Understanding Orders
This page explains the different order types, time-in-force options, and order settings available on Gambit.
Order Types
Market Limit
A Market Limit order executes immediately at the best available price on the order book.
- Speed: Fills instantly (or as much as possible)
- Price: Takes the best ask price (for buys) or best bid price (for sells)
- Fee: Charged the taker fee since you're removing liquidity from the book
- Best for: When you want to trade now and care more about execution than exact price
When you place a Market Limit buy, the system takes the current best ask price and submits a limit order at that price. This gives you market-like execution with the safety of a price cap.
Limit
A Limit order executes only at your specified price or better.
- Speed: May not fill immediately. Sits on the order book until someone matches it.
- Price: You set exactly the price you want (between $0.01 and $0.9999)
- Fee: Charged the maker fee since you're adding liquidity to the book
- Best for: When you want a specific price and are willing to wait
Your order is placed on the order book at your specified price. It stays there until another trader matches it, you cancel it, or it expires based on your time-in-force setting.
Which Should I Use?
| Scenario | Recommended |
|---|---|
| I want to trade right now | Market Limit |
| I want to wait for a better price | Limit |
| I want the lowest fees | Limit (maker fee is typically lower) |
| I want guaranteed execution | Market Limit |
| I want to set a specific entry point | Limit |
Time in Force
Time in Force controls how long your order stays active if it doesn't fill immediately.
GTC (Good Till Cancel)
The order stays on the book indefinitely until it's fully filled or you manually cancel it.
- Available for: Limit orders
- Best for: Patient traders who want to wait for their price
IOC (Immediate or Cancel)
The order tries to fill as much as possible right now, then cancels any remaining quantity.
- Available for: All order types
- Best for: When you want partial fills but don't want an open order sitting on the book
You place an IOC buy for 100 contracts at $0.50. Only 60 contracts are available at that price. You buy 60 contracts, and the remaining 40 are cancelled automatically.
FOK (Fill or Kill)
The order must fill completely and immediately, or it's cancelled entirely. No partial fills.
- Available for: All order types
- Best for: When you need an all-or-nothing execution
You place an FOK buy for 100 contracts at $0.50. If fewer than 100 contracts are available at that price, the entire order is cancelled. You get either all 100 or nothing.
Order Options
Reduce Only
When Reduce Only is enabled, the order will only reduce an existing position. It cannot open a new position or increase your current one.
Use cases:
- Closing part of a position at a specific price
- Ensuring you don't accidentally increase exposure
- Safety net when you only want to exit
Fee note: Reduce-Only orders fees are charged the higher of the taker and maker fee rate as a safety measure. During actual reduce-only order fulfilment, depending on whether it is a taker/maker fee, any excess fee reserved will be refunded.
If you enable Reduce Only but don't have an existing position in that instrument, the order will be cancelled automatically.
Post Only
When Post Only is enabled (only for Limit orders), the order is guaranteed to add liquidity to the order book. If your order would match against an existing order immediately, it is rejected instead of filling.
Use cases:
- Guaranteeing you pay the maker fee (typically lower than taker fee)
- Ensuring your order provides liquidity rather than consuming it
The best ask is $0.50. You place a Post Only buy at $0.50. Since your order would immediately match, it's rejected. You'd need to place it at $0.49 or lower.
Order Validation
The platform validates your order before submission. Orders are rejected if:
| Condition | Why |
|---|---|
| No instrument selected | You must select a contract to trade |
| Quantity is 0 or empty | You must enter a quantity of at least 1 |
| Limit price is out of range | Limit price must be between $0.01 and $0.9999 |
| Insufficient balance | Your total cost (price x quantity + fees) exceeds your available balance |
| No counterparty | For Market Limit orders, there must be at least one order on the other side of the book |
The Buy and Sell buttons are disabled when any validation fails, preventing accidental submissions.
Cancelling an Order
Open limit orders (GTC) can be cancelled at any time:
- Go to the Open Orders tab in the bottom panel
- Find your order
- Click the cancel button
When cancelled, the reserved funds are returned to your Available Balance immediately.