Common Reasons for Futures Order Cancellations
When trading futures on KuCoin, orders may be canceled or fail to execute. Below are the common types of order cancellations and their reasons:
Type 1 – User-Canceled Orders / Stop Order Cancellations
- Reason: An order is manually canceled
- Scenario: When a user places a limit or conditional order, but cancels it manually before the trigger price is reached. For example, User A predicts BTC will drop and places a limit buy order at $40,000. After waiting without the price reaching this level, they cancel the order to free up funds for better trading efficiency.
Type 2 – Preset IOC (Immediate or Cancel) Orders
- Reason: Unfilled parts of an IOC (Immediate or Cancel) order are automatically canceled
- Scenario: IOC orders are executed immediately with the available price and quantity. If only partially filled, any unfilled portion of the order is canceled. If there isn’t sufficient quantity at your chosen price when placing an order, the entire order is canceled immediately.
Type 3 – Preset Post Only Orders
- Reason: Post Only conditions were not met, resulting in order cancellation
- Scenario: When the Post Only option is selected while placing a limit order. Such orders will not immediately match with existing market orders, but remain as a Maker order in the order book, avoiding interaction with current market orders. If the order matches an existing order immediately, it is canceled to ensure only maker fees apply. For example, if a user places a buy order above market price, the Post Only order is automatically canceled by the system.
Type 4 – No Matching Market Orders
- Reason: No available counterparty orders on the market for the order to match with
- Scenario: When a market order is placed, and a period of extreme volatility sees no available counterparty orders, causing it to be canceled.
Type 5 – Liquidation of Position
- Reason: All orders for the current contract are canceled after liquidation
- Scenario: If the margin for a position is insufficient in meeting maintenance margin requirements, the position will be liquidated by the system. Simultaneously, all related orders, including take-profit, stop-loss, and limit orders, will be canceled.
Type 6 – Close Position Orders Without Existing Positions
- Reason: Close orders are canceled if there are no open positions
- Scenario: When a user places a close order and the position is liquidated, the close order is automatically canceled.
Type 7 – Stop Orders Canceled During Liquidation
- Reason: Stop-loss and take-profit orders are automatically canceled during liquidation, as the position no longer exists
- Scenario: Once a position is liquidated, all related stop-loss and take-profit orders for the contract are canceled.
Type 8 – Price Protection Limits
- Reason: No counterparty orders are available within the 5% price protection range
- Scenario: KuCoin futures enforces a 5% price protection mechanism. Buy orders cannot exceed +5% of the mark price, and sell orders cannot drop below -5% of the mark price. Orders exceeding these limits are canceled to reduce risks to your positions in volatile markets.
Type 9 – Insufficient Order Margin
- Reason: Activated conditional orders are canceled when there is insufficient margin
- Scenario: Conditional orders are used to create take-profit or stop-loss orders. When market price reaches the specified trigger price, the order is activated, entering the market as a limit or market order. Note: Conditional orders will be canceled if the available balance in the Futures Account is insufficient to cover the required position margin when triggered.
Type 10 – Auto-Deleveraging (ADL)
- Reason: Orders are automatically canceled when positions are auto-deleveraged
- Scenario: During auto-deleveraging (ADL), all orders for the current position, including take-profit, stop-loss, and limit orders, are automatically canceled.
Type 11 – Position Size Mismatch
- Reason: Reduce-only orders are canceled if the executed position size is insufficient
- Scenario: When holding a position and placing a reduce-only order, any remaining unfulfilled portion of the order will be canceled if the executed size does not match the intended reduction. For example, User A holds 10 long contracts and places a reduce-only sell order for 8 contracts. If they close 5 long contracts beforehand, leaving only 5 contracts, the original reduce-only sell order for 8 contracts is canceled.
Type 12 – Stop Orders Canceled: Position Size to Zero or Reversed Position
- Reason:Orders are canceled when the position size becomes zero or reverses direction
- Scenario: If a position is fully closed, or a reduce-only order exceeds the current position size, reversing the position direction, all related take-profit, stop-loss or position-specific orders are canceled.
Type 13 – Zero-Margin Orders Exceed Position Size
- Reason:When the number of non-margin-frozen orders exceeds the current position size, the system cancels the excess orders.
- Scenario: When a user holds a position and places reverse (opposite direction) orders, the portion of those reverse orders that matches the held position size is considered non-margin-frozen.
If the user's position decreases (e.g., due to manual closing or triggered take-profit/stop-loss), and as a result, the number of non-margin-frozen reverse orders exceeds the remaining position size, the system will automatically cancel the excess or all such orders to ensure that any filled orders do not exceed the available position. - Examples:
| Scenario | Current Position | Current Open Orders | Triggering Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial Cancellation | Long position: 10 contracts | Short reverse order: 15 contracts | Closed 5 long contracts manually → 5 remaining | Reverse order quantity adjusted to 10 contracts |
| Full Cancellation | Long position: 10 contracts | Short reverse order: 8 contracts | Fully closed long position → 0 remaining | Reverse order (8 contracts) fully cancelled |
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The KuCoin Futures Team
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