Coinbase Pro

Overview of order types and settings (stop, limit, market)

On the order form panel, you can choose to place a market, limit, or stop order.

  • A market order will execute immediately at the best available current market price 

  • A stop order lets you specify the price at which the order should execute. If it falls to that price, your order will trigger a sell

  • limit order lets you set a minimum price for the order to execute—it will only execute at this price or higher

Market Orders

To place a market order:

  1. Select the MARKET tab under the Orders Form section of the Trade View

  2. Choose Buy or Sell and enter the size of your order. You can set the size in any supported currency

    • For example, selecting Buy and entering 100 as the amount, then setting the units to US dollars will buy one hundred dollars worth of the digital currency you have selected at the market price

  3. Confirm the order

Please keep in mind:

  • Market orders cannot be cancelled because they are filled immediately

  • Market orders may be partially filled at several prices. Each part of your order will be shown in the fills panel

  • Coinbase Pro will introduce a 10% market protection point for all market orders.  Market orders that move the price in excess of 10% will stop executing and return a partial fill. For example: a market buy submitted when the last trade price is $4,000 will only fill at price levels below $4,400. Protection points help prevent large orders from causing more than 10% slippage

Stop Orders

Stop orders allow customers to buy or sell when the price reaches a specified value, known as the stop price. This order type helps traders protect profits, limit losses, and initiate new positions.

To place a stop limit order:

  1. Select the STOP tab on the Orders Form section of the Trade View

  2. Choose whether you'd like to Buy or Sell 

  3. Specify the Amount and Stop Price at which the order should be triggered

  4. Specify the Limit Price

  5. A stop limit order will automatically post a limit order at the limit price when the stop price is triggered. Note that your stop order will be triggered instantly if the stop price you specified was already met.

Limit Orders

To place a limit order:

  1. Select the LIMIT tab on the Orders Form section of the Trade View

  2. Choose whether you'd like to Buy or Sell

  3. Enter the order size and your price

  4.  In the Advanced settings, you may select either Post Only or Allow Taker

  5.  Select Place Order to submit your order 

Post Only will ensure that your limit order is posted to the order book and sits on the order book to be charged a Maker Fees if it is filled. If any part of the order would execute immediately due to its price when arriving at the matching engine, the entire order will be rejected. This is useful for ensuring that an order is not subject to Taker Fees, if desired.

If you do not enable Post Only, any part of an order that is at a price that would execute immediately, will execute immediately and be charged Taker Fees; any remainder of the order will remain on the order book and will be charged Maker Fees if filled.

Allow Taker will allow the order to be executed regardless of whether it crosses the spread to fill an existing order. If any part of the order crosses the spread, that portion will be assessed according to the taker fee rate.

Advanced Limit Order Options

When selecting a limit order, expand the Advanced section to reveal the following Time in Force policies:

  • Good 'Til Canceled (GTC) - This order will be placed on the order book and remain valid until you cancel it

  • Immediate or Cancel (IOC) - This order will be placed and if it is not immediately filled, it will automatically be cancelled and removed from the order book

  • Fill or Kill (FOC) - This order will only complete if the entire amount can be matched. Partial matches are not filled with this order type and will not execute

Time in force policies provide guarantees about the lifetime of an order. These types of orders provide advanced options you may be familiar with when trading traditional assets.