If you’re an active trader, you already know that speed is everything. When you spot a setup, you want to enter the trade immediately, which usually means reaching for a Market Order.
A market order tells your broker: “Execute this trade right now, at the best available price.” But there’s a catch. In fast-moving or illiquid markets, the “best available price” can change in the fraction of a second it takes for your order to reach the exchange. You might click “Buy” when a stock is trading at ₹100, but the order ends up filling at ₹102. This difference is called slippage, and it eats directly into your profits.
💡 This is exactly where Market Protection comes in.
What is Market Protection?
Market Protection is a crucial safety net offered by modern trading platforms (like the Flattrade emerge platform). It essentially puts a leash on your market orders to protect you from extreme price volatility.
When you place a market order with a protection percentage, the broker’s system automatically converts your market order into a Limit Order with a built-in buffer behind the scenes.
📌 Here is how the math works:
- If you place a buy order for a stock trading at ₹100 with a 5% Market Protection, the system will cap your buying price at ₹105.
- If the sellers are asking for ₹101, ₹102, or ₹104, your order executes immediately.
- If a sudden spike pushes the asking price to ₹106, your order will not execute at that price, protecting you from a bad fill.
Why You Should Customize Your Protection Percentage
Many platforms default to a standard market protection rate, often around 5%. While a 5% buffer guarantees your order will almost certainly execute, it leaves the door open for relatively high slippage, especially on larger trades or highly liquid stocks where a 5% swing is massive.
As demonstrated in the emerge platform workflow, savvy traders often tighten this metric to fit their specific risk tolerance.
How to Adjust Market Protection in emerge by Flattrade
If you find the default buffer is too wide, you don’t have to change it manually on every single trade. You can adjust your global preferences right from your dashboard:
- 1Access Your Profile: Click on your profile icon in the top right corner of the dashboard.
- 2Open Preferences: Select User Preference from the dropdown menu.
- 3Locate the Setting: Scroll down to the Protection & Confirmation section.
- 4Adjust the Value: You will see the Market Protection (%) field. By changing this from a wide buffer (like 5%) to a much tighter buffer (like 0.5%), you are telling the platform to strictly limit your slippage.
- 5Save: Once your preferences are saved successfully, the next time you open an order window (like for an Intraday Buy), the Mkt Prot% field will automatically populate with your new, optimized rate.
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