Guide 4 - Buy on the spot market

Goal

By the end of this guide you will understand what happens when you press "buy" on a spot market, be able to choose between a market order and a limit order on purpose, and know what to save from every purchase. You will have placed one small, deliberate order and checked the result.

This guide explains mechanics. It does not say what to buy, when, or how much, and it does not predict prices.

Time needed

• Reading the order screen and fees: 10 minutes.
• Placing a market order: 2 minutes. A limit order can be placed in 2 minutes and may wait minutes, days or forever to fill.
• Saving confirmations and exports: 5 minutes per order.

Before you start

• An exchange account with ILS or another currency available (guides 2 and 3).
• A written note of the coin and its correct name and ticker. Many scams use lookalike tickers.
• Awareness that the price you see is not guaranteed. It is the last price at which someone traded.
• A folder for records (guide 9).

Steps

Step 1 - Understand the order book with a market-stall analogy

Picture a market stall. Sellers write the lowest price they will accept on a card, and buyers write the highest price they will pay. The list of cards is the order book. The gap between the best buyer's card and the best seller's card is the spread.

• A market order is walking up and saying "I'll take it at whatever the cheapest seller asks, right now". You get it immediately, but you accept the price that is available.
• A limit order is putting your own card on the table: "I will pay at most this much". You control the price, but nobody has to accept it, so it may fill later, partly, or never.

Step 2 - Know the fees: maker and taker

Kraken's help center defines the terms. An order gets the maker fee when it is not matched immediately and instead rests on the book; an order gets the taker fee when it is matched immediately against an order already there. All market orders execute immediately and pay the taker fee. A "post-only" limit order is cancelled instead of crossing the book, which helps you pay the maker fee. ^[1]

Fee levels can depend on the exchange, your trading volume and the pair, and they change. For the exact numbers, use the current fee page. ^[2] Some apps also add a convenience spread or a flat fee for the simple "buy" button; the all-in cost is the price you receive compared with the mid-market price, so read the confirmation screen before you accept.

Step 3 - Understand slippage

Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got. It happens because a large market order walks up the book, using up the cheapest cards first and then moving to more expensive ones. It is larger for thin markets, big orders and fast-moving moments.

Ways to limit it: use a limit order, split a large order into smaller ones, and check the order book depth on the pair before sending. A confirmation screen showing an estimated price is an estimate, not a promise.

A small illustration, in words only: imagine the cheapest seller offers a modest quantity at one price, and the next sellers ask a little more each. A small market order uses up only the first card and pays the first price. A large one eats through several cards and the average price you pay ends up higher than the first price you saw. Nothing went wrong; that is simply how a market order consumes the book. This is why people who care about price use limit orders, and why a thin market, where the cards are few and far apart, can be surprising.

Also compare the two costs together. A limit order may save slippage and may earn the lower maker fee, but it may not fill, and while it waits the price can move away. A market order is certain but pays the taker fee and accepts slippage. Neither is "right"; each trades price against certainty.

Step 4 - Place one small order on purpose

1. Open the correct pair, for example the coin against your funding currency. Check the ticker character by character.
2. Choose market or limit. For a first try, a small market order tests the process; a small limit order tests patience and the fee difference.
3. Enter the amount, and read the summary: quantity, estimated price, fee, total.
4. Confirm. Then open the order history and check that the status is "filled" and the quantity matches.

Do not withdraw anything yet. Withdrawals to your own wallet are covered in guides 5 to 7.

Step 5 - Dollar-cost averaging, as a concept

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) means spreading purchases over time in equal portions instead of making one large purchase. The idea is to reduce the dependence on the single price at which you happened to buy. It does not guarantee a better price, it does not remove the risk that a price falls, and every purchase adds fees and one more record to keep. Some platforms offer recurring orders that automate it; Bits of Gold, for example, lists a recurring-order option with its own minimum. ^[3] This guide does not suggest any amount or interval. It only names the concept so that you recognise it.

Step 6 - Save the confirmations and export for tax

A sale or swap is a taxable event in Israel, and your later calculation depends on the date, quantity, price in ILS and fees of every purchase, called the cost basis. See the tax page.

For every order, save:

1. The order confirmation (screenshot or PDF) showing date, pair, quantity, price and fee.
2. A CSV export of the trade history, repeated regularly. Some exchanges limit the history shown on screen or take time to produce an export, so do not wait until year-end. See guide 9 for the details.
3. A line in your own log with the ILS value on the day.

Step 7 - Do a short review after the first order

Before the next order, spend five minutes comparing what you expected with what happened. Was the filled price close to the one you saw? Which fee applied, maker or taker? How long did the whole process take, including the records? If something surprised you, write one sentence about it in your notes.

This review is the real reason for starting small. Mistakes in order type, pair or amount are cheap on a small order and expensive on a large one, and the habit of checking confirmations is worth more than any single trade. It also gives you a clean first row in your tax log, so that the habit of recording starts on day one and not in a panic at year-end.

Common mistakes

• Placing a market order in a thin market and accepting a poor price.
• Confusing the quote with the total. The total includes fees. ^[1][2]
• Choosing the wrong pair or a lookalike ticker.
• Chasing fills. Cancelling and re-placing limit orders repeatedly can cost more in fees than the improvement is worth.
• Treating DCA as a promise of profit.
• Not exporting history until the exchange blocks access, or disappears.
• Leaving the coins on the exchange indefinitely because it is convenient. See guide 5.

If something goes wrong

The order did not fill. A limit order only fills if the market reaches your price. Check the open orders list. Cancel it or change the price if you still want it.

You received less than expected. Compare the filled price and fee with the confirmation. If both match, it was slippage plus fees. If neither matches, contact support with the order ID.

You bought the wrong asset. Selling it back costs the spread and a fee. Learn from it, and check the pair every time.

The exchange will not let you buy. Check verification status, region restrictions, and funds available. See guides 2 and 3.

Official help articles

• Kraken - What are Maker and Taker fees? ^[1]
• Kraken - How trading fees work ^[2]
• Bits of Gold - Payment methods and recurring orders ^[3]

Sources