Investors need to provide clear instructions about the type of order to be placed.

Common types of orders include limit order and market order. Investors should place a limit order if they want to trade at a specific price or place a market order if they want to execute the transaction at market price immediately.

• Limit order: An instruction to buy or sell a stock at a specified price. Limit orders may not be executed immediately. Any outstanding limit orders will be included in the price queue. Usually, limit orders can be set as “good-till-date”.
• Market order: A buy or sell order without specified price. Once placed, a market order will be executed at the best available price in the market immediately.

Only limit orders, including enhanced limit orders and special limit orders, can be placed during the morning and afternoon continuous trading sessions in the Hong Kong stock market. During these sessions, orders are matched based on the principle of price priority and the order in which they are entered into the system.

The pre-opening and closing auction sessions adopt an auction mechanism. Only at-auction and at-auction-limit orders can be placed during these two sessions. An at-auction order is an order without specified price. An at-auction limit order is an order with a specified price, and it will be executed at the specified price or a better price. An at-auction order will enjoy a higher order-matching priority than an at-auction-limit order.

When placing an order, investors should check the types of orders offered by their intermediary. Investors may also refer to the HKEX website to gain a better understanding of the definitions and operation of different orders.

Orders may not always be executed. Investors may check with their intermediary to see if their orders have been executed. If investors place an order online, they may check whether they have received a trade confirmation notice (indicating that a trading instruction has been confirmed and that the order has been fully or partially completed).

Investors should refrain from placing another order if they are not sure whether their original order has been executed to avoid buying twice as many shares as they want or selling shares that they no longer hold. Remember to cancel the original unexecuted order before placing a new one.