What kinds of trades do you hope to execute? Most advisors suggest you start with simple trades. Options trading, selling stocks short, and other complicated trades require more experience. In some market conditions, execution may be at a price significantly different from the current quoted price. Limit orders will be executed only at a specified price or better. Customers using limit orders receive price protection, but with the possibility the order will not be executed.

This kind of price fluctuation is especially common in very hot stocks such as IPOs. Initial public offerings commonly have rapid changes in price due to the very high volume of trading for a new offering. There are delays in quotes, since the trading is simply happening too fast for quotes to keep pace in real time. This has led many novice investors to pay a lot more than they had anticipated for a stock; this is why a limit order can be a very good thing, especially if you are new to the stock market.

Traders need to have a handle on how things can happen in these rapid trades lest they be blindsided by these fast fluctuations in price. A high volume of trades can outpace the ability of quotations to reflect the real price at that moment. These conditions can also cause a trade execution and conformation to lag behind actual prices. Internet based traders are used to getting real-time information; but under some circumstances, these kinds of delays can and do happen.

There are no SEC regulations that require a trade to be executed within a set period of time. However, if firms advertise their speed of execution, they must not exaggerate or fail to inform their investors about the possibility of significant delays.

If you want to ensure that your purchase or sale of a stock is only within a set price range, youll have to use a limit order. These differ from market orders, which come with no conditions attached and are a direct buy or sell order; they may be filled regardless of the current price of the stock. Buy limit orders are only executed when a stock is at or below a given price and a sell limit order only when the price is at or above the predetermined level.

Should you want to buy a hot IPO that was initially offered at $9 but don’t want to pay more than $20 for the stock, you can place a limit order to buy the stock at any price up to $20. By entering a limit order rather than a market order, you will not end up buying the stock at $90 and then suffering immediate losses as the stock drops later. Also remember that your limit order may never be filled if the market moves too fast before your order can be filled. Limit orders will protect you from buying the stock at too high a price.

Know your options for placing a trade if you cant access your account online. Most online trading firms offer alternatives for placing trades. Alternatives such as Touch-tone telephone trades, faxes, or talking to a broker over the phone are usually available. Most of the time, these services cost more. Remember that any delays of getting online will probably delay the alternative order methods as well.

When it comes to your stock trades, never assume anything. A lot of traders have ended up buying twice as much stock as they wanted to after thinking an order had not been executed and placing a second one. Speak with your firm and ask them how you can confirm that your order has been executed so that you dont end up making this mistake.

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