A market order is an order to buy or sell a security immediately. This type of order guarantees that the order will be executed, but does not guarantee the execution price. A market order generally will execute at or near the current bid price (for a sell order) or ask price (for a buy order). However, it is imperative for investors to remember that the last-traded price is not necessarily the price at which a market order will be executed, whereas…

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security at a specific price or better (higher). A buy limit order used when buying can only be executed at the limit price or lower, and a sell limit order can only be executed at the limit price or higher (this aids higher returns).  Example: An investor wants to purchase shares of ABC stock for no more than 400 naira per share.  The investor could submit a limit order for this amount and this order will only execute if the price of ABC stock is 400 naira or lower.

In placing a market order, there is no specific price, the order executes at the current price or near the current price, while in placing a limit order, there is usually a specific price which would be executed once that price is hit.

There is also a stop-order.

A stop order, also referred to as a stop-loss order is an order to sell a stock once the price of the stock reaches the specified price, known as the stop price.

The stop-loss order is used to protect capital and returns when there is a drop in share price.