Slippage
Difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it is actually executed.
Slippage occurs when an order moves through the order book or AMM curve and ends up filling at a worse average price than the quoted top-of-book. A market buy of $100K of an asset with only $50K of asks at the best price will eat through deeper, higher-priced asks and pay a worse weighted-average price.
On centralized exchanges, slippage scales with order size relative to order book depth. On AMMs (Uniswap, Curve), slippage is dictated by the curve formula — constant-product pools (x·y=k) impose noticeable slippage on trades >1% of pool size, while stable-asset curves keep slippage low until much larger sizes.
Traders set a "slippage tolerance" before submitting (typically 0.5%-1% on major pairs, higher on illiquid tokens). If the actual price would exceed the tolerance, the trade reverts. Setting slippage too high invites sandwich-attack MEV; setting too low means transactions revert during volatile moments.
Slippage is invisible until you check the receipt. Large or careless orders can lose 1-10% of value to it, far more than trading fees.
How CryptoRadar24 tracks it
CryptoRadar24 reports liquidity depth and order book metrics when relevant, helping users estimate slippage on size.
Related terms
FAQ
How is slippage different from fees?
Fees are the explicit cost (e.g., 0.10% maker fee). Slippage is the implicit cost from your order moving the price as it fills — invisible until execution.
What is positive slippage?
Rare, but possible: when execution happens at a better price than expected (price moved in your favor between quote and fill). Some venues pass it back to the user; others keep it as PFOF.
Why is slippage worse on AMMs for big trades?
Constant-product pools (x·y=k) get progressively worse pricing as you take more from one side. A trade that consumes 5% of the pool can cost 10%+ in slippage.
How do I avoid slippage?
Use limit orders, split large trades, route through aggregators (1inch, Matcha) that find the deepest path, and check pool liquidity before swapping illiquid tokens.