What is immediacy?

The speed at which a large buy or sell order can be fulfilled in a particular market, e.g. a stock market. It means an order can be completed quickly, without time being spent lining up buyers or sellers in advance. Immediacy can be used to measure the liquidity of a market.

Where have you heard about immediacy?

The term may crop up during discussions about how well a particular market is functioning. Low levels of immediacy suggest a market has weak liquidity and is unable to deal with large transactions quickly. On the other hand, strong immediacy indicates that a market is very liquid.

What you need to know about immediacy.

Liquidity is important to investors as it gauges the ease with which they can buy and sell assets on a particular market at a stable price. If a market has low liquidity, it can be more difficult for trades to take place.

Resiliency is a similar concept to immediacy which investors need to be aware of. This refers to the speed at which a market returns to normal following the completion of a large order. If a market is functioning well, it should bounce back reasonably quickly.

Find out more about immediacy.

Immediacy can be used as an indicator of market liquidity. For more information on this, see liquidity and illiquidity