Market and Instant Execution: The Difference

The two execution types answer one question differently: what to do if price moves between your click and the order reaching the server. Instant asks you; market fills immediately.

Instant execution: price over speed

Under instant you send an order at a specific price and the broker must fill at that price. If price has changed, a requote arrives asking for confirmation. The advantage is that you will never receive a worse price than the one you agreed to. The drawback is that the trade may not happen at all, or may happen late, and in a fast market requotes arrive one after another.

Market execution: speed over price

Under market the order is filled at the first available price, whatever it is. There are no requotes by construction — instead there is slippage, which can fall in your favour or against you. The advantage is that the trade almost always happens. The drawback is that you have no control over the entry price, and around releases the gap from the expected price can be substantial.

What it means for your stop-loss

A practically important detail that is often missed: a stop-loss executes as a market order under both models. That means slippage on a stop is always possible, regardless of the account's execution type. Instant protects the entry price, not the exit price on a stop. The practical conclusion is that risk cannot be calculated on the assumption that a stop fills exactly at its price under any model.

Which to choose

For intraday trading and scalping, market is usually more convenient: a guaranteed fill matters more than a few pips, and requotes make trading impossible in a fast market. For unhurried work with size on higher timeframes, instant gives more control. The execution type is stated in the account specification — worth checking before opening, not after the first unexpected price.

This material is educational and is not individual investment advice. Trading forex carries the risk of losing capital.