US Stocks 33
Investor.gov says a Good-Til-Cancelled order lasts until completed or canceled, but it also says brokerage firms typically limit how long a GTC order can remain open. A standing order can outlast one session without becoming permanent.
Why this note matters
Investors can read `good-til-cancelled` as if the order remains active indefinitely until they personally remove it. Investor.gov is more careful: GTC changes the default lifespan of an order, but the broker still sets time limits.
Investor.gov says a Good-Til-Cancelled order is an order to buy or sell a stock that lasts until it is completed or canceled. In the same definition, however, Investor.gov also says brokerage firms typically limit how long an investor can leave a GTC order open and that the exact time frame varies from broker to broker.
So the term `good-til-cancelled` describes a longer-lived order instruction than the default day order, but it does not mean the order must remain on the books forever under every brokerage policy.
Investor.gov's day-order glossary says that unless an investor specifies a time frame for expiration, orders to buy and sell a stock are day orders that are good only during that trading day. If they do not execute during regular trading hours, they expire and do not automatically carry into after-hours trading or the next regular session.
That means the real function of a GTC order is to override the one-session default. It is not a promise that the order will remain active without any broker-set outer limit.
Open orders are easy to forget, especially when the label sounds more permanent than it really is. Investor.gov's definitions matter because they separate the order instruction from the brokerage firm's actual policy window.
For Hynexly readers, the practical rule is simple: a GTC order can remain open longer than a day order, but you should still check the broker's expiry policy instead of assuming the order will sit there indefinitely.
Investor.gov defines GTC orders and explains that brokerage firms usually impose their own time limits.
Open sourceInvestor.gov explains the default order-expiration rule when no alternate time frame is specified.
Open source