Order

An order is an instruction you give to your broker to execute a trade under specified conditions. At its most basic, it's "buy this" or "sell that." But the variety of order types gives you considerable control over when, how, and at what price your trades are executed.

The main order types in forex are: market orders (execute immediately at current price), limit orders (execute at a specified price or better), stop orders (trigger when price reaches a certain level), and the combinations (stop-limit orders, available on MT5). Additionally, stop-loss and take-profit orders manage risk and lock in gains on existing positions.

Mastering order types is fundamental to good trade management. Many traders lose money not because their analysis was wrong, but because they used the wrong order type or didn't set protective orders. A solid trading plan specifies not just which pair and direction to trade, but exactly which orders to use for entry, exit, stop-loss, and profit target.