The moment is ringed. An invented chart, drawn to show the shape. Not market data.
Also searched asslippage forex · order filled at different price · requote · positive slippage
What you see
- A fill a little away from the price on the screen when the button was pressed.
- It is commonest in fast markets, at releases, in thin hours and with large orders.
- It runs both ways: a fill can be better than requested as well as worse.
Why it happens
A market order promises a fill and not a price. A limit order promises a price or better and not a fill. Stops become market orders when they are triggered, so they share the market order’s behaviour.
What traders check next
- The order type. If the price matters more than being filled, a limit order says so.
- The time of day and what is scheduled.
- The order execution policy, which describes how orders are handled.
Where people go wrong
- Expecting a market order to be filled at the price shown.
- Using market orders at a release.
- Noticing only the slips that went against you.
Questions people ask
- Can slippage be avoided?
- A limit order cannot be filled at a worse price than its limit, but it may not be filled at all. A market order will be filled, at the price available.
- Is slippage always negative?
- No. The price can move either way while an order travels, so a fill can be better than requested.
The words on this page
An explanation for study. It is not advice, a recommendation or a forecast, and a pattern or a situation described here says nothing certain about what a price will do next.