot’s slippage limit.
- 2A limit order names a price. It fills only at that price or better, and waits on the book until then.
- 3Market orders pay Hyperliquid’s taker fee (0.045%); a limit order that rests on the book pays the maker fee (0.015%). The bot fee (0.05% on a typical bot) applies to both.
- 4In Lance Trade, “Post only” makes sure a limit order only ever rests on the book, so it can’t pay the taker fee by accident.
Two kinds of order
Market order
- Fills now, at the prices on the book, nearest first
- Certain to fill, the price can be a little worse
- Taker fee: 0.045%
Limit order
- Fills only at your price or better
- Certain of the price, might never fill
- Maker fee when it rests: 0.015%
The bot fee (0.05% on a typical bot) is added to either. In Telegram, every order is a market order; limit orders are placed in Lance Trade.
- BTC now
- 100,000
- Market buy
- Fills now, near 100,000, taker fee 0.045%
- Limit buy at −2%
- Waits for 98,000, maker fee 0.015%
The market order is certain to fill; the limit order is certain of its price, but might never fill.
GTC and Post only
- GTC (good till cancelled): the order waits on the book until it fills or you cancel it. If its price is already on the other side of the book, it fills straight away like a market order, at your price or better.
- Post only: the order may only rest on the book. If it would fill straight away, it is cancelled instead, so it always pays the maker fee.
The rules Lance checks
Common mistakes
- Using market orders in a thin market. Large orders walk the book and fill at worse prices.
- Setting a limit price on the wrong side of the market. A buy limit above the price fills straight away, like a market order.
- Forgetting resting orders. A limit order stays on the book until it fills or you cancel it, even days later.
Check yourself
Question 1 of 2
BTC trades at $100,000. You place a buy limit at $98,000. What happens?
Keys 1 to 3 pick an answer, Enter checks it
Try it in Lance
In the order panel, pick Limit, type a price and see whether it would rest or fill now.
Switch to a limit order