An All-Or-None Stock Market Order - What is It?

This might sound like a good thing for the investor,now spend less on his purchase than originally
but it does need a large amount of money to be ableplanned, and this means that the risk associated with
to manage it well. Stockbrokers do not give prioritythe AON order is less.
to all-or-none (AON) orders, however, and theInflation is the biggest problem in connection with
investor would be well advised to make sure thatAON orders, because the investor might have to
there are sufficient stocks available to make his orspend more money than he originally wanted. He
her order achievable before placing the order.could of course try to cancel the order, but if this is
Here is an example to illustrate what is meant by annot possible he will have to go ahead and purchase
AON order. There are 700 of a particular type ofthe shares.
shares available, but an investor wants to by 1,000Having placed an AON order, there is of course also
of them. If he places an AON order for 1,000, thenno guarantee that the requested stocks will be
he will have to wait until there are at least 1,000 ofavailable, and they may not be available for quite
the shares available. In the meantime, however, thesome time, perhaps even a number of months.
value of those shares could rise, which would costAgain, the stock market investor may decide to
him a lot more for the 1,000 shares than he wascancel the order during this time, and not receive the
originally prepared to pay. There is also the questionshares he ordered. Because of the low priority
of whether the stockbroker can get the orderallocated to AON orders by stockbrokers, this wait
through when the time comes.and subsequent cancellation is quite a common
When the full quantity of stocks does becomeoccurrence.
available, the value could be lower, or might haveIf you do decide to place an AON order, then be
remained the same as it was at the time of placingcareful to select a stockbroker who is experienced
the AON order. The lower price is particularly likely ifwith these orders and can be relied upon to do his or
there has been a bear market, when lots of peopleher best for you in this regard. Be wary of a stock
are selling their shares, and this causes values tomarket broker who is likely to cause delays in your
drop. In the case of an AON order, the investor willorder, because of their low priority for him.