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I have basic question concerning the stock market. I placed a Limit-Sell Order of 500 shares at $1.45 for Stock X while it was trading below that. Two days later I woke up to all shares being sold for the actual price of $1.55 per share. Of course I was happy about it, yet that must mean that the buyer ended up paying more per share than for what I was willing to sell it for. I'm using a smaller platform so the bid-ask spread is often higher than at e.g. NYSE (I'm also not from the US). My understanding was that if given e.g.:

Ask 1000 $1.55
Ask  500 $1.45
Ask  200 $1.44

Bid  100 $1.43
etc.

and now a Market- or let's say Limit Order for 1000 shares for $1.60 is placed that the buy order would've been executed like that:

200 → $1.44
500 → $1.45 <- my order
300 → $1.55
-----------
total: $1478

but instead my shares were sold for the same, higher price. I suppose that is due to the fact, that the buyer was willing to pay $1.60 in this example? Is that what must've happened in this case or is there a different explanation?

Also: what happens if a stock is very low in volume (on that platform), let's say someone wants to buy 1M shares but only 900k are available? Is the order halted until the full volume is reached or would you first receive 900k shares and the remaining 100k are still awaiting to be fulfilled? Is that part of the one-time transaction fee that is paid?

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    Was the trade executed at 9:30 AM New York Time?
    – base64
    Jul 1, 2020 at 13:31
  • No, but it was executed right after the stock exchange opened in my country. So I guess you could say so since in the example I used NYSE.
    – oko125
    Jul 2, 2020 at 6:16
  • Ask your broker for an explanation of how your order was filled. This is a fairly standard request and they should give you a standard report saying where the order was routed and whether it filled at the “opening print” (where everybody gets the same price), routed to secondary exchange for better bid, filled in-house, etc.
    – Alex R
    Aug 1, 2020 at 20:42
  • Which country is this in? What is the name of this stock? When did the trade execute (date and time)?
    – Flux
    Apr 28, 2021 at 20:30
  • What you describe is actually VERY common on market open. I've often had buy limit orders filled below my limit price (good news) when the market gaps lower on open; as well as limit sells filled above my limit price (good news) when the market gaps higher
    – public wireless
    May 30, 2021 at 20:30

2 Answers 2

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now a Market- or let's say Limit Order for 1000 shares for $1.60 is placed that the buy order would've been executed like that:

Yes what you describe is how it happens.

If your shares show a time of morning during the opening hours, the possible explanation is that the got matched with over night good till cancelled market orders.

Overnight market orders both buy and sell side are frozen for a short period, say 15 mins... new orders trade... this plus closing price plus index plus 6 months average goes into secret formula to determine the price. Market orders are then matched to market orders and spill over to limit orders. The price of these transactions is as per the formula.

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  • Sorry, but I don't really understand what you're trying to say. What I said is that my understanding of the price matchig must've been wrong since I also got $1.55 instead of $1.45?
    – oko125
    Jul 2, 2020 at 6:20
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    Overnight orders are frozen for 15 minutes and there's a secret formula? Huh?
    – Bob Baerker
    Jul 2, 2020 at 15:37
  • money.stackexchange.com/questions/57063/…
    – Dheer
    Jul 2, 2020 at 15:50
  • @oko125 What I believe Dheer is saying is the market closed the previous day without your sell order being matched. Overnight, "things happened" (possibly relevant news, possibly new orders being placed; existing ones withdrawn etc.). In the morning, there is a "reconciliation period" (don't know if that's the correct term) before "normal" trading starts to take all the overnight activity into account, and – perhaps loosely speaking – the net effect was that the price jumped to $1.55 and your order was sold at that price-point.
    – TripeHound
    Aug 1, 2020 at 13:38
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If you place a market order, it will be filled immediately. If buying and the size available at the ask price is greater than the size of your order, you'll be filled at current price. If the size of your order is greater, you will get a portion filled at current price and the remainder filled at the price of next higher sell order on the order book.

If you place a limit order, it goes on the order book and will sit there until market price reaches your price.

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  • Wouldn't your answer mean that I should have gotten only $1.45 instead of $1.55?
    – oko125
    Jul 2, 2020 at 6:12
  • oko125 - The time of the day affects prices. For example, if the market is closed, the order book may be different in the morning. Suppose the stock closes at $1.45 (USA market). After the close there's some good news. Before the market opens, buy orders at higher prices come in. Limit orders at sell prices just above yesterday's close are taken out. When equilibrium is reached (buying pressure equals selling pressure), price levels out. If market price is above $1.54, your sell order at $1.55 gets filled.
    – Bob Baerker
    Jul 2, 2020 at 15:44
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    Thanks, for your answer Bob. However, in my case my sell order was still placed at 1.45 (over night), yet I received 1.55 per share the next morning - more than I was willing to sell it for. How is that possible?
    – oko125
    Jul 4, 2020 at 14:03

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