What is Slippage?

Updated October 17, 2026

Slippage is when your order fills at a different price than you asked for.

When markets move fast, the price you clicked may be gone by the time your order hits. You get the next price instead.

Slippage can be good or bad, but in news spikes it's usually bad.

Bots and scalpers care a lot about slippage. A fast broker and a VPS can help reduce it.

Example

You set a stop loss at 1.0800 but news hits and it fills at 1.0790, 10 pips worse.

Can I avoid slippage completely?

No, but trading busy hours and avoiding big news helps.

Do limit orders slip?

Limit orders fill at your price or better, but they might not fill at all.

Rather have AI trade for you?Get the free guide on hands free AI trading accounts. Send me the free guide →

Work out your own number with the quit your job calculator, or take the passive income quiz.