Pending order
Family II · Orders
Not to be confused with stop order, stop and limit order, delivery order.
Pending order is an instruction to a broker to execute a trade only when a specified market condition is met, such as a price level or a time, rather than immediately at the current market price. It remains inactive until the condition is triggered, at which point it becomes a market or limit order. Pending orders are used to enter or exit positions at predetermined levels without continuous monitoring.
How pending orders work
A pending order specifies the instrument, direction, size, and the condition that triggers execution. Common conditions include a price threshold (e.g., buy when the ask reaches 1.1000) or a time (e.g., execute at the next daily open). Once the condition is met, the order is sent to the market and filled according to available liquidity and the broker's execution model.
Pending orders may expire after a set period, such as end-of-day or a specified date, depending on the order type and broker settings. They can typically be modified or cancelled before execution.
Worked example
An order to buy 10,000 EUR/USD at 1.0950 when the market is trading at 1.1000 is a pending order. The table shows the trigger and resulting position.
Common types
- Limit order: executes at a specified price or better.
- Stop order: becomes a market order once a specified price is reached.
- Stop-limit order: combines a stop trigger with a limit price.
- Time-based order: executes at a specified time, such as market open or close.
Availability and exact behaviour vary by broker and market.
Often confused with
- stop order
- A stop order is an instruction to buy or sell a security once its price reaches a specified trigger level, at which point it becomes a market order and is filled at the best available price.
- stop and limit order
- A stop and limit order is a single instruction that combines a stop trigger with a limit price, so that when the stop level is reached, a limit order is submitted at the specified limit price.
- delivery order
- A delivery order is an instruction to a broker to take physical delivery of the underlying asset rather than closing the position for cash before expiry.