Not Held Order

It is also known as "working order," where the order to buy and sell stocks in the market gives discretion to the investor related to the time and price at which the order should be executed.

A "not held order" is designed by professional traders to get the best possible quality of execution in the given set of circumstances.  

Such capital investment asset management firms continue to adhere to the principles of best execution and provide greater latitude to exercise professional judgment to handle such orders. 

Trading involves complex structured products, and there are some related to best execution, research, and compliance that surround the trading desk (or the outsourcing of trading).  

As per SEC regulations of November 2018, the broker-dealers need to disclose information related to certain orders.  

The new design aims to provide transparency to investors whose disclosures are inapplicable or insufficient. The new disclosures are based on whether or not the orders are held.   

"Not held" refers to the security where one can trust the floor trader to get the best possible price on a stock than what the investor can get on their own.

The broker can use personal judgment on the best price and time to enter or exit. 

Orders can be either "market not-held" or "limit Not-held."

Market no-held is not required to be executed immediately. It is a request where the investor may buy/ sell a security at the possible price. The market offers the most reliable methods to enter or exit a trade quickly at the current market price. Investors are willing to buy/ sell at the asking price, and the broker executes the order at the given bid-ask spread.

The limit not held refers to the upper or lower limit where the investor gives the floor broker the discretion to execute the order at a given rate.  

Advantage of not-held orders 

It gives the floor broker the authority to execute a trade on behalf of the investor. The floor broker is best positioned to determine the top rate and timing for the execution of an order that it executes based on familiar trading patterns. 

The broker may get orders from various customers and use cross-trades to satisfy existing customer orders. The broker can close trades earlier than individual investors as they have multiple options.