Post-only order
A post-only order is a limit order that is only accepted if it rests in the book as a maker. If it would execute immediately against the opposite side, the exchange cancels or rejects it instead of filling it as a taker. It guarantees maker status, and the maker fee, at the cost of sometimes not being placed.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
At a glance
- Guarantees
- The order never executes as a taker
- If it would cross
- Canceled or rejected, not filled
- Binance futures
- timeInForce GTX: Good Till Crossing (Post Only)
- Typical users
- Market makers, fee-sensitive limit strategies
How it behaves
A buy post-only order priced below the best ask joins the bid side of the book and waits, like any limit order. If it is priced at or above the best ask when it arrives, a plain limit order would fill immediately as a taker; a post-only order is canceled instead. The same applies to a sell priced at or below the best bid. Binance's futures API lists this behavior as the GTX time in force, Good Till Crossing, for post-only orders.
Some venues offer a variant that reprices the order one tick away from the opposite side rather than canceling it.
Why traders use it
- Fee control: maker fees are usually lower than taker fees, so guaranteed maker fills lower the cost of strategies with small targets.
- Intent protection: a passive order meant to wait at a level cannot accidentally become an aggressive one because the market moved during submission.
- Order flow neutrality: a post-only fill is always the passive side, so it never adds to aggressive volume.
Limits
- In fast markets the order may be canceled repeatedly and never rest, which means missed entries.
- Guaranteed maker status does not guarantee a fill: a resting order waits in the queue like any other.
- A strategy that only works with post-only fills should be tested with realistic queue assumptions, since touch-based fills overstate how often passive orders execute.
In Senzoukria
Crypto charts in the desktop are analysis only, so no post-only or other crypto order is ever sent. For CME futures traded through a connected broker, the order ticket offers market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders with DAY, GTC, IOC and FOK time in force, and no post-only option. The distinction still matters for reading data: every fill of a post-only order is a maker fill, so it appears in a footprint as the passive side of someone else's aggression.
Related
In the same section
- Pre-open and IOP
- Positive gamma regime
- Pre-trade risk checks
- Position sizing
- Price banding
- Position limits
- Price discovery
- Portfolio heat
Sources
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- Why was my post-only order canceled immediately?
- Because at the moment it reached the exchange, its price would have matched a resting order on the other side, which would have made it a taker. The exchange cancels it rather than filling it. Placing it one tick further from the market usually lets it rest.
- Is a post-only order the same as a limit order?
- It is a limit order with one extra condition: it must not execute on arrival. A plain limit order priced through the market fills immediately as a taker; a post-only order in the same situation is canceled.