When you work with a customer to place an order, registered representatives must submit order tickets. The order ticket records the order details, such as:

• The type of order
• The number of shares
• The time frame for the order
• Any special instructions (order specifications)

Some common order 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, the market doesn’t have enough shares available at the customer’s price. For example, a customer places an order to buy 1,000 shares of stock at $50, but only 500 shares are available at $50.

In this situation, 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 keeps attempting to fill the order until it’s either filled or canceled (multiple attempts allowed).

In the same situation, an immediate or cancel (IOC) order would buy the 500 shares available at $50 and then cancel the remaining 500 shares. The brokerage firm gets one attempt to fill as much of the order as possible at the specified price, and then cancels whatever can’t be filled.

Fill or kill (FOK) orders are the most stringent. They require the entire order to be filled immediately. In the same situation, the order would be canceled because only 500 of the 1,000 shares are available.