A limit order will not execute until after the bid or ask price (for sells and buys, respectively) has been met or surpassed. When this happens, ShareBuilder will attempt to complete your trade. If all shares can be traded, then the order will be filled and a trade confirmation will be generated.
In some cases, the price of the security may fluctuate before all shares of the limit order can be traded, particularly for large share amounts. If this occurs, we'll leave the order open to see if the price returns to the limit parameters. If it does, then we will continue to fill the order. If it does not and the end of the market day is reached, then the partially filled limit order is closed for the day. The ShareBuilder account portfolio positions are updated, a trade confirmation is generated for that day's activity and the real-time trade commission is charged.
The next steps are determined by the order expiration settings:
- Order set to expire at end of day: The order is closed and no further action will be taken. You may set up a new limit order if you wish to continue trading.
- Order is set as "Good Until Cancel": We will continue to fill the remainder of the order on subsequent market days until the order is completely filled or until the default expiration date is reached (60 days after the order was placed) or until the order is manually canceled online. For every day that trading occurs for this open limit order, a trade confirmation will be generated and the real-time trade commission will be charged.