Market Order

A market order tells the exchange to execute right now at whatever price the order book offers. It is the simplest order type and the one most beginners use. The trade fills almost instantly, but the final price depends on how deep the book is. On a liquid pair the fill is usually within a fraction of a percent of the quoted price.

On an illiquid pair a market order can be costly. Suppose a token shows a price of 1 dollar, but the order book has only 500 dollars of sell orders near that level. A market buy of 5,000 dollars would sweep through higher asks and might fill at an average of 1.20 dollars or worse. The difference between expected and actual price is slippage.

Market orders typically pay a higher fee than limit orders because they take liquidity from the book. They are appropriate when getting in or out quickly matters more than the exact price, and risky when the asset is thinly traded or the market is moving fast.