You can place target purchase or sale orders using the cash or bitcoin in your account, respectively. When you place your target order, the required cash or bitcoin will be deducted from your balance and held in reserve until the order executes (or expires). You can check your target order reserves by tapping the balance breakdown button, which is right below your balance amount. Target orders only execute in full, not partially.

Target order limits

Although target orders offer a great way to customize your trades, there can be some limitations in how they execute.

• Brief target price: If bitcoin only briefly reaches your target price before bouncing back in the opposite direction, there may not be sufficient time to execute your order.
• Multiple similar orders: If a lot of other people place orders at the same target price, your order might not be the first in line to execute. After executing the other orders, the price of bitcoin may no longer be at/within your target and therefore unable to execute.
• Large order placement: If you place a significantly large order, there may not be enough volume at your target price to execute your order, especially if bitcoin’s price only briefly reaches your target.
• Missed target: During periods of volatility, the price of bitcoin can move suddenly by large amounts, which can be faster than the time needed to execute all open orders at a target price. As a result, if you set a target buy above the current price or a target sale below the current price, the order may not be able to execute exactly at your target price, resulting in a worse price than expected.
• Funding issues: If you place a target order using cash from a pending bank deposit that fails or reverses, then the target order may be automatically canceled prematurely.
• Cancellation delay: When canceling a target order, the cancellation may take a few seconds to complete, in which time your target price may be reached and your order executes.

Avoiding potential issues

To help mitigate the risk of these potential issues, you can take certain actions:

• Instead of one big target order, place multiple smaller orders
• Stagger your orders to execute at different target prices
• Set a target price that isn’t a round number, which may already be in-place by other people whose orders may execute ahead of yours
• Place your target orders using funds that are completely settled in your account

You can read more about how target orders work here.