Types of orders

Limit Orders
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All orders submitted on Invest Direct are limit orders. A limit order is an order to buy or sell a stock at a specific price or better. A buy limit sets the maximum price you are willing to pay, and a sell limit sets the minimum price at which you are willing to sell. Limit orders ensure that you pay or receive a specific price, but do not necessarily ensure that your order will be executed. For example, you may wish to purchase a stock that is currently quoted at a $2.04 bid, $2.07 offer, but do not want to pay more than $2.02. If you place a limit order at $2.02, your order will only be filled if the price drops to $2.02 or lower and there are no orders ahead of yours based on time priority rules. If it continues to trade at its current quote, your order would not trade.
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​Partially Traded Orders
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Dependent on your order size, and price, there may not be enough bid/offer volume in the market to fill your whole order at your requested price. If this is the case, your order will partially trade, meaning only a portion of it will trade in the market until other buyers or sellers can fill the rest of your order at your requested price, or the order expires.
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If your order only partially trades, you will not be charged brokerage for each part of the order traded, rather, you will be charged for the amount of the order that trades.
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​Market Orders
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Market orders are more typically used with prioritising speed of execution over price. They are meant to be executed as quickly as possible at the current asking price. Market orders are usually filled at a price dictated by the market at the time. Please note, market orders can not be submitted on Invest Direct.
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​How Your Order Will Be Handled
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You can submit your orders through Invest Direct at any time. You can read more information about market trading hours in our help article, what are the market trading hours?
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As part of keeping you safe and meeting regulatory obligations, our broker is required to review you order before it is placed with the relevant exchange.