An equity trader carries a set of assumptions about what a limit, stop or market order does — assumptions backed by regulation and near-universal across venues. The general vocabulary is in order types and market mechanics.
Crypto has no equivalent standard. Each venue defines its own behaviour, and the definitions differ in ways that matter.
Where they diverge
Post-only. An order that must rest rather than cross, so it earns the maker side. If it would cross, some venues reject it and some silently amend it — and those are very different outcomes.
Reduce-only. An order that can only shrink a position. Essential for anything automated, since without it a stop can accidentally open a position on the other side. Not universally available.
Stop trigger reference. Some venues trigger stops on last price, others on the mark. That single setting decides whether a liquidation wick takes you out or leaves you alone.
Time-in-force. Fill-or-kill and immediate-or-cancel exist widely and their partial-fill handling is not consistent.
Partial fills
A large order against a thin book fills in pieces at worsening prices. In a fast market the remainder can rest unfilled while price runs, leaving a position half the intended size and an average nothing like the quote.
That is price impact expressed through the fill schedule, and it is why sizing to visible depth matters more than the ladder suggests.
The habit
Read the venue’s order documentation once, and specifically confirm the stop trigger reference and whether reduce-only exists. Both are one-line answers that change what your risk controls actually do — and both are assumed rather than checked by almost everyone arriving from equities.