A T1 halt is a stock exchange code meaning “News Pending,” indicating that trading in a particular stock has been temporarily frozen while the company prepares to release material news. It’s one of several halt codes used by Nasdaq and recognized across U.S. exchanges, and it’s the one traders encounter most often during significant corporate announcements.
How a T1 Halt Works
When a company is about to release news that could significantly move its stock price, the exchange halts all buying and selling of that stock before the announcement goes public. This is the T1 halt. The goal is straightforward: give every investor, whether they’re a day trader watching a screen or a pension fund manager in a meeting, the same opportunity to read and react to the news. Without the halt, insiders or fast-moving traders could act on information before it reaches the broader market.
The types of news that trigger a T1 halt are things like earnings surprises, mergers and acquisitions, FDA drug approvals or rejections, major contract wins, executive departures, or any development likely to cause a sharp move in the stock price. The more likely the announcement is to affect the stock price (positively or negatively), the more likely the exchange is to call for a halt.
How Long It Lasts
A T1 halt typically lasts less than an hour, though it can stretch longer. There is no fixed maximum. The halt stays in place until the company has released the news and the exchange determines that the information has been adequately distributed to the public. In practice, looking at recent halt data, many T1 halts resolve within 20 to 50 minutes during regular trading hours. Some halts initiated after hours or overnight can remain in effect until the following morning’s open.
For example, in recent Nasdaq halt records, a biotech stock halted at 9:43 a.m. resumed trading at 11:00 a.m., roughly 75 minutes later. Another stock halted at 8:26 a.m. resumed at 8:50 a.m., just 24 minutes later. The duration depends entirely on how quickly the company gets its news out and how complex the information is for the market to digest.
What Happens When Trading Resumes
Once the company releases its news, the halt code shifts from T1 (News Pending) to T2 (News Released), signaling that the information has begun circulating through channels that comply with Regulation FD, the SEC rule requiring companies to share material information with all investors simultaneously rather than selectively.
Before normal trading resumes, the exchange runs a brief reopening process. On Nasdaq, this involves an initial display-only period of five minutes where brokers can enter orders but no trades execute. If there’s significant volatility in the incoming orders during that window, the period automatically extends by one minute. After the display period closes, a single “halt cross” occurs: the exchange matches all the accumulated buy and sell orders at once, prints a bulk trade, and then continuous trading resumes. This process prevents a chaotic rush of orders from creating wild price swings in the first seconds after reopening.
T1 vs. Other Halt Codes
T1 is just one entry in a longer list of halt codes. The ones you’re most likely to encounter:
- T1 (News Pending): Trading frozen while the company prepares to release material news. No one can buy or sell.
- T2 (News Released): The news is now being distributed. This is a transitional code between the halt and the resumption of trading.
- LULD Pause: A circuit breaker triggered when a stock’s price moves too far, too fast. These are automatic and typically last only minutes.
- Regulatory Concern: A broader category where a regulator like FINRA halts trading due to questions about the company or its disclosures, not just a pending announcement.
The key distinction is that T1 halts are usually routine and short-lived. They exist to manage the orderly flow of information. Regulatory halts, by contrast, can signal deeper problems and may last days or longer.
Who Can Impose a T1 Halt
The exchange where the stock is listed, typically Nasdaq or NYSE, initiates the halt. Once an exchange halts a stock, the freeze applies across all U.S. markets and trading platforms. You can’t dodge a T1 halt by trying to trade the stock on a different exchange or through a different broker. FINRA also has authority under Rule 6440 to halt trading in over-the-counter securities when necessary to protect investors, including for pending news announcements on foreign exchanges.
What to Do if a Stock You Own Gets Halted
If you’re holding a stock that enters a T1 halt, you cannot sell it until trading resumes. Any open orders (like a limit sell) will typically be canceled or held depending on your broker’s policies. You also cannot place new market orders that execute during the halt.
The practical move is to wait for the news release and then decide how to act once the halt lifts. Keep in mind that the stock’s price at reopening can be substantially different from where it was when the halt began. If a company announces a buyout at a premium, for instance, the stock may reopen 30% or 40% higher. If an FDA rejection comes through, it could reopen sharply lower. The halt cross mechanism sets a new opening price based on the actual supply and demand from all the orders that accumulated during the halt, so that first trade after resumption reflects the market’s collective reaction to the news.
You can track active and recent halts in real time through the NYSE and Nasdaq trading halt pages, which list the stock symbol, halt time, reason code, and resume time once the halt lifts.