A lot of noobs starting out with investing or trading will simply place their orders in full. Like, if they want to buy 100 shares at 22.43 dollars, they'll place all 100 at 22.43 dollars. The problem with this though, is that often times, you can run into problems getting this filled. What you want to do is order is smaller amounts. I've seen that it helps to place an odd number of shares.
Yeah I can definitely agree with this. The problem I've always faced is that for some reason, bigger orders are harder to fill rather than multiple smaller chunks of orders that still add up to the same amount of shares as the bigger orders. I don't know why that's the case but it works.
Great tip thank you. I will change the way that i place orders and monitor the results. Always wondered about the time it takes to fill my order. Do you suggest placing a number of smaller orders in a short time interval or should one spread it out over a longer period?
Thanks for the advice. When you talk about ordering shares, who do you order from? Do you go to the company or is there a general stock place that you order your shares from?
I just faced this same problem a few months ago. I am still relatively new to the industry. I really appreciate this advice.
I disagree. We are talking about small money here, in your example you use $2000. With all the trading that goes on, if you are using a stock with at least a little volatility, I really don't see the problem with getting that order filled. Also multiple orders = multiple transaction fees = more money you are giving to your broker.
I always just order whatever quantity I want to buy / sell at once at the market, and I've never had a problem getting even some rather large orders filled. Nor have I ever had a problem with getting screwed on the price. I have on occasion had problems getting orders filled when placing limit orders in the past. So I learned early on not to bother with limit orders myself.
I'm thinking limit orders are more for day trading. In a long term investment, doesn't really matter if you pay $10.50 or $10.55 unless you buy in huge amounts.
Market orders work better for those occasional quick momentum trades as well - on those rare occasions when some important news about a company is released during market hours, and you need to get in and out quickly - and hopefully with a substantial profit. The price changes so quickly on these things that limit orders are pretty useless for them. Of course I am a big believer in dollar cost averaging - buying more shares every month or every week every time you get paid.
