Buy Limit vs Buy Stop: MT5 Pending Orders Explained With Examples

A buy limit buys below the current price, and a buy stop buys above it. That one sentence settles the buy limit vs buy stop question, but MetaTrader 5 has six pending order types, and each one triggers on a specific price under specific conditions. This guide walks through all six with real numbers, shows how the spread and market gaps change your fills, and covers the mistakes that cost new traders money.

What Is a Pending Order in MetaTrader 5?

A pending order in MetaTrader 5 is an instruction to open a trade later, automatically, once price reaches a level you choose. A market order fills right now at the current price. A pending order sits on the trade server and waits until the trigger condition is met, and only then becomes an open position.

MetaTrader 5 offers six pending order types: Buy Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Limit, Sell Stop, Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit. The first four are the ones most traders use every day. The two Stop Limit orders are newer and combine a trigger with a limit price, which MetaTrader 4 never had.

Pending orders exist so you don't have to watch the screen. You decide in advance where you want to enter, attach a stop loss and take profit, and let the platform do the waiting. That discipline is worth as much as the convenience, because a plan written into an order is harder to abandon on impulse.

Buy Limit vs Buy Stop: The Core Difference

A buy limit order buys at a price below the current market, and a buy stop order buys at a price above it. The buy limit expects price to dip and then rise. The buy stop expects price to keep rising once it breaks through a level.

The words "limit" and "stop" follow the general logic of stop and limit orders used on every exchange. A limit order caps the price you are willing to pay, so a buy limit can only fill at your price or lower. A stop order activates once price moves through your level, so a buy stop fills at your price or, in a fast market, higher.

The quickest way to keep them apart: limit orders bet on a reversal at your level, and stop orders bet on momentum through your level. Both are buy orders, so both open a long position, and both are judged against the Ask price.

Which Price Triggers MT5 Pending Orders: Bid or Ask?

MT5 triggers buy pending orders on the Ask price and sell pending orders on the Bid price. This matters because MT5 charts plot the Bid by default, so the line you see on the chart is not the line your buy orders are watching.

Take EURUSD quoted at 1.08500 Bid and 1.08508 Ask, a spread of 0.8 pips. A buy limit at 1.08400 fills when the Ask touches 1.08400. At that moment the Bid sits around 1.08392, so on a Bid chart the candle has to print slightly below your order line before you get filled. Traders often see the wick touch their level, find no fill, and assume the platform failed, when the spread simply kept the Ask above their price.

The same logic applies in reverse when you close. A long position's stop loss and take profit execute on the Bid, and a short position's on the Ask. To see both prices, right-click the MT5 chart, open Properties and switch on the Ask price line in the Show tab.

The wider the spread, the bigger this gap between chart and fill, and spreads differ from one account type and one broker to the next. Comparing quoted spreads on the instruments you actually trade is part of choosing the best forex broker for a pending-order style, because tight spreads keep your trigger close to the level you drew.

How a Buy Limit Order Works: A EURUSD Example

A buy limit order fills when the Ask price drops to or below your chosen level, and it is used to buy a pullback at a better price than the current market. It must be placed below the current Ask; MT5 will not accept a buy limit above the market.

Say EURUSD trades at 1.08700 and you see support at 1.08400, where the pair bounced twice last week. You place a buy limit at 1.08400 for 0.5 lots, with a stop loss at 1.08150 and a take profit at 1.09100.

Here is what that order risks and targets. On EURUSD, 1 standard lot moves about $10 per pip, so 0.5 lots moves about $5 per pip. The stop loss is 25 pips below entry, which is a risk of about $125. The take profit is 70 pips above entry, a potential gain of about $350, or a risk-reward of 1:2.8.

If EURUSD falls to 1.08400 on the Ask, the order converts into a 0.5-lot long position at 1.08400. If EURUSD rallies straight from 1.08700 to 1.09500 without coming back, your order never fills. That missed trade is the price of a buy limit: you get a better entry when it works, and nothing when the market doesn't cooperate.

When a Buy Limit Order Fits Your Strategy

A buy limit order fits range trading, buying at support inside an uptrend, and Fibonacci retracement entries where you expect a bounce from a specific level. It suits traders who prefer to miss a trade rather than chase one. A buy limit is a poor choice when a strong trend is accelerating, because those moves often don't retrace far enough to reach your level.

How a Buy Stop Order Works: A Breakout Example

A buy stop order fills when the Ask price rises to or above your chosen level, and it is used to buy a breakout. It must be placed above the current Ask.

Suppose EURUSD has stalled under resistance at 1.09000 for three sessions and currently trades at 1.08800. You think a break above 1.09000 will bring a run toward 1.09600. You place a buy stop at 1.09050, five pips above resistance so a brief poke doesn't trigger you, with a stop loss at 1.08750 and a take profit at 1.09650.

With 0.5 lots, the risk is 30 pips, about $150, and the target is 60 pips, about $300. If the Ask reaches 1.09050, MT5 sends the order for execution at the best available price. In a quiet market that will be 1.09050 or a fraction of a pip away.

In a fast market, the fill can be worse. If a data release pushes EURUSD from 1.09000 to 1.09200 in one tick, a buy stop at 1.09050 may fill at 1.09150 or higher. That difference is slippage, and it is the main cost of stop orders: a stop order guarantees the trigger, not the price.

When a Buy Stop Order Fits Your Strategy

A buy stop order fits breakout trading, momentum entries after consolidation, and entries on a confirmed break of a previous high. It also works as a way to enter only if the market proves you right first. The trade-off is false breakouts: price can trigger your buy stop, tag a new high and fall straight back into the range.

Sell Limit and Sell Stop Orders Explained

Sell limit and sell stop orders are the mirror images of the buy versions, and both trigger on the Bid price. A sell limit opens a short above the current price, and a sell stop opens a short below it.

How a Sell Limit Order Works

A sell limit order fills when the Bid rises to or above your level, and it is used to sell a rally into resistance. If GBPUSD trades at 1.26500 and you expect sellers at 1.27000, a sell limit at 1.27000 opens a short only if price climbs there first. Like the buy limit, it gives you your price or better but may never fill.

How a Sell Stop Order Works

A sell stop order fills when the Bid falls to or below your level, and it is used to sell a breakdown. If GBPUSD sits at 1.26500 above support at 1.26000, a sell stop at 1.25950 opens a short only once support gives way. Like the buy stop, it guarantees the trigger but not the fill price.

Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit: How the Two-Step Orders Work

A buy stop limit order places a buy limit order once the Ask reaches a trigger price. It has two prices: the stop price above the market, which activates it, and the stop limit price, which is the level of the buy limit that MT5 then places. The stop limit price for a buy stop limit sits below the stop price.

This order answers a specific situation. You expect a breakout, but you also expect the breakout to retest the broken level before running, and you would rather buy that retest than chase the spike.

Take a gold trading example. Suppose XAUUSD trades at $3,980 with heavy resistance at $4,000.

You set a buy stop limit with a stop price of $4,005 and a stop limit price of $3,995. Nothing happens while gold stays under $4,005. Once the Ask touches $4,005, MT5 places a buy limit at $3,995, which fills only if gold dips back to $3,995.

The benefit is entry price control. A plain buy stop at $4,005 could fill at $4,012 during a spike, while the buy stop limit buys $10 lower on the retest. The risk is that gold breaks out and never looks back, leaving your buy limit stranded below the market.

A sell stop limit works the other way round. Its stop price sits below the current Bid, and once the Bid falls to it, MT5 places a sell limit at a higher stop limit price, ready to short a pullback into the broken support.

How to Place a Pending Order on MT5 Step by Step

You place a pending order on MT5 through the New Order window, which opens with the F9 key. The desktop platform steps are:

1. Press F9, or right-click a symbol in Market Watch and choose "New Order".

2. Pick the symbol and set the "Type" field to "Pending Order".

3. Choose the order type: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Stop, Buy Stop Limit or Sell Stop Limit.

4. Enter the volume in lots and the trigger price. For Stop Limit orders, also fill the "Stop Limit price" field.

5. Set your Stop Loss and Take Profit levels. These attach to the position once the order fills.

6. Choose an expiration and click "Place".

MT5 checks the order before accepting it. If the price is on the wrong side of the market for that order type, or too close to the current price, the Place button stays inactive.

The "too close" rule is the stops level, a minimum distance set per symbol by the broker. You can find it by right-clicking the symbol in Market Watch, choosing Specification and reading the "Stops level" value in points. A stops level of 20 points on a five-digit EURUSD quote means a pending order must sit at least 2 pips from the current price.

You can also place pending orders straight from the chart. Right-click at the price where you want the order, open the Trading menu, and MT5 offers only the order types that make sense at that level: Buy Limit and Sell Stop below the current price, Sell Limit and Buy Stop above it.

Pending Order Expiration Options in MT5

MT5 pending orders can stay active until you cancel them or expire automatically. The expiration field offers four choices, though a broker can limit which ones are available for a given symbol.

Expiry is useful for news setups and session-specific trades. A breakout order built for the London open, for example, is often meaningless by the New York afternoon, so setting it to expire stops a stale idea from triggering hours later.

What Happens to Pending Orders When the Market Gaps

A market gap moves price from one level to another without trading in between, and it affects stop and limit orders differently. Gaps happen most often at the weekly open, after major news and around company earnings on share CFDs.

Stop orders fill at the first available price after the gap. If your buy stop sits at 1.09050 and EURUSD closes Friday at 1.08900 but opens Monday at 1.09500, the order triggers and fills near 1.09500, 45 pips above your level. Stop losses behave the same way, which is why a gap can turn a planned 30-pip loss into a much bigger one.

Limit orders are protected from negative slippage by definition. If your buy limit sits at 1.08400 and the market gaps down to open at 1.08100, the order fills around 1.08100 on most MT5 accounts, which is 30 pips better than you asked for. The catch is that the same gap may also take out a nearby stop loss.

The practical lesson is to review pending orders before the weekend and before scheduled high-impact news. Pull orders you would not want filled at a much worse price, or reduce their size.

Common Pending Order Mistakes on MT5

The most common pending order mistake is choosing the wrong type, such as placing a buy stop where you meant a buy limit. MT5 blocks an order on the wrong side of the market, but many beginners then switch types until the button activates, which turns a pullback plan into a breakout trade without them noticing.

The second mistake is ignoring the spread. Placing a buy limit exactly at a support line on a Bid chart often leaves the order unfilled by a fraction of a pip, while placing a sell stop exactly at support often triggers it early on a spread spike. Traders who work tight entries tend to favour a raw spread account, where the spread is lower and a commission is charged separately, because a smaller spread keeps the trigger closer to the chart.

The third mistake is forgetting orders exist. A buy stop placed three weeks ago for a setup that no longer matters can still trigger today. Use expiration dates, and clear the Trade tab of dead orders at the end of each week.

The fourth mistake is netting confusion. On an MT5 account in netting mode, a triggered pending order adds to or reduces your existing position in that symbol instead of opening a separate one. On a hedging account, each triggered order opens its own position. Check which mode your account uses before stacking orders on one symbol.

Choosing Between Buy Limit and Buy Stop

The choice between a buy limit and a buy stop comes down to what you expect price to do at your level. If you expect it to bounce, use a buy limit below the market. If you expect it to break through and keep going, use a buy stop above the market.

When you want the breakout but refuse to pay for the spike, the buy stop limit splits the difference. Whichever you choose, write the stop loss and take profit into the order, size the trade so the stop represents a loss you can accept, and remember that a pending order executes your plan exactly, including the parts of the plan that were wrong.