Been trading for a while and realized a lot of people still don't fully understand how GTC orders actually work. Let me break down what is good till cancelled order and why it matters for your trading strategy.

So basically, a good till cancelled order lets you set a buy or sell price and just... wait. Unlike day orders that expire when the market closes, a GTC order stays active across multiple trading sessions until you either execute it or manually cancel it. Your broker might auto-cancel after 30-90 days to clean up stale orders, but that's it.

Here's the practical side. Say you think a stock at $55 is overpriced but you'd jump on it at $50. Instead of staring at charts all day, you place a GTC buy order at $50 and go about your life. When it hits that price, boom - order executes automatically. Same thing works for selling. Hold something at $80, set a GTC sell order at $90, and lock in profits without constantly monitoring.

The appeal is obvious - you're automating price targets without the mental overhead. But here's where people get caught slipping. Market volatility can trigger your order at weird times. A stock might dip to your buy price briefly before tanking further. Or overnight news could cause a gap - stock closes at $60, opens at $50 the next day, and your GTC sell order at $58 fills way lower than expected.

There's also the forgetting factor. You set an order, life gets busy, market conditions change completely, and suddenly your old order executes under circumstances that no longer make sense. That's why reviewing your open orders regularly actually matters.

Compare this to day orders - those expire at market close, so you control timing tightly but need to re-enter daily if you want to keep trying. GTC orders give you flexibility across weeks or months, but you're accepting the risk of unexpected execution.

Bottom line on what is good till cancelled order: it's a solid tool for traders who know their target prices and can afford to wait. Just don't set it and forget it. Check your orders occasionally, especially around earnings or major news events. The automation is convenient, but your awareness keeps you from getting blindsided.