Coinbase's Bitcoin exchange has added the ability to submit market orders, which are immediately executable at the best available price.
Until now, traders were only able to perform limit orders, where they specify the highest/lowest price at which they are willing to buy/sell.
Market orders can come in handy for traders who want to make a trade quickly and easily, but they risk having their orders filled at less advantageous prices because no limit is specified.
Stop orders and other order types are not yet available, although Coinbase has indicated that it will consider new features recommended on its community forum.
Coinbase launched its exchange roughly six months ago, aiming to Leverage its leading position as a wallet and merchant services provider. It is seeking to become a fully regulated venue in the US, a difficult feat considering the need to gain compliance separately in each state. Regulatory requirements differ from state to state, and can be prohibitively burdensome in some and uncertain in others.
According to figures on bitcoinity.org, Coinbase Exchange now ranks fifth in USD-based trading volume during the past 30 days, closing in on BTC-e, and ranks ninth globally when all fiat currencies are accounted for. 5,397 BTC, or approximately $1.5 million, has been traded during the past 24 hours.
