How to Delete a Pending Order on MT4

A pending order is an instruction to enter the market at a price level that has not yet been reached. In MetaTrader 4, you can place four types of pending orders: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, and Sell Stop. A pending order remains in the market until the trigger price is reached (at which point it becomes an open position), the expiry datetime passes (if one was set), or you manually delete it. Deleting a pending order before it triggers is straightforward and can be done from either the Terminal window or directly from the chart.

This guide covers what a pending order is, common reasons to delete one, the two methods MT4 provides for deletion, how the expiry options interact with manual deletion, and how to verify that a deletion went through.

Brief Refresher: What Is a Pending Order in MT4

A pending order is parked in the market awaiting a specific trigger price. Until that price is reached, the order does not consume margin and there is no open position associated with it. The four MT4 pending order types are Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, and Sell Stop. Buy Limits and Sell Stops sit below the current market; Sell Limits and Buy Stops sit above.

Pending orders appear in the Terminal window's Trade tab, listed below open positions in their own group (or interleaved, depending on your MT4 build). On the chart, with trade levels enabled, they display as a dashed line at the trigger price.

Why Delete a Pending Order

Reasons to remove a pending order vary by situation.

Market conditions have changed and the original setup no longer makes sense.

A different trade idea has replaced the one the pending order was meant to capture.

A news release is imminent and you want to avoid being triggered into a position around that event.

The trade plan has been abandoned outright.

The expiry was set as Good Till Cancelled and you decide to cancel rather than wait for a passive trigger.

The mechanics of deletion are the same regardless of the reason.

How to Delete a Pending Order on MT4

MetaTrader 4 provides two main deletion methods.

Method 1: Right-Click in the Terminal Window

Press Ctrl+T to open the Terminal window. The Trade tab lists all open positions and pending orders. Find the pending order you want to delete. Right-click the row and select Modify or Delete Order from the context menu.

The Order dialog opens. At the bottom of the dialog, the Delete button (typically displayed in red, with the order's pending type indicated) is what you click to cancel the pending order. MT4 sends the deletion request to the server. On success, the dialog closes and the pending order disappears from the Trade tab.

Method 2: Right-Click the Pending Order Line on the Chart

If trade levels are enabled (Tools > Options > Charts > Show trade levels), the pending order appears as a dashed line at the trigger price on the chart. Right-click the line directly. The context menu offers a Delete option for the pending order. Click it to confirm.

The chart method is fastest when you already have the chart open and want to remove a pending order visible on it. The Terminal method is more efficient when you have multiple pending orders to manage in sequence.

Pending Order Expiry: GTC and Specified

MT4 offers two expiry options when placing a pending order.

GTC (Good Till Cancelled): the order stays active until it is filled, manually deleted, or an account-related event cancels it. GTC is the default.

Specified: the order automatically cancels at a datetime you set. If the trigger price is not reached before the expiry, the order is removed without any action from you.

Setting an expiry at placement is one alternative to manual deletion later. If you know you only want the setup to remain valid until a certain time (for example, the end of the trading day), Specified expiry handles the cancellation automatically.

Verifying the Deletion

After a deletion, the pending order disappears from the Terminal Trade tab. To confirm the cancellation went through and the order is not still active on the server:

Refresh the Terminal by clicking on the Trade tab header or briefly switching tabs.

Check the Account History tab in the Terminal (Ctrl+T to open if hidden). Filter by All History or the relevant date range. Cancelled pending orders show with timestamps and a status indicator. The exact wording of the status varies by MT4 build.

If the order still appears in the Trade tab, the deletion request may not have reached the server, perhaps due to a temporary connection issue. The Journal tab logs deletion attempts and any errors.

What Cannot Be Deleted Once Triggered

A pending order that has been triggered is no longer a pending order: it is an open position. Open positions are closed (not deleted) using the close trade methods. If your pending order triggered and you want to exit immediately, use the right-click position > Close Order method in the Terminal Trade tab.

If a pending order is partially filled (which is uncommon on MT4 retail accounts but possible in some configurations), the filled portion becomes an open position. The unfilled remainder, if any, remains as a smaller pending order that can be deleted normally.

Deleting Pending Orders on MT4 Mobile

The MT4 mobile app supports deletion of pending orders. Tap the pending order in the Trade tab to open its details, select Delete, and confirm. The Account History tab on mobile shows cancelled orders the same way the desktop does.

Practical Considerations

TIOmarkets accounts have a maximum of 200 combined open positions and pending orders per client. Deleting unused pending orders keeps this limit available for active setups.

The maximum lot size per trade is 20 lots; this applies to both open positions and pending orders.

If you place multiple pending orders for the same instrument (for example, a Buy Limit and a Buy Stop around a key level), deleting one does not affect the others.

5-digit pricing is standard at TIOmarkets for most forex pairs, where 1 pip = 10 points. JPY pairs use 3-digit pricing. The trigger price of a pending order can be set with that level of precision.

Trading at TIOmarkets

TIOmarkets offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 on desktop, web, and mobile, across four account types. The Standard account is created automatically on registration with a minimum deposit of $20 or currency equivalent. The Raw and VIP Black accounts are opened separately through the client area. The Nano account is MT5 only with a $20 minimum deposit, USD only. Hedging is supported on all accounts. A swap-free Islamic account is available; contact TIOmarkets for eligibility and instrument requirements. Copy trading is available on both MT4 and MT5.

Orders are executed at the best available market price, which may result in positive or negative slippage. Demo accounts often execute instantly and may not fully replicate live slippage conditions. Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Leverage on each instrument is subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements. You can review the full list of account types on the TIOmarkets accounts page.