Course 3 of 5 · Beginner · 10 min
Orders, execution and market hours
What each order type does, when your level is a trigger rather than a price, and how the clock changes what a trade costs.
Course overview
Description
An order is an instruction with a condition attached, and the condition you choose decides two things: whether you get in at all, and at what price. No order type gives you both.
This course covers market, limit and stop orders, what a stop-loss can and cannot protect you from, and how long a pending order stays alive after you have forgotten about it.
It closes on the trading day — session times in UTC, how they land across the Gulf, Africa and South Asia, and why the same order costs several times more at the wrong hour.
Example lesson: a stop-loss is a trigger, not a price
A stop-loss closes an open position once the price reaches a level you set. What it does not do is fix the price you exit at.
It is a stop order, so once triggered it becomes a market order and fills at the first price available. In normal conditions those sit close together. Over a weekend gap or a scheduled release they may not.
A stop-loss closes the position, which is its job. It does not cap the cost at the number you wrote down.
| Session hours, UTC | |
|---|---|
| Sydney | 22:00 – 07:00 |
| Tokyo | 00:00 – 09:00 |
| London | 08:00 – 17:00 |
| New York | 13:00 – 22:00 |
Check your understanding
3 questions. Nothing is recorded and nothing is sent anywhere — the answers are checked in your browser.
Where does a buy limit order sit?
A buy limit sits below the market: buy, but only if it gets cheaper. It fills at your price or better, or not at all.
A good-till-cancelled order you placed two weeks ago is…
Good-till-cancelled orders stay on the server until you delete them, including across weekends.
Why does the same order cost more at 23:00 UTC than at 13:30 UTC?
The spread reflects how many participants are quoting. With London and New York closed, it widens — and a nearby stop sits closer to being touched.
Practise it before it costs anything
A demo account runs the same platform on the same live prices, with nothing at stake.
