Investor's wiki

All Or None (AON)

All Or None (AON)

An All or None order, frequently abbreviated to AON is an order made on a financial exchange to buy or sell a volume of assets at a set cost. Notwithstanding, not at all like other order types, for example, a market order or limit order, an All or None order is set with a specific guidance concerning how that order ought to be filled.
As the name recommends, an AON order, when put, must either be filled completely or not in any way shape or form. This prevents any partial filling of orders and gives the buyer or seller the confidence of the fixed execution price for the whole volume.
This type of orders can be utilized, for example, in algorithmic trading as a method for measuring the directional trend of a market and to prevent partial fill circumstances, which might happen when a market gives high levels of volatility low volumes, for example, during a flash crash type event.

Highlights

  • Preventing partial fills is especially helpful while executing with thinly traded securities or when a hedge requires a specific order size.
  • AON orders for the most part take more time to execute than normal orders, particularly for bigger order sizes.
  • All or none (AON) is an order type with the guidance to take care of the request totally or cancel it; partial fills are not allowed.