Novice
Orders and costs
Market, limit, stops — and the quiet costs that eat results. Education only — not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold anything.
Order types (vocab)
- Market — urgency over price precision; can slip.
- Limit — price ceiling/floor; may not fill.
- Stop — trigger that becomes a market/limit order; gaps can overshoot.
Costs beyond “commission”
- Spread — bid/ask gap you cross.
- Slippage — fill worse than expected.
- Fees / borrow / financing — product- and account-dependent.
“Free” trading still has costs
Zero commission is not zero cost. Spreads, payment-for-order-flow economics, and opportunity cost still exist. Literacy names them.
Practice tip framing
On a paper desk, compare market vs limit fills on the same name. Feel the tradeoff between speed and price without real cash.