What Is Slippage? Why Your Order Fills Above the Price You Saw

You see $100 on the screen, press buy, and the fill comes back higher. Nothing broke. That gap has a name: slippage.

At a glance

• Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the average price you actually got.
• It happens because an order can use up the cheapest sellers and move on to the next price level.
• The larger your order is compared with what is on the order book, the larger the gap tends to be.
• The numbers below are a made-up example, not real prices.

The price on the screen is for a small amount

The price shown is the best offer right now, and only for the amount offered at that price. The order book is a list of sellers (asks) and buyers (bids) sorted by price. If you want more than the best level holds, your order keeps going to the next one.

A simple example (hypothetical)

Suppose the sell side of a book looks like this. These are made-up prices, not real market data.

You want 30 coins with a market order. The order takes all 10 at $100, then all 10 at $101, then all 10 at $102.

• Cost: 10 × $100 + 10 × $101 + 10 × $102 = $3,030
• Average price: $3,030 ÷ 30 = $101
• What you expected: $3,000 (30 × $100)

Your average is $1 higher than the $100 you saw, which is 1%. That gap is slippage. Selling works the same way in the other direction: a large sell order walks down the buy side and gets a lower average price.

Why bigger orders slip more

Slippage depends on how deep the book is near the current price. If there are many coins at each level, the same order barely moves down the book. If the levels are thin, the same order has to reach far. So the same $3,030 order can slip very little on a busy market and a lot on a quiet one.

Other things that matter

• Fast markets. Prices can move between the moment you press the button and the moment the order reaches the book.
• Thin markets. Less-traded coins and off-hours often have fewer orders near the price.
• Order type. A market order accepts whatever the book gives. A limit order sets the worst price you will accept, so it cannot fill beyond it, but it may not fill at all.

How traders usually keep it small

These are common practices, not advice on what to do:

1. Compare the order size with the depth shown on the book before sending it.
2. Use a limit order when the exact price matters more than filling right now.
3. Split a large order into smaller pieces over time.

Slippage vs. fees

Fees are charged on top of the fill and are listed by the exchange. Slippage is not a fee; it is built into the price you get. When you compare your average fill with the price you saw, both can show up as a difference, so it helps to look at them separately.

Where this shows up in Satoshi Note

Satoshi Note reads fills from your connected exchanges, so your records show the price you actually got, not the price you saw before you pressed the button. For how forced closes reach the market as orders, see the liquidation beginner guide, and for the other terms, the glossary.

FAQ

Is slippage always bad?

It is a cost when it goes against you. On some exchanges it can also come out slightly in your favor when the price moves your way before the order fills, but you cannot count on that.

Does a limit order have slippage?

A limit order will not fill at a worse price than the one you set, so it avoids the kind of slippage described here. The trade-off is that it may fill only in part or not at all.

Is slippage the same as the spread?

No. The spread is the gap between the best buy price and the best sell price. Slippage is the gap between the price you expected and your average fill. A wide spread can contribute to slippage.

Can I see slippage in my records?

Only if you noted the price you saw. Your fills show what you got; the expected price has to come from you.

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This is a concept explainer by the Satoshi Note editors and does not recommend any trade. The example uses made-up prices. As of 2026-11-11.