What Is Buy And Hold?

The “buy and hold” strategy, perhaps unsurprisingly, involves buying and holding an asset. It’s a long-term passive play where investors purchase the asset and then leave it alone, regardless of market conditions. A good example of this in the crypto space is HODLing, which typically refers to investors that prefer to buy and hold for years instead of actively trading.

This can be an advantageous approach for those that prefer “hands-off” investing as they don’t need to worry about short-term fluctuations or capital gains taxes. On the other hand, it requires patience on the investor’s part and assumes that the asset won’t end up totally worthless.

A short position (or short) means selling an asset with the intention of rebuying it later at a lower price. Shorting is closely related to margin trading, as it may happen with borrowed assets. However, it’s also widely used in the derivatives market, and can be done with a simple spot position. So, how does shorting work?

What is a market order?

A market order is an order to buy or sell at the best currently available market price. It’s basically the fastest way to get in or out of a market.

When you’re setting a market order, you’re basically saying: “I’d like to execute this order right now at the best price I can get.”

Your market order will keep filling orders from the order book until the entire order is fully filled. This is why large traders (or whales) can have a significant impact on the price when they use market orders. A large market order can effectively siphon liquidity from the order book. How so? Let’s go through it when discussing slippage.

What is a limit order?

A limit order is an order to buy or sell an asset at a specific price or better. This price is called the limit price. Limit buy orders will execute at the limit price or lower, while limit sell orders will execute at the limit price or higher.

When you’re setting a limit order, you’re basically saying: “I’d like to execute this order at this specific price or better, but never worse.” Using a limit order allows you to have more control over your entry or exit for a given market. In fact, it guarantees that your order will never fill at a worse price than your desired price. However, that also comes with a downside. The market may never reach your price, leaving your order unfilled. In many cases, this can mean losing out on a potential trade opportunity.

Deciding when to use a limit order or market order can vary with each trader. Some traders may use only one or the other, while other traders will use both — depending on the circumstances. The important thing is to understand how they work so you can decide for yourself.

What is a stop-loss order?

Now that we know what market and limit orders are, let’s talk about stop-loss orders. A stop-loss order is a type of limit or market order that’s only activated when a certain price is reached. This price is called the stop price.

The purpose of a stop-loss order is mainly to limit losses. Every trade needs to have an invalidation point, which is a price level that you should define in advance. This is the level where you say that your initial idea was wrong, meaning that you should exit the market to prevent further losses. So, the invalidation point is where you would typically put your stop-loss order.

How does a stop-loss order work? As we’ve mentioned, the stoploss can be both a limit or a market order. This is why these variants may also be referred to as stop-limit and stop-market orders. The key thing to understand is that the stop-loss only activates when a certain price is reached (the stop price). When the stop price is reached, it activates either a market or a limit order. You basically set the stop price as the trigger for your market or limit order.

However, there is one thing you should keep in mind. We know that limit orders only fill at the limit price or better, but never worse. If you’re using a stop-limit order as your stop-loss and the market crashes violently, it may instantly move away from your limit price, leaving your order unfilled. In other words, the stop price would trigger your stop-limit order, but the limit order would remain unfilled due to the sharp price drop. This is why stop-market orders are considered safer than stop-limit orders. They ensure that even under extreme market conditions, you’ll be guaranteed to exit the market once your invalidation point is reached.