When working with a customer to place an order, registered representatives must submit order tickets. The representative describes the type of order, how many shares it covers, the time frame of the order, and other various specifications on the ticket. Some of those specifications include:
All or none (AON)
Fill all shares or none at all
Multiple attempts allowed
Immediate or cancel (IOC)
Fill as many shares as possible
One attempt allowed
Fill or kill (FOK)
Fill all shares immediately
One attempt allowed
Sometimes there are only a certain number of shares available at specific prices in the market. For example, a customer places an order to buy 1,000 shares of stock at $50, but only 500 are available. In this case, an all or none (AON) order would not execute until all 1,000 shares were available at $50 or less. With AON orders, the brokerage firm attempts to fill the order until the order is canceled (multiple attempts allowed).
In the same situation, an immediate or cancel (IOC) order would fill the 500 shares at $50, then cancel the rest of the order. Essentially, the customer requests an immediate purchase of as many shares at the price they specified. The brokerage firm has one try to get as many shares as they can, then cancels the rest.
Fill or kill (FOK) orders are the most stringent order specification that requires all of the shares to be filled immediately. In the same situation, the order would be canceled with only 500 of the 1,000 shares available.
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