You want to buy a stock or other security but you're on a budget. You don't want to get fleeced. So you put in a buy limit order. This means that your broker or trader will only buy your stock at or below a certain price. You won't overspend and have to put off that vacation to Maui.
Example
You want to buy MSFT at $24 or better. The stock is currently trading at $24.12. So you wait. And wait. And you wonder, "will this trade ever happen?" (It may not.) But then there's a big market down-draft day and the stock kisses $23.99 for 20 seconds. If your broker is good, he'll pass along that extra penny to you, i.e., buy the shares for a total cost of $23.99 to you, not $24. But at worst, you'd pay $24.
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Finance: What are Limit Order, Sell Limi...4 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is a limit order? you want to sell a thousand shares
of Colonel electric it was demoted after they cut their dividend the shares have [Scissors cuts dividend in half]
been trading wildly between $15 and $25 a share you don't want to feel like a
moron for having sold them at fifteen bucks when six weeks later they kissed
25 with tongue so what do you do well you put in a limit order that is you put
a limit of a minimum price of 25 bucks a share for Colonel Electric such that [Pile of stocks appear]
those shares will simply sit in your account unsold maybe forever until
somebody out in the wild blue yonder of Stockland is willing to pay twenty five [Woman standing at a colonel electric stand]
dollars or more for the shares where you have a minimum price limit of 25 bucks a
share in your order so here's to hoping they sell and don't get further demoted [Man carries stock into car]
Sargent Electric is just a place you don't want to go
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