In order given to call off a previously placed buy or sell order.
This is an instruction typically given by an investor and carried out by a broker. They are usually followed by new orders placed on the same securities at new values according to a change of strategy or the receipt of new information. A cancel order may only be carried out before the trade has been executed. Often the broker will have already submitted the order to a specialist or market maker upon receiving the cancel order. Since there is typically a (small) time lapse between when the cancel order is placed and when it reaches the specialist or market maker, the order may already be executed when the cancel order arrives. In this case the cancel order is too late to have any effect.
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