Market order
A market order is a type of stock order that indicates a preference for quick execution relative to price specificity. This generally means you’re willing to accept the next available price and a certain price isn’t guaranteed.
With your Robinhood account, you can place a market order during regular market hours if it is a dollar-based order (where you select the dollar amount of your buy or sell order) or a share-based sell order (where you select the amount of shares you want to sell).
If you want to buy at a specific price, place a limit order.
It’s not guaranteed your market order will be executed at a specific price. Additionally, our venues don’t support market orders during extended-hours trading. If your market order is placed outside of regular market hours, the order will be queued for the start of regular market hours on the next trading day unless the order is subject to collaring, in which case it may be executed during extended hours after being converted to a limit order.
Depending on the price your order is filled at, the final dollar amount of your share-based order may change when you place a market order. Similarly, depending on the price your order is filled at, the final share amount of your dollar-based order may change.
The market price shown in the app is the last trade price on a Nasdaq exchange (the Nasdaq Stock Market, NASDAQ OMX BX, or NASDAQ OMX PHLX), which might not be the best available price when the order is executed.
We generally cancel fractional orders (share-based orders that include a fractional share and dollar-based orders) if they're unexecuted after 5 minutes of being eligible for execution.
Robinhood defaults to share-based or dollar-based orders. The following shows the default order behavior for trading during regular market hours versus extended-trading hours with Robinhood. Orders submitted during the overnight trading hours, or when the market is closed, are queued for market open and therefore follow the Market hours order schedule:
| Order type | Market hours (9:30 AM–4 PM ET) and Overnight hours (8 PM–7 AM ET) | Extended hours (7–9:30 AM and 4-8 PM ET) |
| Share-based buy orders | Limit | Limit |
| Share-based sell orders | Market | Limit |
| Dollar-based buy orders | Market | Limit |
| Dollar-based sell orders | Market | Limit |
We’re currently phasing out market order collaring. If you’re using a version earlier than 2023.6.0 of the Robinhood app, your market order may be collared. To avoid market order collaring, update your app to the latest version. If you’re on the latest app version and still seeing collared market orders, this experience may not be available to you yet. This section only applies if your market orders are subject to collaring.
To help protect you from potential price volatility, Robinhood automatically converts most market orders into limit orders by using a 5% price collar. Collaring helps cushion against significant price movements and can prevent overspending the available funds in your account. We use the last trade price on a Nasdaq exchange at the time of order submission to determine the limit price, which is set at 5% above (if a buy order) or 5% below (if a sell order) the last reported trade price. All share-based market orders to buy and all market orders entered during extended hours are collared. Keep in mind, if your order was collared, there may be times when your order isn’t filled (e.g., if your order was entered overnight or during a trading halt and the stock price changes drastically).
Trading during extended and overnight hours comes with additional risks such as lower liquidity and higher volatility. You can learn more in the Extended-Hours Trading Disclosure.
Fractional shares are not liquid outside of Robinhood and not transferable. For a complete explanation of conditions, restrictions and limitations associated with fractional shares, see the Fractional Shares section in our Customer Agreement.
Not all securities are eligible for the entry of fractional orders during Robinhood’s extended-hours trading. If a security isn’t eligible, the order will be queued for the opening of market hours.
You can learn more about eligible securities and the risks of extended-hours trading in Extended-hours trading and for overnight hours in Robinhood 24 Hour Market.