🎯 Orders·beginner

Good Till Cancelled (GTC)

Also called: gtc, good til cancelled

An order that stays active until you manually cancel it or it fills — used for set-and-forget pending orders.

GTC (Good Till Cancelled) is an order time-in-force option that keeps your order alive indefinitely. Unlike day orders (which expire at the end of the trading session), a GTC order stays in the market until either it fills or you cancel it. This makes GTC the default choice for swing traders setting limit or stop orders that may take days or weeks to trigger. Most retail brokers default to GTC for pending orders. Some have a maximum lifespan (90 days, 180 days) before auto-cancelling, but functionally that's still "forever" for most trade plans. The risk of GTC is forgetting old orders. If you set a buy limit at a level you don't care about anymore, you can wake up months later to find a position you didn't want. Always review and clean up stale GTC orders weekly.

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Real trade example

Traders who set GTC buy limits at EUR/USD 1.0500 in early 2024 woke up months later to find them filled during the November 2024 plunge — many had completely forgotten about them and were caught off guard by the position.

Frequently asked about good till cancelled (gtc)

What is a good till cancelled (gtc) in trading?+

An order that stays active until you manually cancel it or it fills — used for set-and-forget pending orders.

When will I see good till cancelled (gtc) used in real trading?+

In the order time-in-force dropdown of most brokers. GTC is usually the default for limit and stop orders.

What is the most common mistake traders make with good till cancelled (gtc)?+

Forgetting GTC orders that no longer match your trade plan. A buy limit set during a different market regime can fire weeks later and stick you with a position your strategy doesn't even support anymore.

What do experienced traders know about good till cancelled (gtc) that beginners don't?+

Review all open GTC orders every Sunday before the week starts. Cancel anything that no longer matches your current bias. Stale orders are a hidden source of accidental positions.

Related terms

Limit Order

beginner

An order to buy or sell at a specific price or better — guarantees price, not execution.

Stop Order

beginner

An order that becomes a market order once price reaches a specified trigger level — used to enter on a breakout.

Fill or Kill (FOK)

advanced

An order that must fill IMMEDIATELY in full or be cancelled entirely — no partial fills allowed.

Immediate or Cancel (IOC)

advanced

An order that fills as much as possible immediately, then cancels the unfilled portion — no resting orders.

Trailing Stop

intermediate

A stop loss that automatically moves in your favor as price moves — locks in profit while letting winners run.

OCO Order (One-Cancels-the-Other)