Slippage and requotes: why your fill price isn't always your click price
評測結論
- Slippage is the gap between the price you requested and the price your order actually filled at, caused by the market moving in the time between the two — it is a market mechanic, not necessarily a broker fault.
- Slippage is not always against you: on a market order it can fill better than requested exactly as often as it fills worse, in genuinely fast, liquid markets — the asymmetry traders complain about usually points to a specific execution or liquidity issue rather than slippage as a concept.
- A requote is a dealing-desk-specific event where the broker declines the original price and offers a new one for you to accept or reject, which is structurally different from slippage on a directly routed order.
- Both are far more common around high-impact news releases, at market open after a weekend gap, and during periods of unusually thin liquidity.
- Guaranteed stop-loss orders, where offered, are the main tool that removes slippage risk on an exit — at the cost of a fee or a wider spread for that feature.
Slippage is one of the most complained-about aspects of trading and one of the least understood — it is frequently described as something a broker does to a client, when in most cases it is simply what happens to any order in a market that moves between the click and the fill.
What slippage actually is
When you submit a market order, it is not filled instantaneously — there is a small but real delay before the order reaches the market and executes. If the price moves during that delay, the order fills at the new price rather than the one displayed when you clicked. That difference is slippage. It exists on every trading venue for every asset class; it is a function of time and price movement, not a defect specific to forex or to any one broker.
- Slippage can be positive (a better fill) or negative (a worse fill) — both are the same mechanic.
- The faster the market is moving, the larger the typical slippage, in either direction.
- A limit order avoids slippage on price but is not guaranteed to fill at all if the market moves past it.
Why negative slippage gets noticed and positive slippage doesn't
Traders overwhelmingly notice and report slippage that works against them, while a favourable fill is rarely mentioned at all — which creates a skewed impression that slippage is systematically one-directional. In genuinely direct-market-access execution, slippage should occur roughly symmetrically over time. A pattern that looks consistently one-sided is worth investigating as a specific execution issue with that broker or account, rather than accepted as how slippage inherently works.
Requotes: a different, dealing-desk-specific event
A requote is not slippage — it is the broker's dealing desk declining to fill your order at the requested price and instead returning a new price for you to manually accept or reject, rather than executing automatically at the best available price. Requotes are associated with dealing-desk (market maker) execution models and are largely absent from direct market access (ECN/STP) accounts, where the order fills at the next available price rather than pausing for confirmation.
When both are most likely
Slippage and requotes cluster predictably around specific conditions: the seconds surrounding high-impact economic releases, the market open following a weekend gap, and any period of unusually thin liquidity. A strategy that trades directly through those windows should expect wider slippage as routine, not as a malfunction.
- High-impact news releases produce the sharpest, fastest price moves and the widest typical slippage.
- The weekend gap between Friday close and Sunday/Monday open can produce slippage on any order left open across it.
- Thin holiday-period liquidity widens both spreads and slippage even without a specific news trigger.
Guaranteed stops: the tool that removes exit slippage
Some brokers offer a guaranteed stop-loss order, which fills at exactly the level set regardless of the market's actual movement at that price — the broker absorbs the slippage risk on that specific order instead of the client. This protection is not free: it is usually priced as a fee or a wider spread, and is not available on every instrument or account type.
Is slippage the broker's fault?
Not inherently. Slippage is the gap between the requested price and the fill price caused by ordinary market movement during the brief execution delay every order has — it exists on every venue, for every asset class. A pattern that looks consistently one-sided against you, rather than roughly symmetrical over time, is worth investigating as a specific issue rather than accepted as normal.
What is a requote?
A dealing-desk event where the broker declines your requested price and offers a new one for manual acceptance, rather than filling automatically at the next available price. It is associated with market maker execution and largely absent from ECN/STP accounts.
Can slippage work in my favour?
Yes. Slippage can be positive or negative — a fill can land at a better price than requested exactly as it can land at a worse one, since both are the same underlying mechanic of price moving between click and execution.
How do I avoid slippage on my stop-loss?
A guaranteed stop-loss order, where the broker offers it, fills at exactly the set level regardless of actual market movement, removing slippage risk on that order specifically. This feature typically carries a fee or a wider spread and is not available on every instrument or account.