The market order functions as a directive telling an exchange to conduct an immediate cryptocurrency transaction at the best available market price. The primary purpose of a market order functions to execute trades without regard to their particular market prices. The execution of an order starts when the order gets placed and it ends only after every order in the order book gets completed starting from the nearest available price.
Traders use market orders to enter or exit their positions because these orders allow them to make trades with extreme fastness. The market experiences this situation when news breaks or prices change abruptly or when market conditions shift with high intensity. Market orders execute almost instantly under typical conditions when sufficient market liquidity exists to support the order.
The main risk associated with market orders is price slippage. The execution price will differ from the price which the trader expected because the order gets executed at existing market prices during that time period. A trader who places a large market order in a market with rapid price changes and low liquidity will have their order executed across multiple price points which will result in them receiving a less advantageous average execution price.
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Market orders achieve their optimal performance in markets that maintain high liquidity levels through major Bitcoin and Ethereum trading activities on large exchanges. Slippage risk decreases in these markets because deep order books with narrow spreads enable efficient trade execution. But In smaller markets, market orders can lead to poor execution due to wider spreads and limited depth.