What is slippage? Why you don't always get the price you saw
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Slippage is the difference between the price you expected when you placed a trade and the price you actually got. It can work against you or, less often, in your favour.
Why it happens
Prices can move in the moment between placing an order and it being filled. In a thin market, a large order can also use up the best prices on offer and fill the rest at worse ones.
When it is worst
- Fast markets, such as around big news.
- Coins or currency pairs with few buyers and sellers.
- Large orders compared with what is on offer.
Ways to limit it
A limit order only fills at your price or better, though it may not fill at all. Many crypto apps also let you set a slippage tolerance, which cancels the trade if the price moves more than you allow. Splitting a large order into smaller ones can help too.
Where SendPay fits
SendPay platforms let your customers buy, sell and hold crypto under your own brand, with assets held with regulated partners and a trading fee you set.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
How does a swap in an AMM pool get priced?
Enter the pool balances and your swap into the free calculator.
AMM swap calculator →Where would my trailing stop be now?
Work out the stop level after a price rise and what it locks in.
Trailing stop calculator →How much did slippage cost me?
Compare the price you expected with the price you got.
Slippage calculator →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.