Fill Or Kill Order (FOK)

Community Submission - Author: John Ma

Some exchanges and trading platforms offer a type of order known as “Fill or Kill Order” (FOK). The term refers to the idea that an order must be filled immediately in its entirety or not executed at all. It is closely related to the “All or Nothing” (AON) order type, which refers to an order that must be filled in its entirety or not at all. Unlike, FOK orders, however, AON orders don’t have a specific focus on the immediate point in time.

Alice wants to set up an altcoin masternode immediately, but one of the requirements for running a masternode is that she must hold 1000 units of that particular cryptocurrency. If time was not a limiting factor, Alice could place numerous buy orders until the 1000 threshold is eventually reached. However, since she wants the masternode up and running without too much delay, she can place multiple Fill or Kill buy orders for 1000 units of the altcoin (in different exchanges). This way, Alice will only pay for the altcoins if she gets the 1,000 units she wants and this allows her to cancel any order that is not filled in its entirety.