Not Held
"Not Held" (often written NH) is an instruction attached to an order that gives the broker handling it discretion over the timing and, sometimes, the price of execution, in exchange for the broker being released from strict liability if the market moves away before the order is filled.
Normally, when you send a market order, the person or system handling it is expected to execute it essentially right away, at the best available price. A Not Held order changes that deal: you're telling the broker "use your judgment about when to execute this, because you may have a better read on the next few seconds or minutes of price action than I do, or because this order is large enough that dumping it all at once would move the price against me." The broker can then work the order over time, wait for a dip or a bounce, or break it into pieces, instead of firing it off instantly.
The nuance that trips people up is the "held" part. In a regular held order, if the broker is slow or makes a poor timing decision and you get a worse price, that can be a basis for complaint, because the broker was obligated to act promptly. With a Not Held order, you've explicitly given up that guarantee. The broker isn't obligated to get you any particular price or fill within any particular window, and there's no promise the order fills at all if the market runs away. This trade-off exists mainly for institutional-sized orders and algorithmic execution strategies, not for typical retail clicks, though the term still shows up in broker order-type menus and trading platform documentation.
Because discretion is involved, Not Held orders sit in a legally distinct category from standard order types, and the exact scope of what a broker is and isn't liable for under this designation is shaped by exchange and regulatory rules rather than plain-English convention.
This term depends on a rule or threshold that changes over time, so no specific figure is quoted here. The definition references the legal/regulatory boundary of broker discretion and liability under a 'Not Held' designation (this traces to SEC and exchange guidance, historically discussed under FINRA/NYSE interpretations of order handling rules). A human should confirm the current governing rule language and any specific obligations or safe-harbor conditions with FINRA or the relevant exchange rulebook before publishing, since this is a mechanic that can be updated by regulators.
A day trader who sees "Not Held" on a large order or in a broker's execution report should understand that price and timing certainty were deliberately traded away for flexibility, so a worse-than-expected fill isn't necessarily a broker error.
A fund needs to buy 200,000 shares of a stock currently at $40.10. Instead of a held market order, which could push the price up sharply as it hits the order book all at once, the trader gives the desk a Not Held order. The desk works it over the next hour, buying in smaller lots as liquidity appears, and the average fill comes in at $40.35. A held order might have filled faster but at a worse average price, or a better one — the point of Not Held is that the outcome depends on the broker's judgment, not a fixed rule.
Learn it by trading it.
Every term in this glossary shows up daily on our live desk.
Watch a morning, free