Spot Order Semantics for Limit and Market Buys and Sells
Summary
This short trading-platform note explains how the exchange order interface interprets limit and market orders for a BTC/USDT spot pair. Limit buys and sells specify a price and a coin quantity. The special case is a market buy: its quantity argument is described as a quote-currency amount, so a value of five requests five USDT worth of BTC. A market sell instead uses the coin quantity being sold.
The accompanying example queries the account and ticker, submits limit and market orders, then reads order details and balances. It is an illustration of API conventions rather than a trading strategy or execution study. The note says similar behavior appeared in a Huobi backtest and a simulated account, but provides no broader exchange comparison, error handling, or discussion of slippage, partial fills, and market-specific API differences. Traders should treat the quantity convention as exchange-specific.
Key ideas
- Limit orders specify both a price and the amount of base currency to trade.
- The described market buy quantity is denominated in quote currency, unlike the other illustrated cases.
- A market sell quantity denotes the amount of base currency being sold.
- The example demonstrates order submission and account checks but does not assess slippage or cross-exchange behavior.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.