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An order to sell shares is also called an "offer". Sell orders were originally either "market" orders or "limit" orders. A market order is one which must be executed immediately at whatever price the stockbroker can get right now. A limit order is where the seller gives a price at which the share can be sold and below which it must not be sold. In practice, today, with the advent of screen trading, all orders are in effect limit orders. A market order is simply a limit order which is placed at the highest current bid. This means that the JSE computer will immediately execute the deal if the bid is for sufficient volume and if not it will execute as much of the deal as is accommodated by the bid volume. At any point in time, in a free dealing share there will be a range of offers to sell arranged in order of price from the highest offer (the best offer) to the lowest. This, together with the equivalent range of bids, is known as the "depth of the market" and a portion of it (usually the three best bids and offers) is displayed on the stockbroker's trading screen.

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