How-to market price protection market order limit order Kite Zerodha order execution

How to fix a market order that executed as a limit on Kite

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 21 June 2026. Reading time ~9 min. Level: Intermediate.

Key facts

Why it happens	Market price protection (MPP) caps a market order to a protected limit within a set percentage of the LTP, so it shows as a limit
Where it is enforced	On all BSE instruments and some illiquid NSE stocks the exchange enforces it; on Kite web you can enable it yourself via Advanced then Market protection
BSE band	On BSE a market order becomes a limit order with 3% market protection from the LTP, filling at the next best price within that band
Kite MPP bands (EQ and FUT)	2% under Rs 100, 1% from Rs 100 to 500, 0.5% above Rs 500, as a percentage of LTP
The fix	Any unfilled quantity rests as a limit at the cap; re-place a fresh order at a price within the current protection range, or as a plain limit

Procedure

Read the order in the order bookOpen the order book and the order in question. A market order that shows a limit price and a partial or unfilled status was converted by market price protection, not rejected. Note the filled quantity, the limit price it carries, and the remaining quantity.
Identify why it convertedCheck the exchange and instrument. On BSE, every market order is capped at 3% from the LTP. On illiquid NSE stocks the exchange may cap or cancel. On Kite web you may have enabled Market protection yourself via Advanced then Market protection.
Compare the cap to the current priceThe protected limit is a percentage of the LTP at the moment you placed the order. If the price has moved beyond that cap, the remaining quantity cannot fill at the old limit and rests in the book.
Decide whether to keep waiting or re-placeIf the price is oscillating near the cap, the rest may fill. If the price has run away from the cap, cancel the resting remainder rather than leave it stranded above or below the market.
Re-place within the new protection rangePlace a fresh order for the remaining quantity. A new market order recomputes the protection band from the current LTP. A plain limit order at a price you choose gives you direct control of the worst fill.
Adjust the protection setting if it is yoursIf you enabled Market protection on Kite web, widen or turn it off via Advanced then Market protection for the order types where you want a pure market fill, mindful that this removes the price cap.

A market order that appears to execute as a limit on Kite , Zerodha’s trading platform, has been capped by market price protection (MPP), a pre-trade control that converts a market order into a protected limit order priced within a set percentage of the last traded price . The order is not rejected and is not broken: it filled whatever quantity the protection band allowed and left any remainder resting in the book as a limit order at the cap. The confusion arises because a control meant to protect you from a runaway fill looks, in the order book, like Kite quietly changed your order type. It did not change the type; it bounded the price.

This guide explains why a market order shows a limit price, which exchanges and instruments enforce the cap, the exact percentage bands Kite applies, and the correct fix, which is to re-place the unfilled quantity rather than to fight the stranded order. The fix is short; the value is in reading the order book correctly so you do not mistake a working protection for a fault.

Conflict-of-interest disclosure. This guide is published by the WebNotes Editorial Team for informational purposes and is written independently. WebNotes operates a Zerodha account-opening referral programme, disclosed on the pages that carry the referral link; this guide does not carry it and earns no referral commission from the procedure described here.

Step-by-step procedure

The procedure infobox at the top lists the six steps. The order is to read the order book, work out why the conversion happened, and then re-place rather than modify. The H3 sections below expand each step.

1. Read the order in the order book

Open the order book and the order in question. The signature of a market-price-protection conversion is a market order that now shows a limit price and a status of partly filled or fully open. That combination is the conversion: the order reached the exchange, executed the quantity available inside the protection band, and left the rest resting at the cap. Note three things: the quantity that filled, the limit price the order now carries, and the quantity still open. These three numbers drive every decision that follows.

2. Identify why it converted

Three sources can apply the cap, and the fix depends on which one did.

On BSE , the exchange enforces protection on every instrument. A market order on BSE is converted to a limit order with 3% market protection from the LTP, and it fills at the next best bid or offer within that 3% range. A buy market order on a BSE stock at an LTP of Rs 12 is capped at Rs 12.36, and quantity that would only fill above Rs 12.36 rests unfilled.

On NSE , the exchange enforces protection on some illiquid stocks, where it will either convert the market order to a limit or cancel it, per the relevant exchange circular. Liquid NSE instruments are generally not exchange-capped.

On Kite web, you may have enabled the protection yourself. Clicking Advanced then Market protection on the order window applies Kite’s own percentage bands to your market order. If you set this and forgot, your own setting is the cause.

3. Compare the cap to the current price

The protected limit is computed as a percentage of the LTP at the instant you placed the order. Kite’s bands for equity and futures are tiered by price:

Security type	Price range (Rs)	Protection (% of LTP)
EQ and FUT	Less than 100	2%
EQ and FUT	100 to 500	1%
EQ and FUT	More than 500	0.5%
OPT	Less than 10	5%
OPT	10 to 100	3%
OPT	100 to 500	2%
OPT	More than 500	1%

If the market has moved beyond the cap since you placed the order, the resting remainder is now a limit sitting above the market (for a buy) or below it (for a sell), and it cannot fill until the price comes back. That is the state to diagnose before you act.

4. Decide whether to keep waiting or re-place

If the price is oscillating around the cap, the resting remainder may still fill as the LTP ticks back into range, and waiting is fine. If the price has run away from the cap, the remainder is stranded and will not fill at the old limit. In that case cancel the open quantity rather than leave it parked, so a later reversal does not fill it at a price you no longer want.

5. Re-place within the new protection range

The fix for the unfilled quantity is a fresh order, not a modification of the stranded one. A new market order recomputes the protection band from the current LTP, so it caps relative to where the price is now, not where it was. A plain limit order at a price you choose gives direct control of the worst fill and sidesteps the band entirely on instruments where you, not the exchange, control protection. For an exchange-enforced instrument such as a BSE stock, even a re-placed market order will be capped again at 3% from the new LTP, so a limit order is often the cleaner way to fill the remainder at a known price.

6. Adjust the protection setting if it is yours

If the conversion came from your own Kite web setting rather than the exchange, decide whether you want the protection at all for the order type in question. Open the order window, click Advanced, then Market protection, and turn it off or leave it on. Turning it off lets a market order fill without a price cap, which is the right choice for a liquid instrument where slippage is negligible, and the wrong choice for a thin one where the cap is doing useful work. You cannot turn off the exchange-enforced protection on BSE instruments or the affected illiquid NSE stocks.

Why exchanges cap a market order

The cap exists because an uncapped market order in a thin book can sweep several price levels and print a fill far from the last price, which to the trader looks like an error and to the market looks like a flash move. Market price protection converts the market order into a limit at a percentage of the LTP so that the fill is bounded to a plausible band around the prevailing price. The trade-off is the unfilled remainder: the same band that prevents a bad fill also blocks any quantity that would only fill outside it. This is the same logic that leads exchanges to withhold the SL-M order type on some segments and to apply limit price protection to F&O limit orders. The protection is a feature, not a fault; the order book just does not label it clearly.

Distinguishing a conversion from a rejection

A converted order and a rejected order look superficially similar, an order that did not fully fill, but they are different states with different fixes. A rejected order never reaches the book and executes nothing; the order book shows a rejected status and a reason. A converted market order does reach the book, fills what it can inside the protection band, and leaves a protected-limit remainder; the order book shows a partial fill with a limit price. Reading the status correctly tells you whether to fix a rejection cause, such as margin or a circuit limit , or simply to re-place the leftover quantity as this guide describes.

What can go wrong

Treating a conversion as a fault and raising a ticket: a market order showing a limit price with a partial fill is market price protection working, not a Kite bug. Read the order book before escalating.
Modifying the stranded order instead of re-placing: a remainder capped at an old LTP will not fill if the price has moved. Cancel it and place a fresh order so the band recomputes from the current price.
Turning off protection on an illiquid instrument: disabling your Kite web protection on a thin stock or far-OTM option exposes the market order to sweeping the book. Keep it on where the spread is wide.
Expecting to disable exchange-enforced protection: the 3% BSE cap and the illiquid-NSE caps are exchange controls, not Kite settings, and cannot be switched off. Use a limit order if you want a known fill price there.
Leaving a stranded remainder open overnight: a resting protected limit can fill on a later reversal at a price you no longer want. Cancel quantity you have decided not to chase.

External references

References

Zerodha support, Why did my market order get executed as a limit order? (as of 21 June 2026).
Zerodha support, What is Market protection on the order window? (protection percentage bands by security type and price range, as of 21 June 2026).
BSE Notice on market price protection for market orders (3% protection band from LTP), BSE/Notice series.
NSE circular on market price protection for illiquid securities and on Limit Price Protection in the Futures and Options segment, effective 31 October 2022.
SEBI master circular on stock broker obligations and pre-trade risk controls, as amended.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my market order execute as a limit order on Kite?

Market price protection converted it. Exchanges and Kite cap a market order to a protected limit within a set percentage of the last traded price, so it cannot fill far from the prevailing price in a thin book. The order then shows a limit price, and any quantity outside the band rests unfilled rather than executing at a distant price.

What is market price protection on Kite?

Market price protection executes a market order at the best available price while capping it to a limit a set percentage from the LTP. On Kite the bands for equity and futures are 2% under Rs 100, 1% from Rs 100 to 500, and 0.5% above Rs 500; option bands are wider. If the price moves past the cap, the unfilled part stays open as a limit order.

Why does a BSE market order become a limit order?

BSE enforces market price protection on all its instruments. When you place a market order on BSE, the exchange converts it to a limit order with 3% protection from the LTP, and it fills at the next best bid or offer within that 3% band. Quantity that would only fill outside the band does not execute.

How do I fill the unexecuted part of a converted market order?

Cancel the resting remainder if the price has moved past the cap, then place a fresh order for the leftover quantity. A new market order recomputes the protection band from the current LTP. A plain limit order lets you set the worst price you will accept directly. Re-placing is the fix, not modifying the stranded order.

Can I turn off market price protection on Kite?

Where it is yours to control, yes. On Kite web you enable or disable it through Advanced then Market protection on the order window. Where the exchange enforces it, on all BSE instruments and some illiquid NSE stocks, you cannot turn it off; it is a pre-trade risk control applied at the exchange, not a Kite setting.

Is a market order capped by market price protection the same as a rejection?

No. A rejection means the order never reached the book and nothing executed. A capped market order did reach the book, executed whatever quantity it could within the protection band, and left the remainder resting as a protected limit. Read the order book status: a partial fill with a limit price is a conversion, not a rejection.

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Last reviewed: 21 June 2026
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