This guide is intended to help you understand the different types of orders available in Wealthsimple Trade – and when to use them.

Wealthsimple Trade currently supports four different order types –

1. Market orders
2. Fractional orders
3. Limit orders
4. Stop limit orders

Market orders

Market orders let you buy or sell a stock immediately at the best available price at the time of submission.

If the stock market is open, the order will be submitted for execution right away and will fill at the best available price contingent on the liquidity at each price level. Our executing brokers are obligated by law to give you the best available price based on the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO).

An example ‘market buy’
It’s important to note, market orders do not guarantee a price as they execute as quickly as possible at the best available fill price. All market buy orders are submitted with a 5% collar to protect your order from adverse price fluctuations.

If you submit a market buy order to purchase a stock that has a price of $100, we will submit this as a "Limit Buy" order with a limit price of $105. This means that your order will only get executed if the market price is $105 or less. If the market price is higher than $105, the order will remain open until the price falls below $105.

Market sell orders do not have a collar and will always be executed at the best available price, regardless of how the price may have changed.

Fractional orders

Fractional orders allow you buy and sell shares in fractions or decimals. This means that you can trade less than one whole share.

We submit fractional orders at the end of the trading day. We do this to consolidate all the buy and sell orders we receive throughout the day into full shares.

You can cancel a fractional order up until an hour before market close. If you place an order after the last hour of the trading day, it’ll be executed at the end of the next trading day. 

When placing a “fractional buy” you’ll be asked to enter the amount you’re willing to pay and we’ll give you the estimated quantity you’ll get. You can enter any amount; $200, $50 or as little as a $1. Because this order won’t be executed until the end of the trading day, you won’t know the exact quantity of shares you get until it’s filled.

When placing a “fractional sell” you’ll be asked to enter the quantity of shares you’re willing to sell and we’ll estimate the value you’ll get. You can enter any quantity; 1.2, 0.5 or as little as 0.1. Because this order won’t be executed until the end of the trading day, you won’t know the exact value of your order until it’s filled.

Limit orders

Limit orders let you buy or sell a stock at a specific limit price or better. A limit order gets executed when there is sufficient trading volume for your order at your price level to match with another order in the market.

Limit orders are not guaranteed to fill. If the stock price does not meet your limit price, the order will not execute and will expire at the end of the day or until you cancel it.

Note: All orders are any-part orders by default, which means that if an order can only be partially filled for the volume specified, it will execute that portion of the order.

An example limit buy order 
A limit buy is designed to execute at the limit price you selected or lower. For example, say you want to buy a stock that has a current price of $100 but you only want to buy it if the price drops below $95. You can set a limit price of $95 and the order will only execute if and when the market price is at or below $95.

An example limit sell order 
A limit sell is designed to execute at the limit price you selected or higher. You should think of your limit price as the lowest value you wish your order to be filled at. For example, say you want to sell a stock that has a price of $100 but you only want to sell it if the price goes above $105. You can set a limit price of $105 and the order will only execute if and when the market price is at or above $105.

Stop limit orders

Stop limit orders let you to choose a stop price and a limit price. Once a stock hits the stop price, your order will be converted to a limit order and fill at that limit price or better. You can use stop limit orders to try and limit losses or protect gains.

Note: it's not possible to submit stop limit orders for stocks traded on the NEO exchange

An example stop limit buy
ABC is currently trading at $100 but you think it’s going to increase and want to buy once the price starts moving upwards. You place a stop-limit buy order for 1 share of ABC and set the stop price at $110 and the limit price at $115. If the price of ABC reaches $110, your order will automatically convert to a limit order with a limit price of $115.

If your stop price is lower than the current price of ABC, your limit order will trigger right away (if CAD) or be rejected by our executing broker (if USD).

Note: At the moment, all Canadian buy stop-limit orders must be submitted with the stop and limit price as the same value.

An example stop limit sell
ABC is currently trading at $100 but if the price starts to slip too much, you may want to sell it at a specific price to protect your capital. You place a stop limit sell order for 1 share of ABC and set the stop price at $90 and the limit price at $85. If the price of ABC reaches $90, your order will automatically be converted into a limit order with a limit price of $85. If the stop price is higher than the current price, the limit order will trigger right away (if CAD) or be rejected by our executing broker (if USD).

Note: All TSX and TSXV stop limit orders must be submitted with the stop and limit price as the same value.

These are the stop limit orders we support today:

CAD Buy

• Stop price is higher than market price
• Stop price is lower than market price

CAD Sell

• Stop price is higher than market price
• Stop price is lower than market price

USD Buy

• Stop price is higher than market price

USD Sell

• Stop price is lower than market price