What types of orders are available on nabtrade?

Orders can be placed as either Limit, or Market. Using the nabtrade mobile app or IRESS Viewpoint you can also access Conditional Orders.

Limit Orders (Australian and International shares)

A limit order is an order to buy or sell at a particular price or better. For a Buy order, this is the most you are willing to pay to purchase shares. For a Sell order, this is the least you would be willing to receive for your shares.

Limit orders therefore ensure that investors do not pay more or receive less for their shares than intended.

These orders are able be filled only when buyers or sellers are offering to pay or to sell at that price or better. If there is insufficient volume to fill your order in full, it may be partially filled.

Limit orders can be placed at any time, whether the market is open or not. If the market is not open, the orders will queue until they are able to be released to the exchange.

Market Orders (Australian shares)

Market orders for Australian shares act as ‘Market to Limit’ orders. This means that investors do not need to choose a price, the order will be submitted at the best offer or bid price, depending on whether you are placing a buy or a sell order. The order will trade with whatever quantity is available at that price, and then will remain at that price as a Limit order, until filled, cancelled, amended or expired/purged. Due to this ‘Market to Limit’ treatment, once the order is submitted and a limit price established, investors will not pay more or receive less than this limit.

This type of order can only be placed during ASX normal trading hours when the market is open. You will not have the option to place market orders for Australian shares outside these times.

Market Orders (International shares)

Market orders for International shares (US, UK, Germany, Hong Kong) behave differently. They prioritise getting the order filled, rather than certainty of price. Investors do not need to choose a price, the order will be placed at the best offer or bid price, depending on whether you are placing a buy or a sell order. The order will then trade with whatever quantity is available at that price, and if that quantity was insufficient to fill the order, it will execute with the next best price, and repeat this process until the order is filled.

As such, provided there is sufficient available volume it is more likely these orders will fill completely however this cannot be guaranteed.

There are still restrictions on how many price steps a market order may be able to trade with. This varies according to the exchange and the stock price. If a market order will move the market price too aggressively then it may fail either the full order or part of the order.

Market orders for international shares can be placed outside of market hours and they will queue until they are able to be released to the exchange.

Conditional Orders (via the nabtrade mobile app or IRESS Viewpoint)

Conditional Orders are not a type of order, but rather a condition or set of conditions that, when met, trigger either a Limit or Market order to be created and sent to the exchange. When placing a Conditional Order you have to select the condition/s you want to use as a trigger, as well as details of the order you wish to submit if the conditions are met. Find out more about placing Conditional Orders.