What does this mean (etrade's website)? market, limit, stop, stop limit, trailing stop $, trailing stop %?

Question

those are the options that i have when buying stocks

Answer 1

Check out the below link.  You will be able to learn what each of those terms mean and much more.

http://www.investopedia.com

Answer 2

These are qualifiers when entering an order

Market - you want to buy/sell at the current market price

LIMIT - you want to buy/sell at a definite price

STOP - you want to buy at the best offering price when the stock reaches this "stop" point  OR you want to sell at the best asking price when the stock reaches this "stop" point

STOP LIMIT  when the stock reaches this price you want to buy/or sell at the this

Trailing Stop  is a stop order that will move at so many cents from the current price,  as the price of the stock moves, your stop $ will move this cents amount

Trailing Stop % is a stop order that will move at a this percentage every time the price of the stock moves

Answer 3

A market order means it is executed at the price in the market.  A limit order allows you to specify a certain price you want for the order--say, you only want to buy the stock at a price of $11.00 or lower.  A stop order usually means that you are placing an order ahead of time that if your stock drops below a certain price, it will automatically be sold.  This is a way of protecting you from losing too much.  A good rule of thumb is to sell a stock when it falls 8% below your entry point.  Waiting for a stock to come back is almost always a way to losing a lot of money.  A trailing stop order is one where it "trails" your stock up, so it will put in a stop at a certain $ or % below a peak, thus locking in a gain.  For instance, if you buy your stock at $11 and put in a trailing stop of 10%, the stock goes to $20, then falls $2 to $18, it would automatically be sold, locking in your gain of $7.  I don't actually recommend the trailing stops so much, because a stock that goes up will often take a rest that doesn't mean it is over, though you should always carefully monitor your investments.  That original thing about the stop (or often called a stop-loss) of 8% or so is a very, very helpful thing though, and something that will save you a lot of money over time.