What is Slippage?
The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual executed price, caused by market movement or low liquidity.
Slippage is the difference between the price you expect to pay for a token and the price you actually pay when the trade executes. It occurs because prices can move between the time you submit a transaction and when it's confirmed on-chain.
Why Slippage Happens
Low Liquidity
When a token has a small liquidity pool, even a modest trade can move the price significantly. Memecoins and new tokens often have high slippage for this reason.
Market Volatility
In fast-moving markets, prices change rapidly. The price at the time you submit your swap may differ from the price when the swap executes.
Large Trade Size
Bigger trades consume more of the liquidity pool, resulting in higher slippage. This is why it's important to size your copy trades appropriately.
Slippage Tolerance
Slippage tolerance is the maximum price difference you're willing to accept. If the actual slippage exceeds your tolerance, the transaction will fail rather than execute at a bad price.
- •1-2% — Suitable for high-liquidity tokens (SOL, USDC, major tokens)
- •5-10% — Common for memecoins and lower-liquidity tokens
- •10-20% — May be needed for very new or illiquid tokens
Slippage in Copy Trading
When copy trading, slippage is a key consideration:
- •The whale may get a better price because they traded first
- •Your copy trade executes after theirs, potentially at a worse price
- •Higher priority fees can reduce execution delay and minimize slippage
In SOL Wallet Shadow
Jupiter aggregator finds the best route across all Solana DEXs to minimize slippage. You can configure your slippage tolerance in the settings.