Slippage

Glossary · Market Structure

Slippage is the difference between the price you expect on an order and the price you actually get filled at. It happens when your order size outruns the liquidity available at the best price, so the fill walks deeper into the book. Slippage grows with size, volatility, and thin markets — and it compounds under leverage.

"You clicked one price and got filled at another — that gap is slippage, and thin alts eat you alive with it."

Say the best ask holds 2 BTC at $60,000 and you market-buy 5: you take the 2, then fill the rest deeper at $60,010, $60,025 — your average lands above the price you saw. Expected slippage scales with your size relative to depth, so the same order costs 1 bp on BTC and 100+ bps on a thin alt. Limit orders cap it; market orders accept whatever the book gives.

Slippage does maximum damage exactly when you can least afford it: stop-losses fire as market orders, so in a fast dump your planned 2% loss becomes 3.5% on the fill. Under 10x leverage that's the difference between a scratch and a margin call. Size positions off the depth actually resting in the book, not the last-traded price — and if your entry visibly moves the market, you're too big for that pair.

Check liquidity before you size up →

Related jargon

Questions

What is Slippage in crypto trading?

Slippage is the difference between the price you expect on an order and the price you actually get filled at. It happens when your order size outruns the liquidity available at the best price, so the fill walks deeper into the book. Slippage grows with size, volatility, and thin markets — and it compounds under leverage.

How would a trader say it?

You clicked one price and got filled at another — that gap is slippage, and thin alts eat you alive with it.

Part of the Crypto Jargon glossary — every term, decoded the way a trader would say it.

Crypto Jargon

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