---
title: "What is an order in LUSID?"
slug: "what-is-an-order-in-lusid"
tags: ["order", "trade lifecycle"]
updated: 2025-04-10T13:58:03Z
published: 2025-04-10T13:58:03Z
canonical: "support.lusid.com/what-is-an-order-in-lusid"
---

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

# What is an order in LUSID?

An order in LUSID represents a request to buy or sell a particular quantity of an instrument for a portfolio.

For example, as a Portfolio Manager, you might decide to acquire 150 AAPL US equity shares for your portfolio. You can create an order in LUSID and check the order passes pre-trade compliance. A Trader can then pick up the order, and go through [blocking](/v1/docs/what-is-order-blocking-in-lusid), [placement](/v1/docs/what-is-a-placement-in-lusid), and so on.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/d575ad81-c0ed-4980-bbd1-d59ac5c3de82/Images/Documentation/image(707).png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T01%3A47%3A21Z&se=2026-11-04T02%3A47%3A21Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=4TXfX4OUz1j3zNvxITcjT7WtiC3LzjoawlSQrI%2FNfL4%3D)

Creating an order forms the basis of LUSID's order management system, so you might think of the entire flow (shown above) from order creation to portfolio [rebalancing](/v1/docs/what-is-rebalancing-in-lusid) as an ‘order lifecycle'.

You can create as many orders as you need at once by selecting:

- An instrument
- A side (such as buy or sell)
- A quantity.
- Optionally at this point:
  - Whether it’s a market order, limit order or stop order (alongside a limit or stop price)
  - How long the order should remain in effect for, whether that's until a certain date or until the order is cancelled

You can then proceed to [running pre-trade compliance checks](/v1/docs/what-is-compliance-in-lusid) and [blocking similar orders](/v1/docs/what-is-order-blocking-in-lusid). [How do I create an order?](/v1/docs/how-do-i-create-an-order)

LUSID provides you with lots of flexibility when creating orders:

- LUSID can suggest the orders to generate after [rebalancing your portfolio](/v1/docs/what-is-rebalancing-in-lusid).
- You can create orders outside of LUSID, while [LUSID stores a record](/v1/docs/understanding-how-lusids-order-management-system-works#creating-orders-externally-and-storing-a-record-in-lusid-via-drop-copy) of the order.
- You can manually create orders to reflect any other order creation activity, or use LUSID's [Scheduler](/v1/docs/scheduler) to automate such processes.

An instrument mastered in LUSID represents a financial asset you own or have exposure to. LUSID enables you to model a wide range of securities using instrument types.

## Related

- [Using the Order Blotter](/using-the-order-blotter.md)
- [How do I create an order?](/how-do-i-create-an-order.md)