# Difference between sell market order with all quantity and close position for a symbol?

**URL:** <https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/difference-between-sell-market-order-with-all-quantity-and-close-position-for-a-symbol/3988>\
**Category:** Alpaca Trading\
**Created:** [January 20, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/difference-between-sell-market-order-with-all-quantity-and-close-position-for-a-symbol/3988 "2021-01-20T00:40:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rudaAlpacaForum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@rudaAlpacaForum](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/rudaAlpacaForum)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/difference-between-sell-market-order-with-all-quantity-and-close-position-for-a-symbol/3988/1 "2021-01-20T00:40:26Z")

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I can close a long position in a symbol in one of the following 2 ways:

1. Use POST/v2/orders API with sell market order with all quantity for a symbol
2. Use DELETE/v2/positions/{symbol} API with all quantity for a symbol

**Questions:**  
A) What are the pros and cons of one over the other method?  
B) Why do I need to specify quantity when closing the position in (2) as it is already implied?
