The difference between the expected price of a trade (the price at which your EA sent the order) and the actual price at which the order is executed. Slippage can be negative (you get a worse price) or positive (you get a better price) or zero. It commonly occurs in fast markets or low-liquidity moments. For example, during a news spike, your robot sends a buy at 1.3000, but due to volatility it gets filled at 1.3010 – that’s 10 pips of negative slippage. “Slippage refers to the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it is executed”. All trading venues (forex, stocks, etc.) can have slippage; in forex it’s often seen around news releases or big market opens (like Monday gaps). Good ECN brokers strive to give positive slippage when available (if the market moves in your favor, you get the better price), not just negative. From an EA perspective, slippage is an inevitable reality – the key is to minimize it by using a quality broker, perhaps a VPS (to reduce latency), and avoiding or cautiously trading during known volatile events. Some EAs also have settings to limit slippage (max deviation) – useful to avoid extreme slippage, but setting it too tight may result in more requotes or missed trades.

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