Order Rejection
Also known as: rejected order, order reject
What is it?
An order rejection is when the broker refuses to accept your order at all, so no trade is placed. Unlike slippage, where you fill at a slightly worse price, or a partial fill, where you get part of your size, a rejection means nothing happens: the order bounces back and your intended trade simply never enters the market. There are several common reasons. The market for that instrument might be closed, so the order has nowhere to go. The symbol might be mistyped or not offered by that broker.
Your stop loss might be placed closer to price than the broker's minimum allowed distance, which makes the whole order invalid. You might not have enough free margin in your account to support the position. Or some parameter, such as lot size or price, might fall outside the broker's accepted limits. For a manual trader, a rejection is at least visible: you see the error and can fix it. The real danger appears in automation, where rejections can be silent.
If a connector or bot does not clearly log and surface each rejection with its reason, you can believe your strategy is happily trading away when in reality it is placing nothing at all, trade after trade. Your equity stays flat not because the market was quiet but because every order was bounced. That is why good execution always reports the reason for a rejection, turning an invisible failure into something you can diagnose and fix, whether that means widening a stop, topping up margin, or correcting a symbol.
Why it matters: A rejected order is a trade that never happened; in automation, silent rejections mean the strategy is not actually trading as you think.
Unseen rejections mean signalled trades silently never enter the market.
Real-world example
A connector's order is rejected because the stop is closer than the broker's minimum distance, so no trade opens.
How SignalBots handles it
SignalBots' connector reports rejection reasons - symbol, stop distance, margin - so failed orders are visible, not silent.
Pro tip
Log and surface every rejection with its reason; a connector that swallows rejections hides real execution failures.
Common pitfalls
Not noticing repeated rejections, so you believe automation is running when it is quietly placing nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Why was my automated order rejected?
Common causes are a closed market, a mismatched or wrong symbol, a stop placed tighter than the broker's minimum distance, insufficient free margin, or an invalid lot size or price. The broker should return a reason for each rejection.
How is a rejection different from a partial fill?
A rejection means none of the order executed; nothing happens. A partial fill means some of your size executed but not all. One leaves you with no position; the other leaves you with a smaller position than planned.
Why is my bot not placing any trades?
Repeated silent rejections are a frequent cause. If a connector does not surface rejection reasons, the bot looks like it is running while every order is bounced. Check the execution log for rejections and their reasons before blaming the strategy.
How do I fix a rejected order?
Read the reason. If the stop is too tight, widen it past the broker's minimum distance. If margin is short, reduce size or add funds. If the symbol is wrong, correct it. If the market is closed, wait for it to open. The reason points to the fix.
Can rejections happen on a perfectly good strategy?
Yes. Rejections are an execution and account issue, not a strategy-quality issue. A sound strategy can place nothing if its stops breach broker rules, margin runs low, or it tries to trade a closed or wrong instrument.