Whenever you’re trying to set an order, you will be asked to select a type (Value order or Number of shares) for the purchase or sale. With value orders, you will be asked to add the funds you wish to invest in security, whereas with “Number of shares”, you will need to choose the quantity of your order.
What’s the difference between ‘Value’ and ‘Number of Shares’ when buying/selling?
By using a ‘value’ order, you can specify the exact monetary value of the buy/sell order you’d like to place. This option often comes into use when trading fractional shares, as it means you’re able to place an order based on your available funds.
The second type is a quantity order. By selecting ‘number of shares, you’re choosing the exact quantity of shares you want to buy or sell.
Switching between order types for market orders
The default order type is set to ‘value'. To switch, simply click on the order type, and choose your preferred option from the pop-up menu.
Why does my desired quantity automatically change when I input it manually?
Number of shares
When buying a share, if you input a quantity that is too close to your total free funds, your quantity order will be converted to a 'value' order. Otherwise, the quantity will be rounded down to the maximum amount allowed for the 'number of shares' mode. This is done to protect you from buying more shares than you can afford if the price changes very quickly.
For example, if you place a quantity worth nearly 95% of your free funds, the slider will round it down to protect you from a negative balance during sudden market movements. If you input a quantity worth 99% of your free funds, the slider will round up to 100% and convert your 'number of shares' order to a value order.
Value order
When selling, selecting a value worth more than 95% of your position size will result in rounding the value to 100% by converting your 'value' order to a 'number of shares' order. Since a change in the price of the instrument changes the value of the order, this lets you close your entire position without being impacted by price changes.
How can I invest all of my free funds?
Number of shares
Dragging the slider to the maximum amount will convert the order to a value order to utilise all of your free funds and protect you from a negative balance in case of a sudden market movement.
Value order
Dragging the slider to the max amount will utilise all your free funds.