Table of contents
- A buy limit sets your maximum purchase price
- A sell limit sets your minimum sale price
- A sell limit below market can execute immediately
- A touched target can leave an order partly filled
- Price control changes urgency and fee treatment
- Keep a stop trigger separate from its limit
A limit order lets you buy at your chosen price or lower, or sell at your chosen price or higher. Choose it when an acceptable execution price matters more than completing the whole trade immediately. The important distinction is that the limit controls the price of a fill; it does not promise that a fill will happen (market and limit order guide).
Cornix supports manual limit entries with a specified order amount and limit price. That gives you two separate decisions: how much to allocate and the highest acceptable purchase price. Cornix also supports stop-limit entries with separate trigger and limit fields, so selecting the right order type matters before entering a number (entry order guide).
A buy limit sets your maximum purchase price
Suppose an asset has a lowest available sell price of $100, but you only want to buy at $95 or less. A buy limit at $95 expresses that boundary. It can wait while sellers ask more, then execute against suitable sell orders when they become available. You are choosing an acceptable entry rather than instructing the exchange to buy regardless of price (limit price guide).
The limit is a ceiling, not a demand to pay exactly $95. A purchase at $94 would also satisfy it. Before submitting, write the instruction in plain language: “Buy this amount, but pay no more than this price per unit.” If that sentence does not match your intention, change the order type or price before confirming. Read our beginner trading glossary if trading pairs and quote currencies make the amount field confusing.
A sell limit sets your minimum sale price
Imagine you hold an asset whose highest available buy price is $100 and want to sell only at $110 or more. A sell limit at $110 sets a floor on the sale price. It can remain open until suitable buyers become available. A fill above $110 is acceptable too; the order does not require the exchange to ignore a better price.
Keep quantity separate from price. Selling five units at your target is different from selling only one, even though both orders use the same limit. Review the asset quantity and expected proceeds before confirming. The arithmetic below illustrates a completed round trip, not a recommendation or a prediction of future returns.
In a hypothetical completed trade, you buy 5 units at $95 and later sell all 5 at $110. Purchase cost is 5 × $95 = $475; sale proceeds are 5 × $110 = $550; gross profit is $550 − $475 = $75 before fees. These results assume both orders fill completely at those prices.
A sell limit below market can execute immediately
Setting a sell limit below the current market price does not mean “wait until the price falls.” If buyers currently offer $100 and you submit a sell limit at $95, their offers already satisfy your minimum. The order can match immediately, subject to available quantity. Similarly, a buy limit above available sell prices can match immediately. A limit order is therefore not automatically a waiting order (exchange trading rules).
This matters when planning a protective exit. To act only after a downward price trigger, you need conditional logic. Cornix uses stop-type orders for stop-losses, breakout entries, and trailing features. A stop trigger determines when an order is submitted; a subsequent limit determines the acceptable execution price. These are different jobs, even when the numbers look similar (conditional order guide).
A touched target can leave an order partly filled
An order for ten units might fill only four if sufficient matching volume is unavailable. The other six have not been bought or sold merely because the chart reached your target. Inspect the filled quantity, remaining quantity, execution prices, and order status before treating the trade as complete. The same distinction applies to automated instructions: a chart event and an exchange fill are separate events.
Cornix Signals Bot trades depend on the connected exchange's order book, exchange limitations, and personal account settings. A signal channel's theoretical target can be reached while the actual order remains unfilled or partly filled. Compare the exchange execution record with the intended instruction rather than treating a channel update as a receipt (signal execution guide).
Price control changes urgency and fee treatment
A market order seeks prompt execution at available order-book prices. That price can differ from the last traded price shown on a chart. A limit order preserves an acceptable boundary, but the trade may remain incomplete. For an entry you can afford to miss, waiting can serve the plan. For an urgent action, decide whether leaving some quantity unexecuted would defeat the purpose before choosing the order type.
Do not assume “limit” also means “maker fee.” On Kraken Pro, a limit order that matches existing opposing orders immediately incurs a taker fee. Its Post only option cancels an order that would immediately match instead of letting it take liquidity. That choice changes whether the order proceeds at all, not just its cost. Use the relevant exchange's controls deliberately.
Keep a stop trigger separate from its limit
For a hypothetical stop-limit sell, a $90 trigger could activate an $89 limit. The trigger starts the instruction; $89 is the lowest acceptable sale price. If available buyers are already below $89, the limit can prevent execution despite the trigger being reached. That is the central protective-exit tradeoff: refusing an unacceptable price can leave exposure open. Study our automated exit guide before combining stop-loss and take-profit rules.
Cornix lets Signals Bot users choose Market or Limit for stop-type orders where the connected exchange permits that selection. With Limit selected, Cornix requires a limit price reduction, which places the sell limit below the trigger by the configured percentage. Evaluate the resulting price, rather than assuming the trigger and limit are identical.
Practice the distinction with Cornix Demo Account, a simulated environment using real-time market data without a deposit or exchange API connection. Write down your intended price and quantity, then compare them with the resulting order record. Open the Cornix Demo Account setup guide to configure that practice environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can a limit order stay open?
Its duration depends on the time-in-force setting. Kraken supports good till cancelled, immediate or cancel, and good till date for limit orders. Choose a duration that matches how long your price instruction remains relevant.
Can I use an exchange testnet with Cornix Demo Account?
Cornix does not support connecting external exchange demo accounts or testnets through API keys. Cornix provides built-in simulated accounts instead (demo account setup guide).
