Time In Force

Time in force is an instruction attached to an order that tells your broker how long the order should stay active in the market before it is automatically cancelled. It answers the question "how long should this order try to get filled?" rather than "at what price?" — that second question is handled separately by order type, such as a market order or a limit order.

When you place an order, you're not just saying what you want to buy or sell and at what price; you're also setting a lifespan for that instruction. A "Day" order, for example, expires automatically at the end of the trading session if it hasn't been filled. A "Good 'Til Cancelled" (GTC) order stays working across multiple sessions until it fills or you cancel it, though brokers often impose their own outer limit, like 60 or 90 days, after which they cancel it anyway. "Immediate or Cancel" (IOC) demands that whatever portion can be filled right away gets filled, and anything left over is cancelled instantly rather than sitting on the book. "Fill or Kill" (FOK) is stricter still: the entire order must be filled immediately in full, or it is cancelled entirely — no partial fills allowed.

The nuance that trips people up is confusing time in force with the order type itself. A limit order can be a Day limit order, a GTC limit order, or an IOC limit order — the price condition and the time condition are independent settings you choose separately in most trading platforms. Another common mistake is assuming GTC means "forever": brokers, exchanges, and even individual securities can impose expiration rules that quietly cancel a GTC order well before "forever" actually arrives.

Because these designations are broker and exchange conventions rather than fixed law, the exact mechanics — how long GTC really lasts, whether IOC and FOK are offered on a given platform, how partial fills are handled — can vary and change over time.