As we all know, if you place a stock order and it’s not yet filled, then you can just click on the Cancel button (there must be a Cancel button somewhere on your order details), and the order will be canceled. Once the order is canceled, your money is released and you can immediately use it for other transactions.

Now – what if the order is filled? Will you still be able to cancel it?

In 99% of the cases, the answer is “no”, you can’t cancel an already filled order simply because the transaction actually happened – and you are already the owner of some stocks, or you have disposed of some stocks.

But, there is this 1% that may or may not work for you. Some brokers, if they have a glitch with their system where the order takes a long time to be filled and cannot be cancelled during that time, are more lenient towards cancelling an already filled order. All you need to do is to call them and tell them that you bought (or sold) the stocks, but since the transaction took a very long time the purchase or the sale are no longer in your favor. Now, the person talking to you will tell you that they have a policy of not cancelling orders because of glitches, because (and this is always true), people won’t call if the order is more to their favor because of the glitch. Again, the broker may refuse (and it’s definitely his right) to cancel an already filled order, but if you beg a bit (without yelling, of course), you might get it cancelled. I once got one cancelled myself. Note that the broker will bare the loss if he cancels an already filled order.

By the way, cancelling orders (even if they are unfilled) frequently (or thinking about cancelling orders) is not a healthy sign and it demonstrates that you’re not a good investor and that you are plagued with fear. A good investor makes the order without even looking back. Just my 2 cents here.

This article (as well as all other articles on this website) is an intellectual property and copyright of Fadi El-Eter and can only appear on fadi.el-eter.com.