Investors familiar with online trading through a UK broker will find there is little difference in inputting orders in US stocks. But remember that care needs to be taken in working out the precise dollar amount being invested. Since many US share prices are much higher than UK ones, investors will typically buy and sell smaller quantities of shares - i.e. 100 shares rather 1,000.
US markets also use a wider variety of market orders. The most common are:
The 'market' order is simply the equivalent of what in UK terminology would be dealing 'at best'.
Limit orders operate much as in the UK. A 'fill or kill' is a limit order that must immediately fill (trade) in its entirety or be cancelled.
'Good for the day' (usually called simply a 'day order') is a variety of limit order that is triggered if the price specified is hit during the course of a single trading day.
'Good till cancelled' (GTC) means a limit order that remains in force either until the desired price target is hit or until the investor specifically cancels the order.
Some brokers allow investors to place stop-loss orders. These allow you, if buying a stock, to simultaneously place a limit order to sell if the price drops to a specific price.
Some exchanges have an automated system for executing stop-loss orders, but more often than not it will require the broker to have a computerised system in place to flag up and input a stop loss order where necessary. For this reason, some brokers do not offer this service, or do not guarantee that sell orders will be executed at the exact limit specified, or charge extra for executing them.
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