What Is a Fill?

A fill is an executed order.𓄧 It is the action of completing or satisfying an order for a security or commodity. Order execution and reporting fills is a fundamental act in the transacting of stocks, bonds or any other type of security. For example, if a trader places a buy order for a stock at $50 and a seller agrees to the price, the sale occurs, and the order fills. The $50 price is the fill or execution price.

How Fills Work

There are several types of ways investors may attempt to fill a securities order. The first and most straightforward approach is the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:market order. In this scenario, an investor instructs a broker to buy or sell an investment immediately at the best available 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:current price.

This is usually a defaultꦓ option on an investor’s trading platform and highly likely to be executed. A market order is also sometimes called an unrestricted order and on average has low commissions, due to the lack of requirements, logistics, and effort needed to complete it.

Types of Fill Orders

In contrast, a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:limit order is an instruction to buy or sell a set amount of a financial instrument at a specified pric🍃e or better. A limit order may not fill if the price the investor sets is not achieved during the period of time in which the order is left open. Limit orders may be canceled if 🎃this occurs.

Limit orders guarantee that an investor does not miss a chance to buy or sell if the security achieves his or her desired price target. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Buy limit orders put a cap on the price above which an investor will not pay, while sell limit orders set a🗹 target for the cheape෴st price the investor will sell for.

A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stop order (also called a stop-loss order) is a limit order that becomes a market order once the target price is achieved. For example, if a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:buy stop order is entered at a price of $20 (above the current market price), and the stock achieves this price, it will automatically pꩵurchase specified shares at the next available market 𒐪price (e.g. $20.05).

In reverse, if a sell stop order is entered for $20, and the stock is declining, when 🐠it hits $20, it becomes a sell order at the next available market price, which could be $19.98.

Special Considerations

Investor orders will fill in various ways, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:based on the type of order entered into a broker’s system. While most orders will fill automatically when the price is triggered or achieved, at times, certain algorithms can specify that an or🌄der fills over a set period of time and/or bas♚ed on the trading volume of a security.

If an order has a stipulation or cond♈ition such as a limit price, the order may only be partially filled. A partial fill, for example, would result from only 2🧸00 shares executed at a limit price of $53.00 when the complete order is for 1,000 shares.

This can happen if only that smaller number of shares is ever bid for at that limit price while the order still stands. Limit orders and those with time constraints are subject💦 to partial fills, while market orders are almost always executed in full.