Market structure
Slippage, price impact and the price you actually receive
A displayed quote is not a completed trade.
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People & projects
In this article
Price impact describes how your order changes execution through the available liquidity. Slippage describes a difference between an expected and achieved price. Fees, routing, latency and other trading can also affect the final result. Treat these components separately when comparing services or strategies.
The copy-trading problem
A leader can enter before followers alter the pool. Later buyers may receive worse prices, and later sellers may exit after the leader has already reduced demand. The leader's recorded PnL therefore does not demonstrate the follower's result.
Increasing a slippage tolerance is not a cure for thin liquidity. It permits a larger deviation within the transaction's limits. A failed transaction may be frustrating, but automatically accepting a much worse price can create a different loss.
For research, record quote time, size, route, achieved amount and all costs. Compare like with like. MASTR's copy-trading workbook treats execution risk as distinct from fraud and distinguishes historical screenshots from current provider data.
Sources
- MASTR: Crypto Survival Guide, four original panels
- MASTR: copy-trading research snapshot, 9 August 2026
- Uniswap: concentrated liquidity
Research checked 5 September 2026. Historical cases retain the date and legal status of the cited record.