Slippage
Also known as: price slippage, execution slippage
What is it?
Slippage is the difference between the price you expected to trade at and the price you actually got when your order filled. Imagine you see EUR/USD at 1.0850 and click buy, but in the split second it takes your order to reach the broker the price has ticked up, so you fill at 1.0853 instead. Those three pips are slippage, and they happened because the market kept moving while your order was on its way.
This is completely normal, especially in fast markets such as right after major news, or in thin markets where few people are trading and prices jump between levels rather than moving smoothly. Slippage can go either way: sometimes you fill at a worse price than you wanted, and occasionally you fill at a better one. The problem is that, on average, fast and thin conditions tend to slip against you more often than for you, because everyone is rushing the same direction.
For a trader this matters because slippage quietly shifts both your entries and your exits, and a few pips lost on every trade adds up to real money over hundreds of trades, especially with automation that fires constantly. Understanding slippage helps you set realistic expectations, choose calmer moments to trade, and judge whether a strategy that looked great on paper will survive once real-world fills are taken into account.
Why it matters: Slippage quietly worsens entries and exits, and on automated, high-frequency, or news trades it can erode an otherwise sound edge.
Slippage = fill price - intended price
Slippage directly shifts entry and exit prices and compounds across many automated trades.
Real-world example
You aim to buy at 1.0850 but fill at 1.0853 during a spike - three pips of slippage against you on entry.
How SignalBots handles it
Low-latency delivery from SignalBots reduces the time window in which price can slip between signal and fill.
Pro tip
Measure your average slippage by setup; if it is large on news, add a news filter rather than blaming the strategy.
Common pitfalls
Backtesting with zero slippage, so live results fall short of a model that assumed perfect fills.
Frequently asked questions
Why did I get a worse price than the one I clicked on?
The market moved during the brief time it took your order to reach the broker and fill. In fast or thin conditions this gap, called slippage, is normal and usually works against the rush of orders going the same way.
Can slippage ever be in my favour?
Yes. Sometimes you fill at a better price than you intended, which is positive slippage. But over many trades, fast and thin markets tend to slip against you more often than they help you.
How can I reduce slippage?
Trade more liquid instruments during their active hours, avoid the seconds around major news releases, and use faster order delivery so price has less time to move before your fill. A slippage-tolerance setting can also cap how bad a fill you accept.
Why does my live result look worse than my backtest?
Many backtests assume perfect fills with zero slippage. Live trading adds the real-world cost of moving prices, so a strategy that looked profitable on paper can fall short once realistic slippage is included.
Does slippage matter if I only place a few trades a day?
It matters less than for high-frequency automation, but it still affects each entry and exit. The bigger your target relative to a few pips of slippage, the less it hurts; on tiny scalping targets it can decide whether the trade is worth taking at all.