## What Exactly Is Crypto Slippage and Why Should You Care?

Ever noticed that the price you expected to fill your order at isn't the price you actually got? That's slippage—and it's one of those hidden costs that can quietly eat into your profits in cryptocurrency trading. Simply put, slippage is the gap between what you anticipated paying (or receiving) and what you ultimately execute at.

### The Four Culprits Behind Slippage

**Volatile Markets Create Price Whiplash**

The crypto market's notorious price swings mean that between the moment you hit "buy" or "sell" and the actual execution, prices can shift dramatically. In a matter of seconds, your expected entry point might already be history.

**Low Liquidity = Limited Options**

When a crypto asset lacks trading volume, there simply aren't enough buyers or sellers at your target price. You're forced to accept worse pricing just to get your trade through. This becomes especially painful when you're dealing with altcoins or emerging tokens.

**Your Order Size Matters More Than You Think**

A massive sell order in a thin market acts like a hammer. It absorbs all the buy orders at the current level, then cascades down through progressively lower-priced orders, meaning you're filling at an increasingly unfavorable average price—sometimes significantly below what you initially calculated.

**Platform Performance Impacts Execution**

Not all trading platforms are created equal. A slow, poorly-optimized exchange with bad order-matching technology will show wider slippage than faster, more efficient competitors. Latency and infrastructure quality directly affect how close your executed price lands to your expected price.

### How Traders Protect Themselves

The most straightforward defense is using limit orders instead of market orders. With a limit order, you're setting a ceiling on buys or a floor on sells—your order simply won't execute if the market price drifts beyond your threshold. The tradeoff? Your order might not fill at all if the price never reaches your limit.

Market orders, by contrast, guarantee execution but at whatever price is available—sometimes leaving you exposed to worse pricing during volatile conditions.

The bottom line: understanding slippage matters most when you're placing sizable orders or trading illiquid assets. Pay attention to it, and you'll keep more of your profits.