slippage is the difference between the price you expected when you submitted an order and the price you actually got when it executed. on perpetual futures, slippage shows up as a small (or sometimes large) gap between the quote on your screen and the fill price reported back on-chain. it is caused by latency, order book depth, price impact of your own order, and oracle update timing. on high-leverage perps, even tiny slippage can move your effective liquidation price meaningfully.
in plain english
you see 100 dollars on the screen. you tap buy. the trade fills at 100.05. that 0.05 is slippage. sometimes slippage helps you (you get a better fill than expected). usually it hurts a little. on a one-tap rip product, slippage is part of the cost of "i wanted in right now."
what causes slippage on perps
there are four main sources, and they often combine:
- price impact: your own order moves the market because the available liquidity at the best price is thin.
- latency: between submitting and executing, the market price moved.
- oracle drift: the price feed used to settle your order updated between quote and fill.
- spread: the difference between bid and ask, especially on smaller pairs.
why slippage exists
markets are not static. between the moment you see a price and the moment a transaction lands, things move. on-chain perps have block times. liquidity pools have curves. oracles refresh on intervals. all of those produce slippage. it is a feature of any real market, not a flaw of any one venue.
how it shows up on uponly.win
when you tap rip, the order is sent to avantis on base. the entry price you see in your position summary is the actual fill price returned by the protocol, not the quote on your screen. on typical small rips, slippage is negligible. on larger sizes or on thinner pairs that you may land on randomly, slippage can be a few basis points. uponly does not add a spread mark-up; you pay whatever avantis routes through. for the structural details, see how uponly was built in one night.
common confusions
slippage is not a fee. it is a market mechanic. fees are deterministic and charged by the protocol. slippage is variable and is paid implicitly via a worse fill price. people sometimes also confuse slippage with funding: funding is paid over time, slippage happens at the moment of execution.
- slippage is at execution, funding is over time, fees are at open and close.
- larger order size means larger price impact.
- volatile markets have wider spreads and more latency-driven slippage.
- on perps, slippage applies on both open and close.
see also
- mark price vs index price
- leverage definition
- liquidation price definition
- perpetual future definition
- funding rate definition
curious how slippage looks on a real rip? open uponly, do a small rip, and compare the quoted price to the fill in your position card. that gap is slippage, in real life.