open order
Open Order is an instruction to buy or sell a stock at a price you set, left standing with your broker until it is filled or you cancel it.
In plain English
Think of it like the note you leave with a tailor when you cannot wait in the shop. You tell her, sew this and call me when it is ready, and you go about your day. You have not paid yet, nothing has happened yet, but the instruction is sitting there waiting for the right moment to act on it.
An open order works the same way with stocks. Instead of buying or selling at whatever price the market is shouting right now, you tell your broker, buy this stock for me if it drops to a price I like, or sell it once it climbs to a price I am happy with. The order sits calmly on the exchange's books until the market touches your price, or until you cancel it, or until it expires depending on how you set it up.
Say you have been watching a bank stock on the Nigerian Exchange trading around ₦28. You believe it is worth buying but only if it dips to ₦25. You place an open order to buy at ₦25 and go back to your work, your school run, your business. Days later the price slides to ₦25, your order fills, and you own the shares without having stared at a screen all week.
A Nigerian in London doing the same thing with a UK stock through an app works no differently. She sets a sell order at a target price on a stock she bought months ago, then continues with her shift at the hospital. The order does the watching for her.
This is the calm appeal of an open order. It lets your strategy work even when you are not physically present to click the button, which matters a lot for people juggling jobs, family, and a business on the side.
You place an open order to sell your ₦40 shares once they reach ₦48. Three weeks later, the price finally touches ₦48, your broker's system fills the order automatically, and you receive the proceeds without having watched the market once.
Questions people ask
How long does an open order last before it expires?
It depends on what you choose when placing it. Some are good for a single trading day only, others stay active for weeks or months until filled or cancelled, often called good till cancelled orders. Always check what your broker or trading app offers.
Can I cancel an open order once I have placed it?
Yes, as long as it has not been filled yet. Most trading platforms let you cancel or change the price with a few taps, so if your view on the stock changes, you are not stuck.
What happens if the market never reaches my price?
Then the order simply stays open, unfilled, until it expires or you cancel it. Nothing is lost except the opportunity, so many investors review their standing orders now and then to see if the price still makes sense.
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