> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dawn.trade/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Choose An Order Type

> Four kinds of automation, and which one matches what you are trying to do.

An automated order waits for a condition and then trades for you. It keeps running when you close Telegram, switch profile, or go to sleep.

## Which one do I want?

| I want to…                                       | Use                                                                          |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Buy if it drops to a level                       | [Limit order](/orders/limit)                                                 |
| Buy if it breaks up through a level              | [Limit order](/orders/limit)                                                 |
| Spread a buy across a range instead of one price | [Ladder](/orders/ladder)                                                     |
| Buy a fixed amount repeatedly over time          | [DCA](/orders/dca)                                                           |
| Sell automatically once I am up                  | [Take profit](/orders/tp-sl)                                                 |
| Cap how much I can lose                          | [Stop loss](/orders/tp-sl)                                                   |
| Sell in stages on the way up                     | [TP levels](/orders/tp-sl#several-levels) or a [sell ladder](/orders/ladder) |

## Targets are market caps

Every level you set in Dawn is a **market cap**, not a token price.

This is the right way round for memecoins. A token price of `0.0000034` tells you nothing on its own; a market cap of `$2M` tells you what the coin is being valued at. It is also stable across supply changes.

You can type shorthand — `250k`, `1.5m`, `\$2m` all work.

<Note>
  A **\$1M target** means "wait until this coin is valued at \$1 million". It is not an instruction to trade \$1 million.
</Note>

## The two ingredients

Every order has a **trigger** and a **size**.

| Side    | Trigger      | Size                          |
| ------- | ------------ | ----------------------------- |
| Buying  | A market cap | A dollar amount to spend      |
| Selling | A market cap | A percentage of what you hold |

Sells are percentages because the quantity you hold changes — a percentage stays correct after you have bought more or sold some.

## Expiry

Every limit order and ladder has one. The default is **24 hours**.

|               |                                                |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Presets       | 1h · 24h · 3d · 7d · never                     |
| Type your own | `45m`, `36h`, `5d` — a bare number means hours |
| Range         | 5 minutes to 30 days, or `never`               |

`never` keeps the order alive until it fills or you cancel it.

Take-profit and stop-loss levels do not expire on that schedule; they stay with the position.

## What a trigger does and does not promise

When the condition is met, the order becomes a **market trade**, with your slippage and your settings. It fills at whatever the market gives it at that moment.

<Warning>
  A target is not a guaranteed price. Between the trigger and the fill, the price can move; on a thin coin it can move a lot. A brief spike can also trigger an order and be gone by the time it executes.

  Orders reduce how much you have to watch. They do not remove market risk.
</Warning>

An order can also fail to fill — too little liquidity, a token that blocks selling, or gas above what you allow. Dawn tells you which, and whether the order is still armed.

## Before you place several

* **Nothing is reserved.** Two limit buys for \$100 each need \$200 on your balance when they fire, not when you place them.
* **Orders belong to a wallet.** An order placed from one wallet acts on that wallet's holding only.
* **They survive a profile switch.** Check `/limitorders` in each profile before assuming nothing is armed.

Manage everything from one place: [Managing orders](/orders/manage).