Instant execution
Family II · Orders
Not to be confused with market execution, order execution.
Instant execution is an order-handling model in which a broker fills a client order at the exact price quoted at the moment of submission. If the market has moved away from that price by the time the order reaches the venue, the order is rejected and the client must requote. The model is therefore defined by a price guarantee on the fill, not by the speed of the fill itself.
How instant execution works
When a client submits an order under instant execution, the platform sends the requested price to the broker's execution engine. The engine checks whether that price is still available. If it is, the order is filled at that price. If it is not, the order is rejected with a requote, and the client must decide whether to accept the new price or cancel.
This differs from models in which the broker fills at whatever price is available at the time of execution, which can be better or worse than the requested price. Instant execution is common in retail foreign exchange and contracts for difference, but its availability, rejection rules and requote behaviour vary by broker, instrument and regulator.
Worked example
A client places a buy order for 1 lot of EUR/USD at 1.1050 under instant execution. The broker's engine receives the order and checks the current market price.
The client must accept the requote at 1.1052 or cancel. No fill occurs at 1.1050.
Variations and risks
Instant execution is not a universal standard. Some brokers apply it only to certain account types or instruments, and some regulators restrict requoting. The main risk is execution risk: in fast markets, repeated requotes can prevent a client from entering or exiting a position at the intended price. Slippage does not occur under pure instant execution because the fill price is fixed or the order is rejected, but the trade-off is a higher chance of non-execution.
Often confused with
- market execution
- Market execution fills at the best available price at the time of execution, so the fill price can differ from the requested price; instant execution fills only at the requested price or rejects the order, and the visible sign is whether a requote or a slipped fill appears on the ticket.
- order execution
- Order execution is the process by which a broker or venue receives a client order and carries it out, determining the price, timing, and manner in which the order is filled or rejected.