I've opened up a Questrade account, am waiting for my mutual fund money to be transferred into my registered accounts there, and in the meantime have $1000 in my TFSA to start buying. I am going to go with the Canadian Couch Potato "assertive" model market portfolio of 25% VAB, 25% VCN and 50% VXC. It feels so daunting to make that first purchase, I want to make sure I am doing it right, and I think I am overthinking things (again). With regards to "order type", if I'm buying for the long run, I just want to purchase stocks as a "market" order type with duration "day" correct? I found the Questrade FAQ on order types, which I think just confused me more.
It is even harder to sell when you are ready to rebalance -- as you get to sell some of the "winners" to buy the "losers"!!! You have now been warned that human emotions can affect behaviour!
But my main thought is:
:-) Good for you. Once you complete a few purchases, you will be very happy and comfortable with it.
I rarely use market orders unless I need something to sell NOW so I can reuse the money, or worried about more losses being possible. Market orders are processed before limit orders, so you could get a better $.
I also tend to place orders after hours, so I use LIMIT orders to buy and sell, with a duration that can be as long as a month, if I only want to buy on 5% dips. The opening price is often quite different from the closing price, and I want a guarantee of a min (or max) price.
Each person has their own comfort level, though.