Direct answer
You generally should not assume that a forex order will be executed exactly as it would on a normal weekday. Over the weekend, liquidity can be thin or unavailable, and price can change suddenly when trading resumes. Whether you should keep orders open depends on (1) the order type, (2) your plan for what should happen when trading resumes, and (3) the limitations you accept for execution timing and price.
How it works for cTrader-style orders
In order management, “keeping an order open over the weekend” means the order remains active until it is filled, cancelled, or expires (depending on how it was set up). The key concepts are:
- Order type: A limit order aims to execute at a specified price or better; a stop order triggers when price reaches a condition; a market order tries to execute immediately at the next available price.
- Trigger vs fill: Stop and other conditional orders may not trigger until trading resumes. When they do trigger, the fill price can differ from the level you saw when you placed the order.
- Execution environment: Even if your platform shows the order status, execution depends on whether there are tradable prices available to match your order.
A practical way to think about it: over the weekend, your order may be “waiting” without meaningful price updates. When trading resumes, the first tradable prices can be far from the last price before the weekend.
Example checks you can do
To decide what “keeping it open” means for your specific situation, check these items before you leave the screen:
- What type is the order? If it is market, weekend execution depends on the next available prices. If it is limit/stop, the main question is what price condition might be met when trading restarts.
- Is the order set to stay active or does it have an expiration? If there is an expiry or a “day” style setting, that affects whether it will still be pending after the weekend.
- What would be acceptable if the fill price changes? If you cannot tolerate worse-than-expected fills due to gaps, that is a strong sign you should reconsider leaving it open.
- Are there protective orders linked to it? If your plan relies on specific price levels, note that those levels can be bypassed during restart.
Limitations and risks to keep in mind
The main limitations are uncertainty about execution timing and fill price around market closure and reopening. Price can “jump” between the last available quote before the weekend and the first available quote when trading resumes. This can lead to:
- Different outcomes than what you saw on Friday (especially for conditional orders that trigger after restart).
- Execution at a worse price than expected for orders that fill using the next available liquidity.
- Increased dependence on platform/broker execution rules, since matching happens only when tradable prices exist.
If you cannot independently verify how weekend pricing and execution will be handled for your account, treat weekend order management as a risk/uncertainty you intentionally accept rather than something you can predict.
Conclusion
You can keep forex orders open over the weekend only if you understand that execution may occur at the next available prices after reopening, and that conditional logic may trigger later than expected. Use the order type and your accepted tolerance for gap risk to make a bounded decision, and verify the specific order and execution settings available in your cTrader environment.