An order is an instruction you send to a broker or trading platform to buy or sell an instrument. It sets the price, quantity, and timing conditions for the trade.
An order can be a market order, a limit order, a stop order, or a stop-limit order. A stop order activates once price reaches a trigger level, and a stop-limit order pairs that trigger with a limit price so it only fills within a set range.
The order is the instruction; the type sets how it reaches the market. A market order prioritises immediate execution at the best available price, while a limit order prioritises price and fills only at your level or better. Orders can also carry time conditions such as day, good-till-cancelled, immediate-or-cancel, and fill-or-kill, which control how long the order stays active.
You want to buy EUR/USD only if it falls to 1.0800.
You place a buy limit order at 1.0800.
If EUR/USD reaches 1.0800 and enough liquidity is there, the order fills. If price never reaches that level, the order stays unfilled or expires, depending on the duration you set.