IC Markets
An order that does not execute is either waiting for a condition that has not been met, or being blocked by your account or the platform. The distinction matters, because a pending order sitting correctly is fine and a rejected market order needs action. Work through the checks below in order.
1. Is the market open?
Forex trades from Sunday evening to Friday evening New York time, with a daily maintenance break at the rollover on many platforms. Individual instruments have their own hours: gold, indices, and stocks each pause at different times. If you are trying to trade outside the instrument's session, the order simply waits. Check the instrument's specification in the platform for its exact trading hours, and the market hours guide for holidays.
2. Has price actually reached your level?
A pending order (buy limit, sell limit, buy stop, sell stop) only fills when the market trades at your specified price. If price is still 5 pips away, the order is doing exactly what it should: nothing. Remember that a buy order fills at the ask and a sell at the bid, so a buy limit needs the ask to reach your price, which is a spread's width earlier than the bid line on your chart.
3. Do you have enough free margin?
A market order to open a new position is rejected if your free margin is not enough to cover the new position's margin requirement. Check your account panel: equity, used margin, and free margin. If free margin is low because of existing open trades or a floating loss, reduce your order size or close another position first.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Order sits with no fill, price far away | Pending order waiting for its level | Normal; wait or adjust the price |
| Market order rejected instantly | Insufficient free margin, or market closed | Check margin and instrument hours |
| "Requote" or "price changed" message | Price moved during the fill on a dealing-desk account | Accept the new price or use market execution |
| "Off quotes" or "no prices" | Feed gap, thin liquidity, or platform connection | Wait, reconnect, or restart the platform |
| Order disappears after placing | Rejected for invalid stop/limit distance | Check the minimum stop level for the instrument |
4. Requotes and execution type
On an instant-execution or dealing-desk account, if the price moves between your click and the broker receiving the order, you get a requote: a message offering a new price to accept or decline. In fast markets this can happen repeatedly. A market-execution account fills at the next available price instead of requoting, usually with some slippage. If requotes are constant, switch to a market-execution account type.
5. Platform and connection issues
- A weak or dropped connection can leave orders unsent. Check the connection indicator in your platform.
- An outdated platform build can misbehave; update it.
- A server-side issue on the broker's end shows as "no prices" or "trade context is busy". Check the broker's status page or support channel.
- An invalid stop-loss or take-profit distance, closer than the instrument's minimum stop level, causes the whole order to be rejected. Widen the levels.
Nkechi's market orders on an index kept getting rejected on Saturday. Indices do not trade on weekends, so the order had nothing to fill against. On Monday the same orders worked. She now checks each instrument's trading hours in the platform specification before assuming something is broken, and keeps a note of which of her instruments trade around the clock and which do not.
Repeated requotes only in your favour being declined, or fills consistently worse than independent price sources at the same timestamp, are worth documenting and raising with a regulated broker. Occasional slippage in both directions during volatile conditions is normal.
Most "my order will not execute" cases are one of three things: the market for that instrument is closed, price has not reached the pending level, or there is not enough free margin. Check those first. Requotes and platform errors are next, and a real execution problem with a regulated broker is last and rare.
Frequently asked
Why won't my forex order fill?
The most common reasons are that the instrument's market is closed, price has not yet reached your pending order's level, you do not have enough free margin for a new position, the account is getting requotes in a fast market, or there is a platform or connection issue.
What does a requote mean?
On an instant-execution or dealing-desk account, a requote is the broker offering a new price because the market moved between your order and its receipt. You accept or decline it. A market-execution account fills at the next available price instead, usually with slippage.
Why is my pending order not triggering?
A pending order only fills when the market trades at your exact price. A buy order needs the ask to reach your level and a sell needs the bid, so it triggers a spread's width away from the line you may be watching on the chart.
Can insufficient margin stop me opening a trade?
Yes. A market order to open a new position is rejected if your free margin does not cover the new position's margin requirement. Reduce the order size or close another position to free up margin.
What does 'off quotes' mean?
It means the platform has no current price to execute against, usually a brief feed gap, very thin liquidity, or a connection problem. Wait a moment, check your connection, and try again, or check the broker's status channel.