Order execution regulations oblige us to obtain the best price available for you at the time of execution. Prices change throughout the day, depending on supply and demand, so prices may also vary depending on the type of order you make and the execution time of those orders. It's important to understand the difference between the price you pay for the investment (dictated daily by the stock market) and any additional dealing charges and service fees.
When you invest in shares, the price you buy or sell at depends on which type of order you place with us:
- Market order: Buy or sell shares at the quoted price, within 15 seconds, or request another quote. If the market is closed or a quote cannot be provided for either a market-related or technical reason, you can choose to buy or sell shares without seeing a quote first. This is also known as an 'At best order' as we send your request to the market and attempt to fill that order at the best price available from a number of different market makers. Prices can be volatile when market first opens, so you may wish to place a Limit order.
- Limit order: you tell us a specific price online you’re willing to buy or sell per share which, if reached, will trigger your order to be placed. You can invest a monetary amount (for example, £50 of shares at 200p per share) or purchase a quantity of shares (for example, 200 shares at 200p). We send your request to the market and it is executed if your limit price (or better) is achieved for the full amount of your order. Limit orders expire at the end of the day you select your order to end on, which can be any trading date up to 90 days from when you submit your order.
We also aggregate transactions, combining regular savings and dividend reinvestments with other customers’ orders, to gain the best executable price. We will never aggregate market or limit orders.
