Market Order

A Market Order on Pacifica is designed to execute immediately at the best available market prices, ensuring quick fills when you need to enter or exit a position without delay.

How It Works

When you place a Market Order, Pacifica’s engine treats it as an Immediate-Or-Cancel (IOC) limit order with a defined maximum allowed slippage. This mechanism safeguards you against extreme price deviations while still prioritizing fast execution.

For Example:

For example, if BTC is trading at $100,000 and the maximum allowed slippage is 8%, placing a market sell order would set a limit price at $92,000. The order will fill against all available resting orders between $100,000 and $92,000. Any portion of the order that cannot be filled within that price range is canceled.

Key Points

• Immediate Execution: Market Orders are executed instantly against the current orderbook, ensuring that you don’t miss rapid market movements.

• Slippage Protection: By converting a market order to an IOC limit order with a defined slippage cap, Pacifica helps protect you from receiving a fill at an unexpectedly poor price.

• Partial Fills: If the entire order cannot be filled within the acceptable slippage range, only the portion that meets the criteria will be executed, and the remainder will be canceled.

When to Use A Market Order

• Speed: Ideal when you need to execute quickly, such as during volatile market conditions or when reacting to news.

• Liquidity: Best suited for highly liquid markets where the spread is narrow, ensuring minimal slippage.

• Risk Management: Use cautiously, as rapid execution can lead to fills at less favorable prices if market depth is low.