Learn about Limits and stops, make the technology do the hard work for you
Like sleeping at night? Like locking in profits without staring at the screen 24/7? Learn about Limits and stops.
So, a limit order has two sides: a buy and sell Limit.
A Buy Limit: Say BTC is trading at 2,800, and you tell them I will not pay a dollar over 2,500; the order will sit in the order log and will not be executed until the price is 2,500 or lower. (There's conditional limits, but that's a lesson for another day.)
A Sell Limit: Now you got your BTC for the 2,500 you wanted. And you determine you want at least 12%, what do you know that's exactly 2,800. You set a Sell Limit at 2,800. This means once BTC hits 2,800 or higher it will execute your trade.
This allows you to stop watching non-stop, but there are it's downsides. While limits mean it will buy at the 2,500 or lower -or- sell at 2,800 or higher, this does not mean you are 100% safe.
Now pretend your order executes at 2,500 but BTC continues to fall to 2,000; that sucks. Depending where you are in the hierarchy of trading you might get a better price than your limit.
Now it's time to learn about Stops, once again there's a buy and sell.
A Stop Sell, is built to minimize losses, but this is tricky with cryptos, but I'll explain it anyway. So say you get it at the same 2,500 and now its at 2,650. You're afraid it could fall, you can set a stop at lower than what it's trading at and if it hits the stop's threshold the trade will execute. USE THIS WITH CAUTION! Say it hits you threshold and then explodes to 3k, you just fucked yourself out of the upside.
"...your stop.order could be skipped over entirely if the price is falling too rapidly. You should set a reasonable threshold between the condition and the sell price to try and ensure it gets fulfilled." - Charles Tench
When you place these orders you will see your balance of the coin change accordingly, this does not mean the trade executed, it simply means you commited those coins to that price, and you can cancel your order before it executes at anytime.
I hope you all find this helpful, no proofreading so bear with any type-o's
Is a difference between a limit and an order ? I feel like a sell/order executes itself at this price and no other. When a limit can get downer/higher, following the market "stocks". Am i right ?
Yes! An order I'll call a market order which you pay what it is currently trading at, which costs you a takers fee. A limit allows you to set a buy lower than the current price and sell at a higher price. So you don't have to sit and wait for your chance to jump in. You can say to yourself I won't pay more than X for this and then if the market meets your in the money
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