Investor.gov Guide to Order Types

This Investor.gov guide explains the purpose and limitations of market, limit and stop orders. It is useful for separating execution priority from price control and for understanding why a limit order may remain unfilled.

Use it as a neutral reference before selecting an order type on any platform. Product-specific rules such as session eligibility, fractional-share restrictions and time-in-force still need to be checked on the live order ticket.