What is Time in Force (TIF) & How Does it Impact Orders?

Time in force, or TIF, is the duration you wish your trade order to remain active before it executes. This can be a significant factor to consider when placing an order as you can specify how long it remains open before it either fills or expires.

Importance of Time in Force

By setting time limitations for each order placed, traders can prevent trades from executing beyond a certain time and also eliminate the need to cancel existing orders manually.

Selecting the desired time in force, traders can remain focused on market analysis rather than closely monitoring orders throughout the day. Time in force applies to both basic order types such as stop-limit orders as well as advanced order types such as market if touched (MIT).

Types of Time in Force Orders

NinjaTrader provides three different TIF order options:

• Day: Day orders are cancelled if the order does not fill by the close of the trading day.
• GTC: Good ’Til Cancelled orders will remain active until the trade is either executed or canceled manually.
• GTD: Good ’Til Date orders allow a trader to specify a specific date when the order will expire. The order will remain open until the end of the trading session on the user-defined date.

Every NinjaTrader order entry window or interface has a TIF selector drop-down menu. In the example below, the lower portion of a SuperDOM window is shown with the TIF selector highlighted.

How to Set the Time in Force in NinjaTrader

1. Use the TIF selector to select Day, GTC, or GTD for your time in force.

2. When selecting GTD, you will be presented with a date selector to specify the date to cancel the order at the end of the session.

3. In the example above, the current date is Monday, April 22nd, and the order will remain active until the end of the session on the following Tuesday, April 30th.

Learn more about basic order types in this quick video overview:

Get Started with NinjaTrader

As an award-winning futures broker, NinjaTrader provides deep discount commissions & low day trading margins. The powerful NinjaTrader platform is always free to use for advanced charting, backtesting and trade simulation. Download NinjaTrader and take your trading to the next level!