Good This Week Order
A Good This Week (GTW) order is a time-limited order instruction that remains active until the end of the current trading week (typically Friday's market close) and is automatically cancelled if not executed by that deadline. It sits between a day order (expires at daily close) and a Good Till Cancelled order (GTC, which persists indefinitely) in the spectrum of order time-in-force designations.
Key takeaways
- GTW orders expire automatically at the close of the last trading day of the week, reducing the risk of stale orders being executed unexpectedly.
- They are useful when a trader's conviction is tied to a weekly macro catalyst, such as a Federal Reserve meeting or earnings release occurring within the week.
- Not all brokers and exchanges support GTW orders; availability varies by instrument and venue.
- Traders using GTW orders must account for corporate actions (ex-dividend dates, splits) that may occur during the week and affect limit price relevance.
- GTW orders are less common than GTC or day orders and are primarily used by active discretionary traders rather than algorithmic systems.
Explanation
Order time-in-force (TIF) designations are a fundamental aspect of trade execution management, allowing market participants to specify exactly how long an unexecuted order should remain open. The Good This Week designation occupies a specific niche: it is appropriate when the trading rationale is based on a weekly time horizon rather than an intraday or open-ended thesis.
For example, a trader anticipating that a stock will pull back to a key support level during the week following a Monday gap-up opening might place a GTW limit order at the support level. A day order would require re-entry each morning; a GTC order might linger for weeks after the original thesis has expired. The GTW order neatly aligns order duration with the analytical horizon.
The practical implementation of GTW orders requires attention to several operational details. First, the definition of 'week' must be confirmed with the broker — most define it as the calendar week's last regular session, but holiday-shortened weeks may be treated differently. Second, in markets operating across multiple time zones (e.g., currency futures or international equity markets), the weekly close time should be specified unambiguously. Third, for options, a GTW order expiring on a Friday could inadvertently interact with weekly options expiry, potentially creating unintended execution scenarios.
From a transaction cost analysis perspective, GTW orders offer execution flexibility without the administrative overhead of daily order re-entry. However, they introduce the risk that market conditions change materially during the week — for instance, a negative news event on Wednesday could make a limit buy order placed Monday appear badly mispriced by the time it executes on Thursday. Traders who use GTW orders should monitor positions actively and cancel or adjust orders as new information arrives.
Example
On Monday morning, a portfolio manager observes that XYZ Corporation has gapped up 8% following positive preliminary earnings commentary, but the manager believes the full-week target range of $55-57 is achievable after some profit-taking. The manager places a GTW limit buy order at $55.50 for 10,000 shares. The stock consolidates mid-week, prints $55.40 on Thursday morning, and the order executes at $55.50. By Friday's close, XYZ trades at $58.20, resulting in an unrealized gain of $27,000 (roughly 4.9%). Had the manager instead placed a day order on Monday alone, the trade would never have been entered at the desired price.
Related terms
Block Trade Day Order Duration Equity Good Till Cancelled Order Limit Order Paper Profit Proprietary Trading Stock Support Level Transaction Cost Analysis Weekly Options