Crypto slippage explained: the hidden cost of big orders
The price shown on an exchange usually applies to a small quantity. Buy more and each additional part of your order costs a little more. That difference is slippage: a cost that appears in no fee schedule and, on large amounts, can exceed the trading fee.
How an order book works
An order book is a list of buy and sell offers. On the sell side (ask) offers are sorted from cheapest. Each has a price and a quantity. A simplified example:
| BTC price | Quantity |
|---|---|
| $80,000 | 0.01 BTC |
| $80,040 | 0.02 BTC |
| $80,110 | 0.05 BTC |
Buy 0.005 BTC and you pay $80,000 per Bitcoin. Buy 0.05 BTC and your order eats three levels, for an average price of about $80,083. Those $83 per Bitcoin are slippage.
Average execution price (VWAP)
Slippage is the difference between the average execution price of the whole order (VWAP, volume-weighted average price) and the best offer. Our calculator does this for every exchange separately: it walks through the order book level by level until it has spent your whole amount, and only then compares the results.
How much slippage is there today
The table shows slippage and total cost on the cheapest exchange for increasing amounts of BTC bought with US dollars. It is calculated when you open the page.
For small amounts slippage is negligible. It grows with size, and faster on less liquid markets (e.g. GBP or PLN pairs) than on USD and USDT markets.
How to reduce slippage
- Choose a deeper market. BTC markets in USD, EUR and USDT usually have more offers than smaller currencies. Sometimes it pays to convert and buy on the deeper market.
- Split the order across exchanges. Buying part on one exchange and part on another lets you use the cheapest offers on both. The calculator works out such a split and shows it when it pays off.
- Use a limit order. As a maker you do not eat offers; you wait for someone to accept your price. You pay a lower fee, but the order may not fill.
- Spread the purchase over time. Several smaller buys give the order book time to refill.
Slippage vs trading fee
On $1,000 a 0.25% fee is $2.50 and slippage is usually close to zero. On $1,000,000 the same fee is $2,500, but slippage on a thin market can be several times larger. That is why the exchange ranking for large amounts often looks completely different from the one for small amounts. Read more about the fees themselves in our guide to exchange fees, or check your amount in the BTC/USD calculator.
Check your amount
The calculator compares 10 exchanges live for your amount and currency, with all costs included.
Open the calculatorThis article is educational and not investment advice. Tables marked “live” are calculated when the page is displayed.