Learning guide

Exchange Order Types and Market Structure

Understand market orders, limit orders, order books, spreads, slippage, and routing vocabulary.

Updated 2026-06-02

Orders describe trading instructions

An order is an instruction sent to a market venue. A market order prioritizes execution speed. A limit order sets a price boundary. A stop order or take-profit order may trigger after a condition is met.

These words are not predictions. They describe how an exchange or broker should attempt to execute an instruction.

The role of the order book

An order book lists available bids and asks. The bid-ask spread is the gap between the highest buyer and the lowest seller. A deep book usually has more available size near the current price; a thin book can move quickly when orders arrive.

Slippage and price impact appear when a trade consumes liquidity or moves through multiple price levels.

Routing and market design

Crypto markets can include centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, private order flow, aggregators, and routers. Each venue has a different way of matching orders or finding liquidity.

Vocabulary such as route splitting, private mempool, auction, and swap router belongs to this broader market-structure theme.

How this appears in the game

When several cards describe order instructions, they likely belong together. When cards describe where liquidity sits or how trades are routed, they may form a separate market-structure group.

The goal is to recognize the function of the word before trying to solve the board.

Educational vocabulary only. This guide does not provide investment, tax, legal, or trading advice.