A Good Til Canceled limit order is the most commonly used limit order and has the following characteristics:
Your order will be executed at the price you've entered or at an improved price.
Your order will remain in the order book until the order is (a) executed or (b) canceled by you.
The exact workings of the Good Til Cancelled limit order is illustrated below through an example
Example
Suppose you only want to buy 10 Bitcoin at a predetermined price. You, therefore, submit a Good Til Canceled limit order for the purchase of 10 Bitcoin for the price of €999 per item under the following market conditions:
As there is currently no seller who is willing to sell Bitcoin for €999, your order cannot (yet) be executed.
Only when there is a seller who is willing to sell his Bitcoin for €999 per Bitcoin (part of) will your order be filled.
As soon as there is another seller who is willing to sell Bitcoin for €999 each, your order will be filled further. This continues until you have purchased the desired number of 10 Bitcoin for the desired amount of €999 per item.
This way, you know for sure that your order will only be executed at the price you specified, but it is uncertain whether and when your order will be executed. As long as your order has not yet been executed, you will have the option of canceling it.
How do I submit a Good Til Canceled limit order?
You submit a Good Til Canceled limit order as follows:
Go to the advanced dashboard.
At the top left, choose the market in which you want to trade.
Choose a purchase or sale order.
Choose a limit order.
Specify the quantity that you want to buy or sell.
Specify the amount on which you want to set the limit per digital currency.
Click 'Continue'.
After completing the abovementioned steps, you have submitted a Good Til Cancelled limit order.
Post-only option
Besides putting in a standard Good Til Canceled limit order, you also have the option to put the order in 'post-only'. By choosing this, your Good Til Canceled limit order will only be put in when the order cannot be executed directly. This way, your order will always be classified as a maker.
Please Note: if you place large orders using the 'post-only' option, your order will most likely not be executed due to its size.
Advantage
The advantage of putting in a post-only Good Til Canceled limit order is that you are certain that you will not owe the taker fee. Your order will only be added to the order book if it can be classified as a maker (so you can make use of the lower maker fee), or it will not be put in.
Execution
You can use 'post-only' by choosing 'Advanced' after step 6 of the above-mentioned step-by-step plan and subsequently select the 'post-only' option.
Where do I see which outstanding orders I have?
As long as your order is not yet filled, it will remain open until it can be filled for the desired price.
Your outstanding orders can be found under the TradingView chart. If you are on a small(er) screen, click on the arrow below the TradingView chart to show both the open and filled orders.
Please note: the order is only visible in the trade screen of the corresponding digital currency. Suppose you have an open Bitcoin order; you will not find this Bitcoin order in the trade screen of another digital currency.
How do I cancel or change a Good Til Canceled limit order?
As long as your Good Til Canceled limit order has not yet been filled, you can cancel or change it. This can be done as follows:
Cancel open limit order
All your outstanding orders are listed under the TradingView chart.
Click on the cross to the right of your open order to cancel the open order.
Change open limit order
All your outstanding orders are listed under the TradingView chart.
Click on the amount to change the open order.
Change the quantity and click on 'Confirm'.
The limit order has been changed.
Want to learn more about the different order types and when to use them? Read about it in this Bitvavo Learn article.
