Understanding Time in Force: Master Your Order Execution Strategy

When you place a trade, you're not just choosing a price—you're also choosing how that order behaves in the market. This is where Time in Force (TIF) comes in.

Whether you're spot trading or trading perpetuals/futures, Gate offers three core execution strategies that let you control exactly what happens when your order hits the order book.

The Three Order Types Explained

Good Till Canceled (GTC): Your order sits in the book indefinitely until it fills completely or you manually pull it. Best for patient traders who have a target price and can wait. You maintain full control—cancel anytime.

Fill or Kill (FOK): It's all or nothing. The entire order executes immediately at your price or better, or it gets canceled entirely with zero partial fills. Day traders and scalpers love this for quick opportunities where partial execution defeats the strategy.

Immediate or Cancel (IOC): Whatever fills right now at your limit price stays. Anything left unfilled gets automatically canceled. This protects you from getting stuck with a partially filled order that drifts away from your intended price.

Real-World Example: What Actually Happens

Let's say you want to buy 10,000 contracts at a max price of $8,001. Here's what the order book looks like:

| Price | Available | Total | |-------|-----------|-------| | $8,003 | 3,000 | 13,000 | | $8,002 | 5,000 | 10,000 | | $8,001 | 5,000 | 5,000 |

Last trade: $8,000

Here's how each strategy plays out:

GTC ($8,001, 10,000 contracts)

• Fills: 5,000 at $8,001
• Remaining: 5,000 queued in order book waiting for new volume
• Your trade partially completes; the rest waits

FOK ($8,001, 10,000 contracts)

• Fills: 0 contracts
• Result: Entire order canceled because there aren't 10,000 contracts available at that price
• Nothing executes—it's rejected outright

IOC ($8,001, 10,000 contracts)

• Fills: 5,000 at $8,001
• Remaining: 5,000 automatically canceled
• You get the instant fill, rest is discarded—no lingering orders

Which Should You Use?

Choose GTC if you're patient and okay with partial fills eventually completing.

Choose FOK if you need the full order executed immediately or not at all (scalpers, momentum traders).

Choose IOC if you want speed but don't want unfilled contracts sitting around at stale prices.

Available on spot (Unified Account), perpetuals, and futures (Standard/UTA).