The order lifecycle describes the states an order passes through from creation to completion: it is submitted by the trader, validated by the platform for margin and parameters, accepted or rejected by the execution venue, then either filled, partially filled, left working, modified, expired or cancelled.
Each transition is time-stamped and recorded in the account history, which is what a trader reviews when investigating an unexpected fill. Understanding the order lifecycle clarifies why a pending order can sit for days without triggering, why a rejection is not the same as a cancellation, and how time-in-force and slippage settings act at specific points in the chain rather than throughout it.
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Order Types and Slippage Explained
Market, limit and stop orders trade price certainty against execution certainty — plus what slippage is, where it comes from, and what a stop-loss caps.