What Is a Limit Order Book? Definition and Data (2024)

What Is a Limit Order Book?

A limit order book is a record of outstanding limit orders maintained by the security specialist who works at the exchange. A limit order is a type oforderto buy or sell a security at a specific price or better. A buy limit order is an order to buy at a preset price or lower while a sell limit order is an order to sell a security at a pre-specified price or higher.

When a limit order for a security is entered, it is kept on record by the security specialist. As buy and sell limit orders for the security are given, the specialist keeps a record of all of these orders in the order book. The specialist executes the orders at or better than the given limit price when the market moves to the pre-specified price.

Key Takeaways

  • A limit order book is a record of outstanding limit orders maintained by the security specialist who works at the exchange.
  • A limit order is a type oforderto buy or sell a security at a specific price or better.
  • When a limit order for a security is entered, it is kept on record by the security specialist.
  • As buy and sell limit orders for the security are given, the specialist keeps a record of all of these orders in the order book.

Understanding a Limit Order Book

The specialist running the limit order book has the responsibility to guarantee that the top priority order is executed before other orders in the book, and before other orders at an equal or worse price held or submitted by other traders on the floor, such as floor brokers and market makers.

The specialist earns a profit off of the spread between the difference in prices between the bid and ask orders on their book as they execute the orders. With the advancements in trading system technologies, the process has shifted from a manual process to one that is largely automated.

Tracking Limit Orders

In 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began to create a centralized limit order book that keeps track of limit orders on exchanges electronically. This electronic order tracking system automatically matches for the execution of the best possible pair of orders in the system. The best pair is made up of the highest bid, and the lowest ask orders.

The bid is the price the specialist or exchange will sell a security or the price at which an investor can buy the security. The ask or offer is the price at which the specialist or exchange will buy a security or the price at which the investor can sell the security.

When a limit order is entered into a trading system and fielded by either a specialist working the book or an electronic database of orders, it will stay on the books until it can be matched with a suitable trade and executed. Buy limit orders are placed with an upper price threshold. The investor would say "I don't want to pay more than $X for this share." Sell limit orders are placed with a lower price threshold. The investor would say "I don't want to sell this share for less than $X."

Limit Order Qualifiers

A limit order may include "qualifiers." Without qualifiers on an order, the request will be valid only for the market day, considered a "day order," and may expire without any purchase, or with only a partial fulfillment of shares.

If an investor's order states, "buy 10,000 shares of XYZ common @32," they have requested to buy 10,000 shares at $32 or a better price, the qualifier for this order.

If the investor's strategy requires 10,000 to be filled at any time at the requested price or better, it may be entered as "buy 10,000 shares XYZ @32 GTC." A "Good 'Til Cancelled" order instructs the market to acquire those shares until the order is canceled, even if the purchase is completed 100 shares at a time and over several weeks. The investor wants the order completed regardless of how long the market takes to fill the order.

Another qualifier is the AON, or "All of None." Investors may not want to risk only partially completing the order, so they use this qualifier to instruct the market to fill this order with all 10,000 shares as requested or buy none.

There are other types of order qualifiers that allow an investor to ensure the transaction is executed exactly in the manner that suits their particular investment objective, and in each case, define the "limits" the investor is putting on the market to make the trade.

Special Considerations

Investors are guaranteed to get the price if the order is triggered after the market moves to the specified level. However, there is no guarantee that the limit order will be executed. In other words, the order can only be filled if the price hits the price level. Limit orders are helpful to investors because they help ensure that they don't pay more for a security than the pre-set price initially established with the order.

What Is a Limit Order Book? Definition and Data (2024)

FAQs

What Is a Limit Order Book? Definition and Data? ›

A limit order

order
A stop-loss order instructs that a stock be bought or sold when it reaches a specified price known as the stop price. Once the stop price is met, the stop order becomes a market order and is executed at the next available opportunity. Stop-loss orders are used to limit loss or lock in profit on existing positions.
is a type of order to buy or sell a security at a specific price or better. A buy limit order is an order to buy at a preset price or lower while a sell limit order is an order to sell a security at a pre-specified price or higher.

What is the best definition of a limit order? ›

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a stock with a restriction on the maximum price to be paid (with a buy limit) or the minimum price to be received (with a sell limit). If the order is filled, it will only be at the specified limit price or better. However, there is no assurance of execution.

What is a limit order for dummies? ›

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a certain security for a specific price or better. For instance, if you wanted to purchase shares of a $100 stock at $100 or less, you can set a limit order that won't be filled unless the price that you specified (or better) becomes available.

What is order book data? ›

Order book data, also referred to as MBO (market by order), describes an order-based data feed that provides the ability to view individual queue position, full depth of book and the size of individual orders at each price level.

How do you fill out a limit order? ›

How Do You Place a Buy Limit Order? To place a buy limit order, you will first need to determine your limit price for the security you want to buy. The limit price is the maximum amount you are willing to pay to buy the security. If your order is triggered, it will be filled at your limit price or lower.

What is limit order with an example? ›

In a limit order, the investor has to specify a quantity and the desired price at which he or she wants to make the transaction. Say a share is currently trading at Rs 100 per share but the investor wants to buy it at Rs 95 per share. A limit order of say 10 shares at Rs 95 per share is placed.

What is the easiest definition of limit? ›

In Mathematics, a limit is defined as a value that a function approaches the output for the given input values. Limits are important in calculus and mathematical analysis and used to define integrals, derivatives, and continuity.

What is a limit order book? ›

A limit order book is a record of outstanding limit orders maintained by the security specialist who works at the exchange. A limit order is a type of order to buy or sell a security at a specific price or better. When a limit order for a security is entered, it is kept on record by the security specialist.

Why you should always use limit order? ›

Limit orders can be a useful tool if your trading priority is price guarantee and you are willing to accept the risk of partial fills or your order not being executed at all.

What triggers a limit order? ›

First, your limit order will only trigger when market pricing meet your desired contract amount. If a security is trading above your buy order or below your sell order, it will likely not fill until there is price action on your security. A limit order can only fill if a security has liquidity.

What is a data book? ›

A data book is produced using the data collected from each of the surveys. These books contain percentages of responses for each item asked in the surveys.

How to understand order books in trading? ›

How to read order book. The top of the book is the highest bid, and lowest ask price. This points to the pre-dominant market where the price needs to be executed. For Example, a significant imbalance in the buy-side vs sell-side may indicate an upward or downward movement in the stock.

Is order book spoofing illegal? ›

Under the 2010 Dodd–Frank Act, spoofing is defined as "the illegal practice of bidding or offering with intent to cancel before execution." Spoofing can be used with layering algorithms and front-running, activities which are also illegal.

What are the four main types of orders? ›

Types of Stock Trade Orders
  • Market Order. A market order is a trade order to purchase or sell a stock at the current market price. ...
  • Limit Order. A limit order is a trade order to purchase or sell a stock at a specific set price or better. ...
  • Stop Order. ...
  • Stop-Limit Order. ...
  • Trailing Stop Order.

What is a good through limit order? ›

Understanding Good Through

Typically, a good through order is a stop loss or limit order that remains valid until the expiration date passes unless the order is executed, canceled, or amended. A special case would be a good 'til canceled (GTC) order which is good until the investor specifies it is not.

How do you profit with a limit order? ›

You open a take profit limit order with the profit price set to 170 and the limit price set to 168. The last traded price hits 170, triggering your profit price. A limit order to sell ETH at 168 is placed in the market, which will fill at that price or better.

What is Limit Order? Definition, Types ...Techopediahttps://www.techopedia.com ›

With limit orders, investors can control the price they get when buying or selling financial instruments. However, there are no guarantees that the order will b...
Key Takeaways · A limit order means buying or selling the security at the mentioned price or better. · Buy orders and sell orders are the types of...
Limit orders can be used to buy or sell stocks (and other securities):. Buy limit orders are stock purchase orders that are not executed until its price falls b...

What is the difference between a limit order and a stock order? ›

The Bottom Line

Investors can use two common types of orders to buy or sell stocks: market orders and limit orders. Market orders often execute right away at whatever price the market is charging. Limit orders won't trigger until the market price meets whatever price the investor is looking for.

Why would you use a limit order? ›

You want a specific price.

If you're looking to get a specific price for your stock, a limit order will ensure that the trade does not happen unless you get that price or better.

What is the formal definition of a limit? ›

A formal definition is as follows. The limit of f as x approaches p from above is L if: For every ε > 0, there exists a δ > 0 such that whenever 0 < x − p < δ, we have |f(x) − L| < ε.

What is the legal definition of limit? ›

1. In General, this is a boundary of scope, be it authority, power, privilege, or right. Prescribed bounds.

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