Investing term
What is Trading halt?
A pause on a single stock's trading, often around news or volatility.
A trading halt is a temporary pause on trading in a single stock, usually around pending news or a burst of extreme volatility. Unlike a market-wide circuit breaker, it affects just one security — giving the market time to digest information and preventing disorderly, panic-driven pricing in that name.
Halts are normal and brief. A stock might be paused ahead of a major announcement so everyone learns the news at the same time, or halted automatically when its price moves too far too fast. Trading resumes once the news is out or volatility settles — often with the price gapping to a new level that reflects the information everyone can now see.
A trading halt pauses a single stock, usually around pending news. When it reopens, the price often gaps to reflect what everyone can now see — so resting orders can fill far from the last price.
For example
A stock is halted minutes before a major announcement; when it reopens, the price jumps to reflect the news that everyone can now see.
Learn it by doing
That's Trading halt in theory — it clicks when you use it. Practise it hands-on in a free, interactive lesson (Stage 5, How Markets Work Globally).
Try the free lesson →Why it matters to you
A trading halt matters because it's a signal that something significant is happening with a specific company — and a reminder that you can't trade your way out during the pause. When a stock reopens, it often gaps to a new price, so any order left resting can fill far from where the stock last traded. For an investor, a halt is usually a moment to wait for the facts, not to react to the freeze itself.
⚠ Panicking at the freeze itself
A halt can feel alarming — you suddenly can't buy or sell a stock you own. But the pause exists to ensure orderly pricing once news is public, not to trap you. Reacting to the halt by queuing a panic order for the reopen can mean filling at a bad gapped price. Wait for the information, then decide calmly.