What is a limit order?

You set a limit buy for a stock at $180. If the stock is trading at $184, your order waits, it only fills at $180 or better. If the price dips to $180, you get filled. If it never falls that far, the order simply never executes and you buy nothing. Compare that with a market order, which would buy right away at $184.

On JagSim a waiting limit order is checked against every minute of trading since you placed it, so a price that touches your limit for a moment still fills it. It fills at your limit price, or at a better price when the first trade after you placed it was already past your limit (for example when the stock opens past it). Before the open and after the close a limit order fills only if you tick the pre-market and after-hours box. How trading works on JagSim.

A limit order hands you control over price, which matters most when a stock is jumpy or the spread is wide and a plain market order might fill somewhere you didn't want. The catch is that control comes with uncertainty, since the order only fills if the market reaches your price, and it can sit unfilled while the move happens without you. Learning when that trade-off is worth it takes reps, and a paper simulator lets you place limits, watch which ones fill, and see which ones the market simply leaves behind.

Setting the price too far away. A limit priced well off the current market can feel safe but often never fills, so you end up watching the trade happen without you in it.

Forgetting it might not fill at all. Unlike a market order, a limit order is a maybe. If the price never touches your level, nothing executes and you're left holding nothing.

Ignoring the time in force. A limit set for the day expires at the close, while a longer setting keeps working. Beginners often lose track of whether an old order is still live.

What's the difference between a limit order and a market order?

A market order fills right away at whatever price is available, while a limit order only fills at your set price or better. One prioritizes speed, the other prioritizes price.

Why didn't my limit order fill?

The market never reached your limit price, so the order kept waiting. Buy limits fill at your price or lower and sell limits at your price or higher, and if the price doesn't get there, nothing executes.

Can a limit order fill at a better price than I set?

Yes. A buy limit can fill below your price and a sell limit above it when the market is there, since the rule is your price or better. You can test this on a paper simulator.