Your broker has the final say on whether an order fills. Sometimes it says no: a rejection. Here's why that happens, and what each reason is telling you to fix.

Why a broker rejects an order

Common reasons are all on the broker/account side: insufficient buying power (not enough capital for the position), options-approval limits (your account's permission level doesn't allow the trade), a trading halt or market condition, an account restriction (like a PDT flag), or a transient broker/exchange issue. These are the broker enforcing its own rules on your account — exactly as it should, since it's your account and your broker relationship.

A rejected order is fine; a rejected order you don't know about is dangerous. Confirm every fill in your broker's own order log before you act as if you're in.

What to do about it

Most rejections point to something on your end to fix: check your buying power, confirm your broker's options-approval level covers what you're trading, watch for day-trade or account restrictions, and be aware halts happen in fast markets. Because it's your account, you can also check directly with your broker. Resolving an account-level rejection is a matter of your broker settings, which is exactly where that control belongs.