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Trading styles

GTC orders:and the other ways to place a trade.

GTC stands for good 'til cancelled: an order instruction that keeps a pending order active until it is filled or you cancel it, rather than expiring at the end of the day. It is a time-in-force setting that applies to limit and stop orders. A GTC order left working can fill at an unexpected moment, including at a gap.

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GTC and other time-in-force settings

Time in force says how long an order stays active.

Common time-in-force settings
SettingMeaning
DayExpires at the end of the trading day if not filled
GTC - good 'til cancelledStays active until filled or cancelled; some providers set a maximum duration
GTD - good 'til dateStays active until a chosen date and time
IOC - immediate or cancelFills what it can at once and cancels the rest
FOK - fill or killFills in full at once or not at all

Market, limit and stop orders

The order type says at what price an order may fill.

  • Market order - fills straight away at the best available price. Fast, but the price is not guaranteed in a fast market.
  • Buy limit - buy at or below a set price, placed under the current price. Sell limit - sell at or above a set price, placed over it.
  • Buy stop - buy once price rises to a set level, placed above the current price. Sell stop - sell once price falls to a level, placed below it. Stop-losses are sell stops on longs and buy stops on shorts.

The risks of orders left working

A GTC order does not know that circumstances have changed. An entry order placed days ago can fill after news that invalidates the idea, and a stop can fill well beyond its level if price gaps over it - for example at the weekly reopen in the Asian session. Review working orders before each session.

Step by step

How to identify it

Before placing any pending order, set three things deliberately.

  1. The order type: limit to get a better price, stop to follow a move.
  2. The price, and which side of the current price it sits.
  3. The time in force: day, GTC or a date.
  4. A reminder to review it, if it will be left working.

Worked example

The concept,walked through

A GTC order that fills late, described

An illustrative sequence in words, with round numbers standing in for price. It is not taken from any real instrument or date.

  1. 1. OrderOn Monday a trader places a GTC buy limit at 100, below the current price of 104.
  2. 2. ChangeOn Thursday, news changes the outlook, but the order is forgotten.
  3. 3. FillPrice falls through 100 on Friday and the order fills into the decline.

The order did exactly what it was told. The loss came from leaving an instruction working after the reason for it had gone.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Forgetting GTC orders

They stay active until cancelled, through news and weekends.

Confusing limit and stop

A buy limit sits below price; a buy stop sits above it. Swapping them fills at the wrong time.

Assuming a stop fills at its price

A stop becomes a market order when triggered and can fill beyond its level.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • Available order types and GTC durations differ between platforms and instruments.
  • No order type guarantees a price in a gap or a fast market.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

Pending orders that trigger count toward the same limits as any other trade. On a $100,000 account, a forgotten GTC order that fills into a move counts against the daily loss limit of $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step like any trade you placed by hand.

Trading rule

Can I hold trades overnight and over the weekend?

Why working orders and positions meet weekend gaps.

Trading rule

Does slippage excuse a breach?

Why a stop can fill beyond its level.

Trading rule

What is the daily loss limit?

Triggered orders count toward it - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

Good 'til cancelled. A GTC order stays active until it is filled or you cancel it, rather than expiring at the end of the day.

A pending order to buy at or below a set price, placed under the current market price. It fills only if price falls to that level.

Keep learning

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Swing Trading Forex: How It Works

Holding currency positions for days to weeks - the timeframes swing traders use, the costs that come with holding, and the gap risk.

Indicators and trading styles

Backtesting a Trading Strategy

How to test a strategy's rules on historical data, the costs and biases a fair test must include, and why a good backtest is not a forecast.

Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Types of orders - US Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2026. Market, limit and stop orders, and day versus good-'til-cancelled instructions.
  2. Order (exchange) - Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 September 2026. Time-in-force conditions: day, GTC, GTD, IOC and FOK.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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