What does PEND PREA mean in MT548?

Your own instruction is on hold. It is matched or waiting to match, but it will not settle until it is released. Release it, or ask your custodian why it is held.

What is the difference between PREA and PRCY?

PREA: your instruction is on hold, so you release it. PRCY: the counterparty’s instruction is on hold, so you ask the counterparty to release it. The two parties see the opposite codes for the same trade.

What reason do I get after releasing a hold?

In T2S, after a party releases its hold the instruction is reported as pending with FUTU, even when the intended settlement date has already been reached, or with another reason if a different problem remains.

Settlement status codes

PREA: Your Instruction on Hold

Written and maintained by ZagTrader. Last reviewed 21 October 2026. How this page is sourced and checked

PREA tells you that your own instruction is on hold, frozen or in preadvice mode, so it will not settle until you or your custodian release it. The counterparty sees PRCY for the same trade.

Code: PREA
Kind: Reason (24B)
Used with: PEND, PENF

What PREA means

A party can send an instruction on hold so that it matches but does not settle until released, for example while waiting for client confirmation, funding or collateral. Some accounts are set up so that every instruction is held by default. PREA is the reason reported on such an instruction.

In T2S this is the party hold: the instruction is reported as pending or failing with PREA and the hold indicator PTYH in TxDtls/SttlmParams/HldInd of the sese.024. The counterparty receives PRCY for its own instruction (ECB T2S multiple-status reporting and CR-658 presentation).

Under PEND the instruction can still settle on its date once released; under PENF the date has passed while the hold was in place.

Do not confuse it with PREA in field 23G of an MT540 to MT543, which marks the whole message as a preadvice, or :20C::PREA// in the linkage sequence, which quotes the reference of an earlier preadvice.

When you see it

On instructions sent with a hold flag, on accounts with a default hold, and on instructions your custodian holds pending something from you (cash cover, documents or client approval).
In T2S, together with other holds in one status advice: CSDH for a CSD hold, CVAL for a CSD validation hold and PRSY for a conditional delivery hold.

What to do next

You act: release the instruction when it is ready to settle. In T2S and many CSDs the release goes by a hold and release request (MT530 Transaction Processing Command or ISO 20022 sese.030); at a custodian, often through its portal or a message to the service team.
If the hold is a default set on the account, check that someone in your team owns the daily release, otherwise every trade will fail.
Remember that a held instruction failing after its intended settlement date is your fail; in the EU it falls under CSDR cash penalties.

Where it appears in MT and ISO 20022

MT (ISO 15022)

MT548 sequence A2a (REAS), :24B::PEND//PREA after :25D::SETT//PEND, or :24B::PENF//PREA after :25D::SETT//PENF.
MT537 sequence B1 or C3a, :24B::PEND//PREA or :24B::PENF//PREA.

MX (ISO 20022)

sese.024 SttlmSts/Pdg/Rsn/Cd/Cd = PREA or SttlmSts/Flng/Rsn/Cd/Cd = PREA, with TxDtls/SttlmParams/HldInd/Rsn/Cd/Cd = PTYH for a party hold.
From sese.024.001.11, PREA is also in the pending processing list (PrcgSts/PdgPrcg/Rsn/Cd/Cd).

Questions

What does PEND PREA mean in MT548?: Your own instruction is on hold. It is matched or waiting to match, but it will not settle until it is released. Release it, or ask your custodian why it is held.
What is the difference between PREA and PRCY?: PREA: your instruction is on hold, so you release it. PRCY: the counterparty’s instruction is on hold, so you ask the counterparty to release it. The two parties see the opposite codes for the same trade.
What reason do I get after releasing a hold?: In T2S, after a party releases its hold the instruction is reported as pending with FUTU, even when the intended settlement date has already been reached, or with another reason if a different problem remains.