Glossary / Order types
Limit order
Definition
An order to trade at a specified price or better.
Why it matters
You control price but not the fill. Limit entries reduce slippage and are the reason many scalping strategies are only profitable on passive fills.
Example
A buy limit at $99.50 fills at $99.50 or better, never above - but if price only touches $99.51 and runs, you never get in.
How to track it in a journal
TradeStack calculates the core performance numbers — win rate, average win and loss, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown and consistency — automatically from imported trades, so limit order stops being something you estimate and becomes something you read.
Related terms
Market order
An instruction to buy or sell immediately at the best available price.
Stop loss
A resting order that exits a position once price reaches a set level.
Stop limit order
A stop that triggers a limit order rather than a market order.
Trailing stop
A stop that follows price by a fixed distance as the trade moves in your favour.
Keep reading
Trading journal guides
Expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, backtesting and the PDT rule.
Free trading calculators
Position size, risk-reward, expectancy and options profit.
Expectancy calculator
Expected profit per trade from your own numbers.
Broker CSV export guides
Step-by-step exports for Tradovate, NinjaTrader, IBKR and more.
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