Market order
Market order is the most basic type of placing a buy or sell order. A Market Order is an order to sell or buy at the best available price and is therefore entered without a price. The Time in Force for a Market Order is always Fill-or-Kill. Market order will trade through the Order Book until the entire quantity is filled. The order must be filled in its entirety or canceled (killed).
The volume of market order may be determined either in base asset or quoting asset.
Slippage is a common issue that is encountered when placing a buy or sell market order. Slippage refers to the difference between the trade execution price and the expected trade price. Slippage happens when there is a high market volatility and if there are changes in the market price. Placing a limit order on the other hand, prevents negative slippage.
Limit Order
A Limit Order is an order, to sell or buy, at a specified selling price or specified purchase price. If not fully matched or filled, it is stored in the Order Book in descending buy-price order or ascending sell-price order and joins the queue of orders having the same price according to time priority. Limit order is valid until it is cancelled.
To summarize, you may place a market order if you want to guarantee that the volume will be filled; limit order to guarantee the price you specified and to avoid negative slippage. We always recommend to place a limit order as you can specify the execution price. Otherwise, you may get an executed order with a higher and unfavorable price.
For more information about market order and limit order, you may also find the related blogs below: